May 2005 Meeting Minutes (5/9/2005)
The May 2005 MASA meeting was held on May 5th at the
Minnesota Science Museum. The meeting was reasonably well attended
with at least 8 people present.
Show & Tell
- David Whitaker brought along a nicely finished Quest X-15
model.
- Ken Jarosch brought his LOC Hi-Tech with a Rattworks H70
hybrid motor installed. Ken had also fabricated a nice
electronics bay in which he had installed a PerfectFlite MAWD
altimeter. Ken had a lively discussion with
Ted and Glen Overby about how the ejection charges should be
safed.
Training
Ted Cochran presented the meeting topic of RSO/LCO training.
As part of the talk Ted brought his laptop and a video projector.
The initial part of the meeting involved looking at Keyhole imagery
that Ted Cochran had brought of the new launch site in Nowthen. The
ability to look at earth from
space and then zoom into the launch site was quite impressive! Ted
could measure distances from likely launch sites in the Nowthen
field to adjacent roads and fields. There was general agreement that
the field was capable of at least "I"
motor launches.
As part of the RSO/LCO training, Ted showed images of a fin
can/lower stage rocket that had punched a hole in the wind-shield of
a Suburban at a Tripoli launch. Ted also related the story of a head
injury at recent NAR launch in Texas.
There is growing recognition inside of NAR that ballistic recovery
is one of the greatest dangers to rocketeers and spectators. NAR is
looking at formulating some new rules to prevent rockets from being
launched over
crowds of people and over parked cars.
Ted then gave his presentation on RSO/LCO training.
As part of the training, particular emphasis was placed on RSO
training and what should be looked for during the safety check-in of
a rocket.
Several people had brought rockets to be checked. Ted made a list of
the rockets on the white-board and the attendees attempted to
discern what was wrong with the rocket (if anything).
(David Whitaker)
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