Tag Archives: RRS elections

December 2021 Virtual Meeting

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by Keith Yoerg (RRS Secretary)

The latest meeting of the Reaction Research Society took place by teleconference on Friday, December 10th and had twelve attendees.

Screenshot of discussion during the monthly meeting

RECAP OF KEITH YOERG’S NOVEMBER LAUNCH OF “THE HAWK”

Keith kicked off the meeting with a recap of the first launch of his rocket “The Hawk” an 8-inch diameter 14-foot tall rocket that was flown from the RRS Mojave Test Area on November 28th. The rocket utilized the 1515 rail launcher which was secured in place to one of the concrete pads using sandbags and tie-downs. The motor was a 98mm Cesaroni M1790 Skidmark which features sparks in the trail.

First launch of Keith Yoerg’s rocket “The Hawk”

Keith shared some slow-motion video of the flight captured with a GoPro camera and other data from the flight, including a 3D flight path. The rocket reached an altitude of 4,846 feet as measured by the barometer on the onboard AltusMetrum Telemega flight computer, and was successfully recovered with only minimal damage to the body tube. The rocket is in the process of being prepared for another launch on December 17th to coincide with the anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight.

Map of the flight path with barometric altitudes in red and GPS in blue. The GPS appears less reliable on this flight.

RESULTS OF THE 2022 RRS EXECUTIVE COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Election chairman Drew Cortopassi presented the results of the 2022 executive council elections. The RRS Executive Council for 2022 is as follows:

President:    David Nordling
Vice President:    Frank Miuccio
Secretary:    Keith Yoerg
Treasurer:    Larry Hoffing

The society members in attendance congratulated the incoming new president and other incumbent officers and expressed their gratitude to outgoing president Osvaldo Tarditti for his stewardship of the organization. Osvaldo noted that the future of the group looks bright, and promised to send anyone who asks him a question a photo of him fishing.

USC SOLID ROCKET GRAINS STATIC FIRING

Osvaldo and Dimitri provided a recap of the lengthy solid rocket motor testing campaign that USC conducted at the MTA from December 4-5. On Saturday the 4th, the team worked through the night until around 2 am to be able to complete their goal of firing 20 separate grains of solid fuel by 2:45 pm on Sunday the 5th. The only reported mishap was that the U-Haul the USC team rented broke down just after leaving the dirt road to the MTA, which Dimitri suspected was because they had been using the battery from it to fire the rocket motors.

While the campaign was an ambitious one, the repetitious nature allowed them to get some of the younger students involved who wouldn’t normally be able to take part in on a day when only one motor is being fired. It was remarked that having more young members with hands-on experience is very good for the future of their program and the continuity of knowledge after the upperclassmen graduate. Dimitri mentioned that additional work will be needed to fill in the area of ground blasted away by all the recent USC solid rocket static firings – which has been affectionately named the “Trojan Trench.”

On the same weekend, a team at the FAR launch site launched their “Genesis” rocket – a hypergolic liquid propellant rocket that has been in development since the early 1980’s. Several RRS members had worked on the rocket at various times during its design and fabrication process. Unfortunately, the parachute system did not work and the tanks ruptured on the landing causing a small fire that self-extinguished but was visible from the MTA.

A THANK-YOU FOR DIMITRI’S RECENT WORK AT THE MTA

Our outgoing president, Osvaldo Tarditti, took a moment to extend a special thank you to RRS member Dimitri Timohovich for all of the recent work he has done in improving the facilities we have available at the MTA. Not only did he take the lead in the recent blockhouse roof repair which included several trips up to the site for the initial build, cutting the edges, and installing the tar paper, but he also donated four propane bottles for the society to use in the heaters and BBQ up at the Dosa Building.

The old blockhouse with a new roof.

In addition, Dimitri has agreed to take on the bulk of the work in building out the interior of the containerized bathroom. Three concrete pads have been poured at the MTA to accommodate this 20-foot high cube container as well as another one adjacent to it.

Future site of the RRS containerized restroom facility.

Osvaldo has procured most of the fixtures for the interior and plans to drop them off at Dimitri’s house – where the container will be delivered so that he can work on it more easily. Dimitri gave a tentative timeline of mid-January 2022 for when the container may be ready for transport out to the MTA.

