May 2017 meeting

The RRS monthly meeting was held May 12, 2017. We started at 7:41pm.

The RRS was glad to welcome LAPD Southeast officers Acuna and Terrazas from the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). The nationally recognized CSP program has been very successful in improving community relations in areas of Los Angeles and the RRS is discussing how to bring one of our classes to students in Watts this summer.

LAPD Community Safety Partnership

We had a few parents stop in the meeting with their kids also interested in working with the RRS and learning more about membership with our society.

To all groups interested in working with the RRS, our contact is:
events@rrs.org

The RRS was glad to welcome several new student members from UCLA and a few new full members this month. We had a launch event on April 29th that helped UCLA test several of their technologies in advance of the 2017 IREC competition at the First Annual Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico.
2017 IREC competition – Spaceport America

For those interesting in applying for membership with the RRS, our application form is available on our RRS.ORG website under “FORMS”.

RRS.ORG – FORMS, membership

The RRS will hold a launch event at the MTA on June 3rd. UCLA will launch a pair of RRS standard alphas and betas with a few smaller carbon-fiber and fiberglass rockets with 1 lb air-frames and F50 motors. This launch event is the culmination of the undergraduate class, MAE 157A, which is a fluid dynamics and aerodynamics instructional laboratory for the Spring 2017 Quarter at UCLA led by Professor R. Mitchell Spearrin. The RRS is glad to support UCLA in giving university students a place to demonstrate their hands-on knowledge.

UCLA MAE instructional labs

Drew Cortopassi of the Aerospace Corporation paid us a visit. Aerospace Corporation is interested in conducting some tests with the RRS at the Mojave Test Area. Once a formal written request is submitted to the RRS, the society will examine the best way to proceed.

For any private organizations wanting to work with the RRS, please contact the RRS, president, Osvaldo Tarditti.
president@rrs.org

This month, a member managed to acquire a cryogenic LNG tank that would be very useful asset at the MTA. The RRS is working on the logistics for bringing this new acquisition to the MTA for use in future liquid propulsion projects.

The SuperDosa project update will have to wait for next month’s meeting as we ran out of time.

I have been updating the RRS membership roster, but some did not receive the email for the symposium back in mid-April. As people move, sometimes our contact information falls out of date. To all of our membership, please contact me to make sure your email and other contact information is up to date.
secretary@rrs.org

Meeting adjourned at 9:11pm. Our next meeting will be June 9th. If there’s anything I missed or needs correction, please let me know.
secretary@rrs.org

MTA launch event, 2017-04-29

The RRS was happy to host UCLA at a launch event at the Mojave Test Area (MTA) on Saturday, April 29th.

UCLA Rocket Project working at the MTA

UCLA conducted a set of static fire tests and a launch. The purpose of the testing was to prove key parts of their larger IREC rocket including their wireless ignition system to be used at the IREC competition at the Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico.

Spaceport America Cup

UCLA Rocket Project, system checks

UCLA igniter tests

UCLA loads their rocket on the RRS rail

UCLA poses before their demo rocket

UCLA’s demo rocket takes off from the RRS rail

The rocket flight was partially successful and the recovery system worked well enough.

Some tests were successful, others not so much. A lot was learned at the MTA and the RRS was grateful to assist UCLA.

We are also thankful to Osvaldo and Richard for the photos and to our pyro-op, Jim Gross, for supporting the event.

Jim Gross oversees a test setup for UCLA

For other universities looking to use the MTA, please contact the RRS.
president@rrs.org

If there are any updates or corrections. Please let myself or Richard Garcia know.
secretary@rrs.org
research@rrs.org

Please note the next RRS monthly meeting is in Gardena on Friday, May 12th.

USC sets new altitude record with Fathom II

The University of Southern California Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (USC RPL) has posted the results from their recent launch of their Fathom II vehicle from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The link below goes into greater detail:
USC RPL breaks altitude record with Fathom II

The Fathom II vehicle was confirmed to have reached an altitude of 144,000 feet (43.98 km) on March 4, 2017. USC RPL now is the record holder for the highest altitude achieved by a wholly student built and launched rocket.

USC Fathom II at launch

USC RPL has been working hard over the years to reach this plateau of success. USC has conducted many tests and even launched some of their early vehicles from the RRS Mojave Test Area.

Next stop will be USC building and launching their larger full-scale SpaceShot vehicle to cross the von Karman line of 100 km altitude (328,083 feet 3 inches).

USC RPL team and the Fathom II rocket

The RRS congratulates USC on this stellar accomplishment and we hope to hear all about it at the RRS symposium at USC’s presentation in our speaker series, Saturday, April 22nd.

Saturday, April 22, RRS symposium in Gardena

rrs symposium flyer 5

The symposium is open to the public at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena, CA. Well done, USC!