Tag Archives: symposium

75th anniversary for the RRS (1943-2018)

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It was on January 6, 1943, in Glendale, California, that our founder, George James started an amateur rocketry group that would become the Reaction Research Society. It is with great pleasure that we officially announce our 75th anniversary on this day, January 6, 2018.

The RRS turns 75 today.

As much as the world has changed in that time, our commitment to our core principles of learning, careful experimentation and sharing knowledge have not. It is with great pride that we celebrate this milestone year that few organizations have rivaled and that we today, more than ever, will remain vital in our Los Angeles community. We are most thankful to all of our former, past and current members for making our society possible over three quarters of a century.

The RRS is pleased to announce that a 75th anniversary issue of the Astro-Jet newsletter will be available for orders starting today. This is the same newsletter that George James issued quarterly and we are proud to mark this occasion with the Astro-Jet that many have loved over the years. The 75th anniversary Astro-Jet newsletter will be in print only and will not be posted online. Although this will be single issue, it will contain articles from many of our current and past members and including our founder, George James.

To those wanting to buy a copy, please contact the RRS secretary and provide your mailing address. We will, of course, not share your information outside of the society. Copies will (hopefully) be sent out this month. You can also use our “Donate” button (connected to Paypal) on the RRS.ORG website to buy your copies. Just be sure to make a specific note of “Astro-Jet” and how many copies you’re buying.

secretary@rrs.org

This special issue will be available in print only for a copy price of $10. This is fairly close to the same price of the Astro-Jet adjusted for inflation back in 1946. The proceeds will go to fund the many activities of the RRS including our upcoming 75th anniversary symposium on Saturday, April 14, 2018.

The start of this new year is also a good time to remind our current membership or those desiring to restart their membership that annual dues are $40 for members and $20 for student members. You can also use the RRS.ORG website’s “Donate” button (connected to Paypal) to pay your RRS dues, but please make a note of your name and that you are paying your “annual dues”.

Our next monthly meeting will be on Friday, January 12, 2018, at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, California. As always, we invite members current and past to join us. We also welcome newcomers who would like to learn more.

June 2017 meeting

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The monthly meeting of the RRS was held June 9, 2017, at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. The meeting was called to order at 7:45pm.

The launch event with UCLA was successful. We accomplished a lot with many different groups present. Again, we thank Dave Crisalli for being our pyro-op for the event. The RRS discussed the event and how we could manage these events in a more orderly fashion.

Several steps for improvement were discussed including tighter control of incoming vehicles and setting our operating procedure into written form for publication. In the future, the RRS should require all attendees to the MTA send their indemnification forms well in advance of the event so we know how many people we are expecting. Also, we need to use a full 10 second count instead of the 5 second count which will allow more time for the spotter to stop the launch if a problem is detected. An earlier draft of the RRS operational safety codes exists and was approved. The RRS secretary will circulate a new draft to the executive council before the next meeting on July 14th.

Minor facility improvements were discussed including how to mitigate the stifling heat at our desert site. Frank was willing to buy a water-fed misting fan that might help some people inside the Dosa building or perhaps inside the bunker. If the device works well, the RRS may consider buying a second unit to help create a small cooling space for those who are most affected by the heat.

I sat in my truck’s air conditioning a few times that afternoon as wearing the fireproof suit for the micrograin loading operations only added to my mounting heat exhaustion. Dave Crisalli had mentioned there are vests that hold flat ice packs that can be worn inside of protective suits. This will buy some time to work more comfortably under hot conditions.

Hydration, sunscreen and proper clothing for the desert heat are always important to all individuals to protect themselves both before and during the events held at the RRS MTA. The Mojave Desert is a tough place. It’s this attention to these details that are key parts of everyone having a successful event. As we do operate year-round through the hot months, there will always be this hazard to manage.

We reviewed the video shot from the launches. It has been suspected that the existing micrograin launch rails are a little too short resulting in the rockets leaving less than straight from the rails. We discussed newer longer rail launchers. It was decided to try to recover an old rail system that is already at the MTA as a backup.

Frank brought several old paper copies of the RRS newsletters. Some of these date back to the early 1950’s and others were from the 1960’s. The RRS is actively working to electronically archive as much of these newsletters as part of our on-going RRS history project.

