2019 RRS Symposium was a success!

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Dave Nordling, RRS Secretary

For the third year in a row, the RRS held its annual space and rocketry symposium at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena on Saturday, April 27, 2019. We had over 200 people come to share the event with us. This was slightly larger from last year’s 75th anniversary celebration which marked this event as a big success. We’re glad to bring our public audience new things to see at each of these events.

The RRS logo proudly displayed at the 2019 Space and Rocketry Symposium
The power of teamwork. Folding RRS brochures on the night before the 2019 Space and Rocketry Symposium.

Our membership really delivered on setting up the ballroom for the event in record time. The RRS thanks our volunteer organization for donating their time in the night before and in the long day ahead.

The weather was cool in the night before. We set up in record time thanks to our membership.
After the audio and video checks in the ballroom, the RRS test fired our paper rocket launcher. Everything was ready.
The RRS symposium banner stands ready at the entrance of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, California

The RRS was glad to welcome many of our returning presenters and exhibitors such as the Rocketry Organization of California (ROC), US Rockets, Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, Northrop Grumman of Redondo Beach, USAF SMC Heritage Center, UCLA, USC RPL, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Additive Rocket Corporation (ARC) and Bill Claybaugh’s Space Transportation Institute.

We had many new presenters join us for the first time such as AFRL Edwards AFB, Leo Aerospace and CSU Fullerton. We were also glad to have Spaceport LA, Columbia Memorial Space Center and Outside the Lines Arts Education join us in the exhibitors hall.

Peace, Love and Rockets: my pick for best T-shirt at the 2019 RRS symposium. Many thanks to Rocketry Organization of California (ROC) for having one of the biggest displays for three years running.
Rocketry Organization of California (ROC) is set up for the event to begin shortly.
Rocketry Organization of California at the 2019 RRS symposium
Jerry Irvine of US Rockets at the 2019 RRS symposium; manufacturer of high power solid motors

The RRS was glad to welcome several presenters from the local aerospace industry. Aerospace Corporation, a federally-funded research and development center (FFRDC), based in El Segundo and supporting mission assurance and research for the United State Air Force was a return visitor to our humble forum. We thank Dr. Christopher Zeineh for bringing another exciting current topic (MarsHop) in Aerospace’s research, this time with NASA and their Mars Exploration program.

Dr. Chris Zeineh of Aerospace Corporation presents at the 2019 RRS symposium on a project to increase the quantity of Mars soil samples in upcoming missions including Mars 2020.

Also, the RRS would like to thank Jacky Calvignac of Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems (NGIS) from their Redondo Beach office giving an excellent presentation on spacecraft refueling systems. Northrop Grumman (formerly TRW many years ago) has been a big supporter of Los Angeles community events and we are blessed to have them share their work with our public audience.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards AFB, CA, was another one of our featured presenters at the RRS symposium. The RRS thanks Nils Sedano and Phuoc Hai Tran for making the long journey from the high desert of Mojave to be with us and share the exciting research done at AFRL Edwards AFB.

Leo Aerospace, a Gardena-based start-up company, was another one of the RRS’s presenters at the symposium. Leo Aerospace founders, Abishek Murali and Dane Rudy, gave our audience an exciting description of their low-cost concept to sending cubesats to low-earth orbit. Their unconventional hybrid approach uses a hot air balloon to lift a small launch vehicle above most of the atmosphere then using a small rocket to reach space. The launcher concept is sometimes referred to as a “rockoon”.

Additive Rocket Corporation (ARC) of San Diego, California, made an excellent presentation of their patented approach to advanced rocket engine design through the amazing possibilities of 3D metal printing.

Additive Rocket Corporation (ARC) of San Diego discuss their advanced technology at their exhibit
Additive Rocket Corporation at the 2019 RRS symposium

RRS member, Alastair Martin, was exhibiting his company, Production Tribe LLC, and WatchHollywood.TV. He was filming many of the presentations during the symposium. His latest project, Rocket Talk Radio, is a podcast program discussing current topics in rocketry and space exploration.

