March 2016 meeting

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The March 2016 meeting took place on the 11th. Osvaldo called the meeting to order just after 8pm.

Chris Lujan found a graphite material supplier in Long Beach who is willing to give away his scrap stock. The supplier was encouraged to donate thanks to the RRS having 501(c)3 status.  A date for the pickup was being discussed (Monday, the 21st?).   Round graphite stock would make an attractive high temperature nozzle for future builds.

Steve Majdali found a new supplier of electric matches.  He bought a set to do some quality tests to see how reliable they are.

MJG – Electric Match

A new blockhouse to replace the old one at the MTA is still the main priority which may be paid largely with RRS funds.  The RRS would still appreciate donations to help supplement the cost of this important addition to the MTA to safely operate closer to the launch pads.  Currently, launches are done from the safety of the spectator viewing area, but it is a much longer distance to run the wiring and conduct the launches.

A new restroom facility at the MTA is still under consideration. The society has been looking at different options and looking to build up quotes to make a nicer outdoor facility to our guests and members.  National and State Parks often have good remote toilet facilities.  The cost of the new restroom facility will be substantial and the society is looking for donations.   We have a donations link on this same RRS webpage for anyone that’d like to contribute to better creature comforts at the MTA. I’ve put it below for convenience.

Donate to the RRS

MakerLab has partnered with Meltdown Comics in downtown LA. MakerSpace is an event held every 2nd Saturday.  Larry was contacted by MakerSpace to bring an RRS rocket design and hold a build session to make Alpha rockets.  The fees collected at the event would be split between the RRS and the MakerSpace hosts.  There was some interest but no date has been set yet for this event.

Meltdown Comics – Los Angeles

Chris volunteered to create learning materials to explain to participants about the fundamentals behind the rocket build and launching. The objective is to give participants more than just a recipe for building but the reasons behind why things are made in certain ways and why things done the way they are.

Osvaldo recommended creating learning materials for three different levels of education (grade school, middle school, high school).  Subjects like rocket propulsion (how it works, basic thermodynamics), rocket structures, trajectory predictions, tracking and quick math tricks could be introduced.  Dave volunteered to create a template of such a plan next week. He’ll pass it to Chris for comments from other members.   The draft of these learning materials can be reviewed at the April meeting.  Larry and John have already given presentations before which will be valuable information to include.  In the end, it will be good to produce something that can bring the excitement of rocket technology to all ages.

Frank brought a video presentation he compiled from footage taken during the build sessions at Hermosa HS and the launch event at the MTA February 27th.  A link to Frank’s compilation of footage is below.  Some of the footage was by a drone flown by one of the parents.  There’s some really great shots in there!

Frank’s compilation of Hermosa event 2-27-2016

Frank also showed footage of USC’s latest launch at the MTA that same Saturday, the 27th.  New video is available at the USC RPL website

USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory

There was discussion about holding the April meeting at the USC campus like what was done last year.  This is a convenient time for the USC students to help summarize their work before the summer starts.  It’s also a great opportunity to see firsthand the USC campus and the rocket lab, if such a tour will be done this year.  More will be posted as this topic develops.

No launches at the MTA were scheduled for our regular Saturday, March 19th.  I hope to have something ready for April’s launch date of April 16th.

Osvaldo’s fin attachment jig will have to wait for next meeting in April.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 pm.  Next RRS meeting is scheduled for April 8th.  Location will be at the Gardena Community Center unless we confirm that it will be on the USC campus.   More information about the April meeting at USC will be coming as soon as I have something to post.

February 2016 meeting

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The RRS held our monthly meeting as scheduled, February 12, 2016.  Osvaldo called the meeting to order just before 8:00 pm.

On January 23rd, USC had three static fire tests at the RRS MTA with a 4″ x 18″ motor size. Thrust levels of 150 lbf for a duration of around 6 seconds with chamber pressures of 700 psig were measured.  Retaining ring failed on the second test.

Next launch at the MTA will be on February 27th with 10 students from Hermosa Valley Middle School launching Alphas. We hope to have an event like this once per trimester. Osvaldo built a really nice wooden carrying case for up to five alpha tubes which Larry was using to great convenience.