PLANNING FOR MTA EVENT ON DECEMBER 17

Keith discussed his plans for a second launch of “The Hawk” on Friday, December 17th – this time on a Cesaroni N2600 motor. In addition, Dimitri has an RRS Standard Alpha rocket constructed and ready for launch and Osvaldo agreed to prepare one for Keith to get experience with the Zinc-Sulphur rockets. Dimitri volunteered to bring food for the group – award winning caribou chili made from meat they hunted, dressed, and prepped themselves in Alaska.

CALIFORNIA’S NEWEST ROCKETS CLASS 1 PYROTECHNICS OPERATOR

RRS member Dave Nordling informed the group that he recently learned that he passed his Class 1 Rockets Pyrotechnic Operator’s License exam. Congratulations Dave!

Office of the State Fire Marshall (OSFM) governs the licensing of pyrotechnic operators in California.

With additional members continuing to work towards earning their licenses, we can make sure that the RRS is able to accommodate a wide range of rocketry testing and schedule requests.

NEXT MONTHLY MEETING

As a reminder – yearly membership dues are due January 1st. Please click on the yellow “Donate” button on the right panel of this website to pay online via PayPal, or mail a check to the society post office box in Los Angeles.

Reaction Research Society; P. O. Box 90933; Los Angeles, California, 90009-0933

The next RRS monthly meeting will be held virtually on Friday, January 14th at 7:30 pm pacific time. Current members will receive an invite via e-mail the week of the meeting. Non-members (or members who have not received recent invites) can request an invitation by sending an email to:

secretary@rrs.org

Please check your spam folders and add secretary@rrs.org to your email whitelist to make sure you are receiving the meeting invitation.

November 2019 meeting

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by Dave Nordling, Secretary, Reaction Research Society

The Reaction Research Society (RRS) held it’s monthly meeting on November 8, 2019 at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, California. The society had a full agenda plus our annual nominations for the executive council. Frank Miuccio attempted to establish a teleconference at the meeting to connect our director of research, Richard Garcia, and an outside organization that wanted to address the society. This teleconferencing was successful and the society will consider having more of these to help bring in more participants on special topics.

[1] Treasurer’s report on membership and dues status

The RRS treasurer is conducting a review of our membership roster to not only update our records with the many new members that have joined us this year, but also to determine the dues status for each. Like in all non-profit organizations, regular annual dues payment is essential to keeping the society funded for the many projects we do and are planning. Upgrades at the MTA are also impacted if our membership does not keep their dues payments current.

Chris’s report was not ready at this month’s meeting, but he will be soon notifying some of our delinquent members that they need to keep their dues paid to remain in active status. It is the duty of all RRS members to keep their contact information current with the RRS treasurer. The society can not be responsible for missing communications if our members do not do their part by making communication possible. Also, members who are not current in their dues payment risk losing their active status with the society.

treasurer@rrs.org

I have always paid my dues to the society on January 1st of each new year. This greatly simplifies the process and I need no reminder to do so. Membership dues ($40 USD per year) to the society can be paid through the “Donate” button on the RRS.ORG website which links to Paypal.

We remind all of our donors and those paying dues in this manner to include your name in the “Notes” section along with the purpose of your donation. Without including your name, the RRS can not tell who has paid their dues.

The RRS.ORG website has more information on this subject. For any questions, please contact the RRS treasurer.

[2] Update on the next RRS MTA launch event with LAPD CSP and 99th Street Elementary School

Frank, Larry and Osvaldo are in the middle of another class, this time with 99th Street Elementary in partnership with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Community Safety Partnership (CSP). The class is going well and the final launch event is still planned for Saturday, December 7, 2019.

At this same launch event, we are also planning to host the University of Southern California’s (USC) Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (RPL) with the launch of their latest solid motor powered rocket. USC has been making continuing progress even after their landmark flight to be the first university-built rocket to break the von Karman line into space.

[3] Preparations for the 2020 RRS symposium

With the society approving the symposium for our fourth year in a row, Frank is working with the Ken Nakaoka Community Center to establish the date. Tentatively, the 2020 RRS symposium will be held Saturday, March 28, 2020. The society has decided to try to hold the symposium earlier in the year to avoid the onset of the summer heat which makes the event very uncomfortable in the absence of climate control at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center.