Alastair Martin and his exhibit at the 2019 RRS symposium
Alastair Martin films a presentation at the 2019 RRS symposium

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Community Safety Partnership (LAPD CSP) were our honored guests and exhibitors in the main lobby. LAPD CSP helped the RRS in welcoming our visitors and showcasing the fun we’ve all shared. For almost two years, the RRS has conducted educational programs with local schools in Watts, Compton and others across Los Angeles. The “Rockets in the Projects” program continues to go strong with another program planned for this summer, and possibly again in the fall.

LAPD officers at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena supporting the 2019 RRS symposium

We also were glad to welcome Mad Mike Hughes and new member, Waldo Stakes, to the symposium for the first time. Mad Mike brought his latest manned suborbital steam rocket vehicle for display in the north parking lot of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena.

Mad Mike Hughes (left) and Waldo Stakes (right) stand in front of “Juan Pollo” the manned steam rocket being tested and flown.

The Titan rover team of CSU Fullerton had their rover on display with frequent demonstrations of its agility and ability to test technologies for future Mars and Moon exploration.

The Titan Rover team of CSU Fullerton was a big hit at the 2019 RRS symposium. Their engineers gave demonstrations out front of the community center for most of the day.
CSU Fullerton presents their Titan Rover project at the 2019 RRS symposium

The RRS was glad to welcome back the Columbia Memorial Space Center of Downey, California. Similar to the RRS, they are an educational non-profit group working with local schools throughout the Los Angeles area.

Columbia Memorial Space Center of Downey, California, at the 2019 RRS symposium

One of our special guests at the RRS symposium was Deputy Fire Marshal, Ramiro Rodriguez of the California Fire Marshal’s (CALFIRE) office in Hollywood. Ramiro gave a great presentation to our amateur and professional rocketry audience on the subject of state regulations as they apply to our hobby and the licensing of pyrotechnic operators in the state of California. Ramiro has been very helpful with the RRS and is an advocate of rocketry in California. Ramiro was available to discuss licensing and permitting processes with our public audience throughout the day in the exhibition hall.

Ramiro Rodriguez of CALFIRE presents at the 2019 RRS Space and Rocketry Symposium

We had many university teams willing to share their latest success and challenges with their solid and liquid rocket projects.

University of California at Irvine showed up in force to support the 2019 RRS symposium

The UCLA Rocket Project is growing strong thanks to RRS member, Dave Crisalli. UCLA had a lot of new liquid rocket hardware on display at the exhibition.

UCLA Rocket Project on display at the 2019 RRS symposium
USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (RPL) shows the latest static hot-fire results from their Traveller IV vehicle; The RRS MTA was glad to support USC
University of California San Diego presents their Collossus portable and modular thrust stand for small liquid rocket testing

The United States Air Force was one of featured guests at the exhibition. Lt. Col. Porter of Los Angeles AFB was giving demonstrations all day to our public audience.

Lt Col. Porter of the USAF Space and Missile Command at LA AFB gives a demonstration at the 2019 RRS symposium

Next to Lt. Col. Porter was Karen Austin of the USAF Space and Missile Center’s (SMC) Heritage Center dedicated to showcasing the long history of the US Air Force and our national defense in space. Her presentation at the symposium on the US Air Force in Space was very well received. The RRS is very grateful to the USAF SMC at LA AFB for supporting our event.

Karen Austin of the SMC Heritage Center at Los Angeles AFB at her exhibit in the 2019 RRS symposium

The events at the 2019 RRS symposium were not limited to the exhibition hall, ballroom and lobby. We had several outdoor demonstrations of a pneumatic paper rocket launcher. This is always a big hit. The popularity was so great that the RRS had to build one of our own!

Lunch time break at the symposium brought most people outside to enjoy the cool weather in late April 2019

I have several more photos from other people who were kind enough to document the event. I would like to thank all who came to the event and hope we’ll see everyone back at our next symposium. The RRS was glad to welcome new members and returning members throughout the day. Some of our members traveled far to be with us for this special annual event. We were also glad to receive a few membership applications at the event. The RRS is glad to welcome new members anytime.

