Tag Archives: restroom

MTA Work Event, 2024-02-17

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by Joel Cool-Panama, Secretary, RRS.ORG

This is a summary of the goals and accomplishments at the MTA work event of February 17, 2024.  In attendence were members Dave Nordling, Bill Inman, Bill Nelson, Osvaldo Tarditti and Joe Dominguez.  The society facilities manager, Dimitri Timohovich and our director of research, Rushd Julfiker also attended.

Dave Nordling and Bill Nelson assembled kitchen shelving units in the Bldg 14 office.  The society food stuffs and kitchenware were moved into the newly organized office. A desk and file cabinet are expected to arrive once suitable items can be found.

Osvaldo Tarditti worked on the shower in the restroom facility, Bldg 12

Dimitri moved the new diesel generator into the 10-foot locking container, newly designated “G2”.  Weld repair of the 60-foot launch rail structures began on Sunday, 2/18/2024.

Next work event is planned for March 2, 2024, to continue many of the same tasks.  American Artist and representatives of LACMA will be visiting the MTA on Thursday, March 7, 2024.  Keith Yoerg’s drone footage of the MTA in its most recent configuration was very helpful to the production team.

Next monthly meeting will be held March 8, 2024 as always on the second Friday of each month at the front office of the Compton/Woodley Airport.

MTA Launch Event, 2023-11-24

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by Dave Nordling, President, RRS.ORG

The RRS met at the Mojave Test Area for a work event on the 60-foot launch rail project. While we were there, we had a launch or two thanks to Bill Inman and Keith Yoerg. The pyrotechnic operator in charge for that day was Keith Yoerg.

Bill brought one of his older rocket bodies. Unfortunately he had a mishandling error on the pad which broke one of his fins requiring repair. His mission was to test the avionics package that he will use in flight on the Solar Cat. Keith launched some smaller Estes model rockets to show one of our youngest potential members the basics of rocketry.

The work event benefited from having Osvaldo Tarditti, Joe Dominguez and Dimitri Timohovich moving the donated ham radio tower to the 40-foot flatbed next to Bldg. 11 for inspection. The goal was to fully extend the tower and examine its condition to see what modifications are necessary to use it in our 60-foot launch rail design.

Our thanks goes to member, Waldo Stakes, for finding and donating this old galvanized steel ham radio tower which can be reinforced, modified and slightly lengthened to create the stiff backbone for the launch rail guide. The tower was designed to be extensible, but the society will fully extend and fuse it at its full length. Several areas of repair were identified but with a little persistence and forcible persuasion, the structure was extended in preparation for the next event when our welder will start the initial work at the next work event in 2 weeks.

Our director of research, Rushd Julfiker, was selected as the project manager for this major infrastructure item that should allow university teams to launch from the RRS Mojave Test Area. With the basic requirements set at the first meeting, the sketches produced will be converted to CAD drawing files with Rushd’s assistance. Initial material procurement will begin as the backbone frame has been found to be acceptable for use in the design.

The loads are being carefully calculated along with sizing the dual-acting hydraulic ram system for raising and lowering. Waldo Stakes also found a pair of 3-inch cylinders and an electric hydraulic pump in surplus and donated them to the society. Their specifications are being assessed if they can be used which would save some costs.

In the days following the event, we put in wooden privacy panels in the windows of Bldg’s 14 and 15 both for security and improved insulation. The society will soon be discussing how to minimally furnish the interiors for functional needs only including some storage of our consumables. No pyrotechnics will be stored in these containers. Both Bldg 14 and 15 have air conditioners and insulation but still require connections to power. In the short term, each can be powered by our portable gasoline generator. In the near term, once fully funded the society will power both assets from a larger diesel generator we recently acquired.

Dimitri spoke about finding another 40-foot container which could be used for an on-site workshop at the RRS MTA (potentially new Bldg. 16). The council will have to consider this addition at the next meeting.

Lastly, Dimitri installed a solar powered light just above one of the restroom doors which will help our overnight guests find their way to sanitary relief on a moonless night.

Our launch pad pour was delayed to December 9th due to concrete availability. We’re making it thicker than most anticipating the greater loads of the launch rail structure. Our next work event at the MTA will coincide with the pad pour where we will continue the 60-foot launch rail work starting with the launch rail backbone. Materials will be procured in advance of the next meeting.

Also, our last monthly meeting of the year will be the day before, December 8th, 7:30pm, where election results for next year’s executive council will be announced. Also, it was declared that the December meeting will be our much anticipated pizza party funded by the accumulated funds from the RRS Amazon Smile account, now discontinued. Please arrive early at the front office of the Compton/Woodley Airport.

June 2023 Meeting

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by Joel Cool-Panama, Secretary, RRS.ORG

The Reaction Research Society held its monthly meeting at the Compton/Woodley Airport location, 7:30 PM PST.