Questions about the purity of the zinc and sulfur in the RRS stock has come into question as the micrograin performance has been decreasing.  Chris found a process to purify the sulfur oxidizer. He is going to try the process on a small batch at the MTA.

Discussion of micrograin loading methods besides the typical “load a little, then gently bounce the casing” method were discussed.  Tamping the mixture from the top down historically has proven to be unreliable.  Casting the zinc-sulfur mixture using isopropyl alcohol was suggested but the drying process is very slow.  Frank had suggested using something neutral like flour to test the effectiveness of different loading methods by measuring the mass of the loaded powder in a standard sized case (known volume).

George Dosa who had a folder of many different publications of his from the RRS. He had pamphlets on practical topics in rocket building such as parachutes, nose cones, fin-and-bracket assemblies and flight tracking techniques. Some of these are already scanned in our RRS library.

George suggested having a symposium in the large hall in the Gardena Community Center as had been done in the past.   Participants such as experts from universities such USC, UCSD, UCLA and CSULB, organizations like the Calif. Science Center, and possibly people from industry (SpaceX, Aerojet-Rocketdyne,JPL) would give talks to the public on rocketry.

Frank showed a video about the Challenger disaster that happened 30 years ago on January 28th.  “Major Malfunction: Revisiting Challenger”.  Lots of good facts on the aspects of the launch and the decisions made prior to launch.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:29pm.  Osvaldo had promised a “show and tell” presentation for a rocket fin welding technique which can be brought up at the next meeting in March.   Next meeting will be Friday, March 11th.

 

First RRS meeting of 2016

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We held our RRS meeting at our usual location at the Gardena Community Center in Gardena, CA, January 8, 2016.

We started at our usual time, 7:30pm.
Osvaldo brought the meeting to order just a little before 8PM.

At this first meeting of the new year (2016), we were visited by George Dosa, one of the earliest members of the RRS. He talked about the old days of the RRS, firing rockets near what is now LAX, and his time at NCR.

John Mariano mentioned the time the RRS was on TV and his last-minute handkerchief-based advertisement for the RRS that he created then popped up for the camera.

The other hot topic of conversation was the recent (Dec. 21, 2015) first-stage recovery of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 just before the end of the year. Frank showed the video footage at the meeting. It is another amazing milestone achieved in the pursuit of reusable spaceflight vehicles.
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Frank also showed some of the great 3-D video footage from USC’s successful rocket flight at the MTA in November.

USC’s Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (USC-RPL) website has more to see, including previous launches.
USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory

Larry (who was absent) had mentioned to Osvaldo that the Hermosa High School launch event at the RRS’ Mojave Test Area (MTA) last year (October 2015) was so successful that more kids and their parents have expressed interest in doing another launch event. Last year’s event had ten (10) participants build and launch their own RRS Alphas and was a strong success. The society is in discussions about how and when this might take place.

The discussion proceeded to upgrading the personnel facilities at MTA site including rebuilding the blockhouse and adding a better toilet on the site. It was felt that the society ought to pursue the rebuilding of the blockhouse first.
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Some discussion was made about different toilet systems used at remote sites that the society could acquire. There was a strong interest in making even some small improvements to our restroom facilities to be less rustic and more welcome for more visitors from the city.

Dave mentioned the need to have an appropriate first aid kit at the MTA. The fracking industry has kits available that are designed for similar hazards that may be faced at the MTA with rocket firings (eye injuries, mild and severe burns, sunburn, lacerations and possibly spider-bites or snake-bites). Osvaldo thought he may have an industrial first aid kit that could be specialized for our needs at the site.

Everybody comes out to the MTA prepared for sunburn and keeps hydrated. For the safety of our launches, we’re always weather-conscious.  The RRS has had a good safety record, but being prepared to mitigate an emergency after an accident is always a good thing.
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No one had indicated an interest in conducting any testing, firings or launches at the MTA at this month’s usual date (3rd Saturday of the month) January 16, 2016.

Our next RRS meeting will be Friday, February 12, 2016. Same place, same time.

The meeting adjourned just after 9:45PM.
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