RRS president, Osvaldo Tarditti (left) and new member, Joseph Maydell, joining us from Tampa, Florida
James Cox stands before his small copper thrust chamber at the RRS welcoming table at the 2019 symposium
RRS Treasurer, Chris Lujan, manages the audio, video and projection for the presentations.

The RRS membership voted last year that we would not hold our symposium in 2020. We will be focusing on our current projects and saving our resources for an even larger symposium event in 2021. The RRS is glad to have had three solid years of the symposium and great support from our participants.

The RRS front table welcomes our guests as the 2019 RRS symposium begins
The Reaction Research Society exhibit in the main lobby of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center

Our next monthly meeting of the RRS will be May 10th at 7:30pm, following our standard 2nd Friday convention. We meet at the same place, the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. Please stop by if you’re interested in learning more. We’ll be discussing the symposium and the many projects we have in store for this summer.

The RRS flag flies above the door into the exhibition hall at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center at the 2019 Space and Rocketry Symposium

Speaker List for the 2019 RRS Symposium

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The RRS is glad to announce our list of presenters at the 2019 Reaction Research Society Space and Rocketry Symposium on Saturday, April 27, 2019. This all-day public event will be starting at 8:45am, at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, California and run to 5pm. The community center is right next door to the Gardena Police Department.

Welcome to all space and rocketry enthusiasts!

Sessions will be 25 minutes each with a brief 5-minute question and answer period. We’re glad to have representatives from industry, federal and state government agencies and academia all present for this event. We’re also glad to the many exhibitors including Rocketry Organization of California, Spaceport LA, Aerospace Corporation and Additive Rocket Corporation joining us in the ballroom.

The morning schedule for the 2019 RRS symposium

Breaking the list into two parts, the symposium continues into the afternoon. We have decided not to hold the panel session at the end as we were able to fill our roster quite easily. We’re very thankful to the many presenters able to come share their thoughts and ideas with our public audience.

The afternoon schedule for the 2019 RRS sympsoium

The symposium as of this posting has 380 (free) tickets sold on Eventbrite. We expect to have the same great crowd as last year and hopefully more can share the event with us. This will be our last symposium for at least two years, so please come join us if you can. If not, you can always find us at the next RRS monthly meeting (May 10, 2019).

The Reaction Research Society is proud to hold the 2019 Space and Rocketry Symposium at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, CA, April 27, 2019, starting at 8:45am.

Ken Nakaoka Community Center
1670 West 162nd Street
Gardena, California, 90247
(310) 217-9537

Gardena is in the south bay of Los Angeles
Easy access from the I-405 on Western Avenue or using the CA Hwy. 91

Come see what we have in store for 2019!

April 2019 meeting

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The RRS held our monthly meeting on April 12, 2019 at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. We had a full agenda with the 2019 RRS symposium just around the corner on Saturday, April 27th.

The symposium is just around the corner

We first welcomed two new members, Keith Yoerg and Jonathan Martinez. Keith is active with Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) at the Compton Airport and has given many educational programs to local schools. He’s also a graduate of USC and a former member of their Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (RPL). Jonathan Martinez joins the RRS as a student member from Compton High School. He’s been working at TAM and the RRS hopes to help him in his new project to hot-fire a liquid rocket.

Keith Yoerg (left) watches Waldo Stakes (right) show off the gas generator injector he brought to the meeting.
New RRS member, Jonathan Martinez (left) and Wilbur Owens (right) at the April 2019 meeting of the RRS.

We next talked about the recent launch event with LAPD CSP and Compton Elementary. The “Rockets in the Projects” program is going strong and we were glad to welcome Compton Elementary to our workspace and launchpad in the Mojave Desert.

Dave Crisalli, our pyro-op for the event, gives the safety briefing to all attendees including Compton Elementary, LAPD and USC RPL

Under very pleasant weather, we had a good launch event starting with a tour, safety briefing and the kids finally getting a chance to see their rockets fly into the blue sky. Osvaldo had a seventh alpha rocket with a parachute system, but somehow failed to deploy. USC static-fired a six-inch custom solid motor.

