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September 2004 Meeting Minutes (9/9/2004)

The September 2004 MASA meeting was held on the 2nd. Due to scheduling concerns, the meeting was held at Aero Systems Engineering in Plymouth.  17 people were in attendance.

Upcoming events:

• The next meeting is scheduled for October 7th at the Science Museum.

• The next launch is scheduled for September 25th at Elk River VFW.  The theme will be "Clusters!"

Stuff:

• After some discussion, those present decided to do something "different" in place of the normal MASA meeting in October.  Russ Durkee has presented MASA with an outreach opportunity at the Science Museum that coincides with the date of our October meeting.  That night, the Museum will debut the new 3D theater presentation "Mars 3D".  There will be speakers and displays from several groups.  MASA will have one or more tables in the Education Commons area.  We will be looking for volunteers to bring rockets & stuff to display, talk to people, hand out fliers, etc.  If you're interested, please let us know!  This is a great way for MASA to give back to the Museum a bit after using their free meeting space for all these years.  More details will be forthcoming on the web site and mailing list.

• Outreach Opportunity:  There is a Girl Scout's Fall Encampment at Camp Lakamaga on Saturday November 13.  125 Girl Scouts will be building rockets in the morning and then flying them in the afternoon.  Volunteers will be needed!  If interested, please contact Mike or send email to the general MASA address.

• TARC for 2005 was discussed.  It will be a duration challenge instead of altitude.  The contest will be more open; groups will no longer have to be from a school.  Details will be released soon.  Please consider helping mentor a TARC team!

• A MASA Section Contest will be held at the November launch.  Events have yet to be determined.

• Mike and crew discussed the continuing need to look for new launch sites.

Clusters:

• The topic for the evening was rockets that are powered by clusters of motors.  Attendees brought a ton of examples, and there was much discussion.

• Dave Whitaker brought a Renegade kitbash (up to 3 motors), Astron Kobra (3), and Mini Katana (7)

• Dave Gensler brought a TLP Exocet (2), LOC Starburst (2), and TLP Perseus (2)

• Ken Jarosch brought an old Estes Pro Series Patriot (4) and Impulse (2)

• Paul Jarosch brought a Kobra (3), modified Gemini DC (3), and modified Big Daddy (3)

• Ted Cochran brought a Ranger (3), Renegade kitbash(7), Ted's Testbed (5), and modified Big Daddy (5)

• Tom Lawell brought a LOC Viper III (3).  It had blinking LEDs built into the nose cone for night flying.

• Alan Estenson brought a LOC Starburst (2), LOC Viper IV (4), and the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (5)

• Ellison Lenz brought a scratchbuilt Saturn III (3)

• Stuart Lenz brought about 147 cluster powered rockets [Well, there were many, anyway.] including his cluster-powered DesCon entry.  Stuart also had a bunch of new MicroMaxx powered kits.

(Alan Estenson)