Future site of the 2020 RRS symposium

More information on this subject will be posted as it develops. Our symposium coordinator for the 2020 event will again be our society vice president, Frank Miuccio.

vicepresident@rrs.org

[4] RRS solid propellant making classes at the MTA

The RRS has been approached by an outside organization about conducting solid propellant motor making classes. Many years ago, the RRS held a few of these events which became very popular. The RRS has not yet decided if we will restart these classes, but a group is examining the possibility and will report back to the society on the viability of such a project.

composite grain, before and after

[5] 2020 Constitutional Committee progress report

pending… carried over from October 2019 meeting report

[6] Annual elections for the RRS executive council

As required by our Constitution, the RRS appoints an election chairman to oversee and execute the process of nominations and balloting for each of the four executive council offices for new terms starting in the new calendar year. Larry Hoffing, again, agreed to be our election chairman for this cycle.

Nominations were held and were open to our administrative membership. Nominations were received and our election chairman will be sending out ballots by email. This is another good example of why all members should keep their contact information current and remain in active status with the society. Balloting will be closed prior to the next monthly meeting in December and the results announced at that meeting.

[7] CSFM committee on amateur rocketry

Last month, the RRS and Mark Holthaus of the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) met to discuss a list of proposed changes to the California State Fire Marshal’s (CSFM) definitions that govern amateur rocketry. This small group was intended to be made from active amateur rocketry groups around California to help advise the CSFM subcommittee on changes that would help improve regulation of amateur rocketry and make needed clarifications to help all groups continue to operate safely and legally.

from left to right, Mark Holthaus (Treasurer of FAR), Osvaldo Tarditti (RRS president), Larry Hoffing (RRS events coordinator), Dave Nordling (RRS secretary) meet to discuss proposed definition changes to CSFM laws governing amateur rocketry, 10/15/2019

The RRS and FAR held a second meeting at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center which included David Reese of the Rocketry Organization of California (ROC). ROC members, Chris Kobel and David Reese have been very helpful in providing helpful improvements to how the certain classes of rocketry are defined.

This amateur rocketry committee will be presenting their collective suggestions to the Fire Marshal in early December 2019. The RRS, FAR, ROC and the rest of the amateur rocketry groups in California are glad to assist the CSFM office in making these suggested updates.

[8] Social media updates

There was no report from Alastair Martin and/or Bill Janczewski this month for social media improvements for the Reaction Research Society. We hope to have more to discuss in the next month on this regular topic. As always, members are welcome to offer their advice and proposals to either or both of our media coordinators.

Alastair and I did have a conversation about expanding our following on Instagram. We will continue to show the highlights of our events and the people involved, but I hope to bring more technical content which seems to be our primary source of interest.

See the RRS on Instagram: reactionresearchsociety

Alastair and his production company, Production Tribe LLC, has created yet another podcast in the “Before SpaceX” series with special guest, rocket propulsion expert, author and RRS member, James R. “Jim” French. RRS secretary, Dave Nordling, and RRS director of research, Richard Garcia, supported this excellent discussion about the American Rocket Company (AMROC), a space start-up company in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The show is still in editing and will be posted very soon his website.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rocket-talk-radio/id1474556513

[9] Compton Comet STEM club formation and program

Several students from the Compton College STEM club attended the November meeting of the RRS along with their advisor and fellow RRS member, Kent Schwitkis. Jamie Alvarez, the STEM club president was in attendance. The Compton Comet is the project name for the liquid rocket projects that the Compton College team is working on. There are about 20 students in the group and the RRS is glad to support this team and the other university teams looking to compete or at least expand their range of practical skills.

The Compton Comet team has been holding meetings at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) at the Compton/Woodley airport. They are planning a few trips to inspect launch and additional hardware assembly sites and make a report back to the RRS at the December 2019 meeting. RRS member, Waldo Stakes, has also been an important part of this program.

The STEM club is having another Estes rocket competition later this month. The first of these events was very successful. Part of the experience is getting practice with the simpler rockets and using OpenRocket simulation software to make and verify predictions.

IN CLOSING

RRS members, Frank Miuccio, Alastair Martin and Kent Schwitkis contributed to this report. The next RRS meeting will be December 13, 2019. If there are any corrections or additions to make for the monthly report, please contact the RRS secretary.

secretary@rrs.org