Agenda topics of the meeting were:

  • Wolfram launch on 5/20 cancelled, postponed
  • Lynwood Unified Girl STEM conference, 6/1
  • Funding received for 60ft launch rail, prefabbed containers, solar panels
  • USC upgrade proposal for horizontal pad
  • 6/10 UCLA launch event
  • 7/21 Aerospace launch event
  • Larry CalFire recommendation letters
  • Discussion of 45kW power generator purchase
    • Our current generator is only 7kW
    • Society will likely need to replace the current generator
  • Liquids and Cryogenic Fluid Handling class
    • Cryogenic Training, Colorado School of Mines, 7/31-8/4

Past Events

There was a launch event scheduled for May 20th, held for society member Wolfram’s personal project. Unfortunately, he suffered from a pinched nerve on the day of the launch, and chose not to make the drive to the MTA while dealing with the pain. We’ll have future opportunities for Wolfram’s next test flight of his 2-stage Gas Guzzler rocket.

On June 1st, Society Secretary represented the Society at the Lynwood Girl’s STEM conference. The Society was last represented at this event a few years ago, so it is appreciated that Joel took the time out of his busy schedule to attend.

The Society is pleased to announce that we have received funding for a number of planned improvements to the MTA. Some of the money is set to pay for new solar panels, as well as to pay for the previously installed one. Two other items paid for here are a prefabbed containers, one a 20ft office space, and the other a 40ft crew cabin. Finally, and arguably the most important, is money for a proposed 60ft launch rail for liquid rockets. A final design for the same has not been chosen yet, but proposals are currently being sought out from various sources by the Executive Council.

Current Events

USC is currently proposing making improvements to the short launch tower at the MTA. Our contact who has proposed this project is currently set to graduate from the school this year, so time is likely of the essence. His proposal however, surely to everyone’s pleasure, is to set female anchors into the concrete pad.

There is a launch event set for June 10th. There are two groups who will be using the site on that day. One is a children’s group led by Frank and Larry. They will be launching B and C rockets, and Baby Berthas. The second group to use the site on that day will be UCLA, who will be launching F and G rockets. This is a senior capstone project for their students. At the same time, Dave and Joel will be traveling there to handle UCLA, and Dave will be bringing some more supplies for the restroom.

In regards to the restroom, Dave is pleased to announce that it has passed the initial tests, and is functional. However, the water heater for the shower and sink has not yet been installed. It’s first live demonstration will be at the 6/10 Launch Event tomorrow.

The society is pleased to announce that we had a new member attend our meeting this month. Adrew Fuller is an intern at Northrop Grumman, and was invited by his coworker and fellow member, Michael R. During the discussion with him, it was brought up that a Northrop Grumman internet launch event might be proposed.

Also, Bill Inmann mentioned towards the end of the meeting that he’s made some upgrades to his Solar Cat steam rocket. He has apparently made the controls of the rocket wholey wireless, which could improve safety immensley.

*Future Events

On July 21st, the Aerospace Corporation is set to have a launch event at the MTA. Aerospace has agreed to pay the full MTA price, for what will be an internet launch event. Aerospace employee Jerry Fuller is also set to do a hybrid launch.

Society Treasurer Larry has previously expressed a desire to discuss Calfire recommendation letters, however, as of the time of this meeting, he has requested that the discussion be tabled. It was mentioned by other members that Caleb Phillips is our contact at Calfire, and he has apparently made some comments in regards to the difficulties in acquiring the number of recommendations required for obtaining a license. One idea suggested is the minimum number being no more than some proportion of current license holders in total. It was also brought that, in regards to obtaining a class 3 license, CALFIRE truly only asks for a few recommendations from other Pyro-ops, and will accept some references from non-family me,bers which are only character references in nature.

Another future issue discussed was in regards to the purchase of a 45kw power generator. It needs to be determined what are the MTA’s power needs, and this will have to be done by measuring the appliances there. It should also be determined how many appliances should be in operation at once on the site. It was suggested that we should ask FAR what their average power usage is, to use as a baseline. The importance of this discussion will increase as time continues on, since the Society will need obtain a new generator in the next several years.

In regards to upgrades, the Society’s donors would like to receive an all-in figure the cost of upgrades we would like. President Dave has been working on producing a figure, and our donors haven’t yet agreed to it as a whole, but our best bet is to try and demonstrate our ability to carry out the upgrades in a timely fashion, and on budget, in order to make use of their generosity.

Regarding usage of the MTA, Vice-President Frank has scheduled another class. This one is for the Boyle Heights YMCA. He’s currently planning to host their launch on September 9th.

Keith Yoerg has again brought up that the society could surely use more launchers at the MTA. If they were portable then they would be better yet, since they could be repositioned as needed, to be best viewed from the blockhouse. He has again mentioned that he would like to see regularly scheduled events held at the MTA, to drum up interest in rocketry, and the Society. Keith and Michael Rouleau were going to investigate designs of a multi-rail launcher with six 1010 rails. The council approved funding for this important improvement to aid in future launch events.

Frank was also pleased to announce that Mary Star, the location for this year’s Symposium, has already scheduled us to host it there again next year, on April 13th. Having a set date and location will make planning much easier than it was this year, and we are pleased again with Frank’s hard work.

The next society meeting will be on July 14th, 2023, at the Compton/Woodley Airport location. Contact the secretary for details. We meet the 2nd Friday of each month at 7:30pm.