RRS News, Issues 104 and 103

RRS News, Issues 98 and 101

Issue 101 mentions a story where the RRS was on the old Louis Lomax show which was a local semi-weekly news program in Los Angeles from 1964-1968. John Mariano and George Dosa were there and we hope to someday find the archival footage and post this to our YouTube channel. (I think it was Issue 101? Someone correct me if I am mistaken.)
Louis Lomax – Wikipedia

The RRS has in fact set the date for the upcoming 75th anniversary symposium which will be April 14, 2018. We will have it at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center as before. We have already begun the process of contacting speakers and exhibitors. We hope to make this event even better than this last year.

John Mariano brought his rocket on a string. This is a classic demonstration of the fundamental principle of propulsion using a CO2 cartridge guided on a plastic clothesline. The rocket was easily able to traverse the full length of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center ballroom, even uphill to the stage where Larry was holding the stop. Bill and I took video of the event and its on the RRS YouTube channel. Link is below:

CO2 rocket on a string

YouTube channel – RRS

After some false starts in getting the spring loaded puncturing device to work, we got it to work. Simple, but very fun! This demonstration of the fundamental principle of jet propulsion is a favorite in our educational events.

John Mariano gets ready with his rocket on a string

pool noodle segment, nose cone, plastic guide rods, CO2 cartridge, clothesline

Rocket on a string, Larry catches on the stage

The RRS is looking forward to doing an educational event with the students of Nickerson Projects in Watts. After the teaching sessions, the launch event is scheduled for July 22nd. Larry has an RRS standard alpha for the demonstration. The RRS is grateful to the LAPD CSP program for helping put this together.

RRS standard alpha for the Watts program in July 2017

We adjourned the meeting at 9:10pm. Next meeting will be July 14, 2017, just before the launch event with Nickerson Projects in Watts that next Saturday, July 22nd.

If there is anything I missed or mistated, please let me know.
secretary@rrs.org

April 2017 meeting

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The RRS held its monthly meeting on Friday, April 14th at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. The meeting was called to order at 7:42pm. The meeting agenda was simplified to discuss only matters pertaining to the symposium which is taking place on Saturday the 22nd. All executive council members were in attendance and many of our regular members were also present including Greg Coleman.

Osvaldo, Frank and Chris

Nearly all of our speakers have confirmed with Frank and a final agenda will be posted on the RRS.org website once it is finalized by Tuesday, the 18th. We have added the University of California Irvine to our list of presenters.
UC Irvine – Rocket Project

With the community center’s permission, the exhibition hall will prepared by some of the RRS members for the symposium on the Friday night before (6:30-9:00pm). The symposium starts at 9am, but exhibitors are encouraged to come in early Saturday 7:30-8:00am to get ready before we start.

Apogee Astronautics was very kind to loan to the RRS an inert SuperLoki booster to be on display beside the RRS’s SuperDosa full-scale mockup at the symposium. Richard will bring sawhorses to support the SuperLoki booster for everyone to see.

Norton Sales has promised to provide a few aerospace history pieces for the exhibition which will also be great additions.
Norton Sales – North Hollywood, CA

The China Lake museum is a new addition to our exhibitors which is great.
China Lake Museum

A taco vendor has been booked for the event so there will be food available on site for purchase at the community center. There are several local restaurants in the area surrounding the Ken Nakaoka Community Center. There are even more restaurants to the south at Western Avenue and Artesia Blvd. (CA Hwy 91).

The address is on our flyers but here it is again below for convenience. It is between the Gardena Police Station and the fire station. The symposium is April 22nd, from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Ken Nakaoka Community Center
1670 W. 162nd Street
Gardena, CA, 90247

Richard Garcia and Chris Lujan will be managing the presentation room and speakers. Osvaldo, Frank and I will be managing the exhibition hall or any other issues that arise.

The RRS still needs volunteers from our membership and we hope to have everyone come out to this special event. RRS staff and volunteers can be identified by badges that will be worn at the event. We will have a sign up book for all of our visitors. The RRS will also have membership applications available for those who wish to join us at the event.

I will be posting one last update to the symposium here on the RRS website which will include the final agenda. For questions regarding the symposium, you can email Frank who is the symposium director.
vicepresident@rrs.org

The meeting concluded at 9:19pm. The next monthly meeting will be Friday, May 12th. Let me know if there are any questions or corrections to make.
secretary@rrs.org