An alpha assembled at Compton Elementary streaks away from the box rails at the RRS MTA
USC’s six-inch solid composite grain motor burns for full duration at the RRS MTA. A second motor will be integrated into the Traveller IV vehicle that USC will launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico

After Compton Elementary and LAPD CSP went home, Osvaldo, Frank, Larry and I did a little reconnaissance for the alphas we flew at the event. We were able to find 3 of the original 6 and one more alpha from the past MTA launch event. The higher level winds have been carrying the alphas in a more northerly direction west of the launch rails. For reference, Osvaldo recorded the following coordinates for one of the alphas found: 35* 21′ 16.83″ North, 117* 48′ 50.03″ West.

Using the local wildflowers, Larry marks the location of a newly recovered alpha from the last MTA launch event

The 2019 RRS symposium was the next topic. We have over 300 Eventbrite tickets sold at the time of the meeting. The symposium has confirmed a full roster of speakers including AFRL Edwards AFB, Northrop-Grumman, USAF SMC. We decided not to hold the panel discussion this year. The symposium will start at 8:45AM on Saturday, April 27th.

Frank Miuccio goes over the preparations for the 2019 RRS symposium to be held on Saturday, April 27, 2019

The Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena will allow us to set up the night before (4/26/19) at 7pm until they close at 9pm. There’s a lot of work to be done and we hope all of our membership can come out on Friday and help us with setting up tables and hanging the sign outside.

We also hope all of our membership can help at the symposium on Saturday (4/27/2019) as well. The Ken Nakaoka Community Center opens at 8AM, we will have just a little bit of time to get ready before the event begins at 8:45am with our RRS president, Osvaldo Tarditti, giving the introductory presentation.

RRS member group photo from last year’s 75th anniversary symposium (1943-2018)

The next topic of discussion at the April 2019 meeting was facility improvements at the RRS MTA. The society has decided to invest in upgrading our blockhouse and building a new restroom facility at the site for better creature comfort for the increasing number of guests we’re having each year. Osvaldo has been working up the plans for these two facility improvements and will get bids very soon.

We also hope to solicit donations from the public at the symposium to help the society reach our goals for these facility improvement projects. To anyone wishing to make a monetary donation to the RRS, you can use the “DONATE” button on the RRS.ORG homepage which connects to Paypal. Please leave us a note and accept our thanks. The society is striving to improve our facilities as we prepare to have more events this year.

Osvaldo also told us more about the RRS participating with CALFIRE in their review of the state laws governing amateur rocketry. Members of the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) organization have also been working with CALFIRE on this important committee. It is the goal of the RRS to inform the public and governing agencies on ways to make the law reasonable, practical and just to the amateur rocketry as we uphold our commitment to public safety. CALFIRE has been very supportive of our hobby and we are building stronger relationships with the State of California and our fellow rocketry organizations.

Dave Crisalli (RRS member), Larry Hoffing (RRS events coordinator), Ramiro Rodriguez (CALFIRE) and Osvaldo Tarditti (RRS president) at the RRS MTA launch event on 4/6/2019

Discussion on our last topic on the agenda was about the RRS’s participation with the base11 project. We were not able to talk about this subject in much detail as closing time had fast approached. As an educational non-profit group, the RRS has a charter to support university groups. The base11 project is very ambitious in its goal of student-run teams building and flying a liquid rocket to an altitude of 100 km or higher. This multi-year program will be a challenge on many levels both financial and technical. The RRS is happy to support the base11 Space Challenge at the RRS MTA.

The RRS is proud to support teams for the Base11 Space Challenge

The remaining agenda topics will be covered in next month’s meeting including the quarterly progress update on the SuperDosa project and the RRS partnership with Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM).

The Reaction Research Society meets the 2nd Friday of each month at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, California, at 7:30pm.

The RRS is very exciting about the projects we have planned for this summer. Our next monthly meeting will be Friday, May 10th, 2019 at 7:30pm.