Tag Archives: Ken Nakaoka Community Center

April 2018 meeting

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The RRS held its monthly meeting on April 13, 2018 at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. We had a full agenda with the most important item being the 75th anniversary RRS symposium that is coming in only 8 days. We had a prompt start at 7:30pm with Osvaldo calling the meeting to order and giving the reading of the treasury report. We had a full attendance including our new RRS members, Jack, Dylan, Connor, Cooper and Byron from the former Chaminade High School rocketry club. They have been very busy with their solid rocket project. We didn’t have time to add their progress to our agenda, but we hope they’ll give an update at the May meeting.

Bill Janczewski and Chris Lujan just before the April 2018 meeting

The first agenda item discussed the work done by the Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, California, on March 26th and 27th at the RRS MTA site. RRS member and Aerospace Corporation employee, Drew Cortopassi gave an excellent summary of the work. Aerospace Corporation’s experimental work was a success and we hope that Aerospace may return to use our site to advance their designs. Aerospace Corporation is one of our exhibitors and presenters at the meeting. A fuller discussion of their rocket testing at the RRS MTA will be given at the RRS’s 75th anniversary symposium, next Saturday, April 21st.

Aerospace Corporation tests an experimental solid motor design at the RRS MTA, 3/26/2018.

The next agenda topic was discussing the results from the launch event held last weekend with Florence Joyner Elementary School with the LAPD CSP program. Frank gave an excellent summary and Osvaldo discussed a theory explaining the odd bending of each alpha rocket found at the event. Most alpha rockets come down nearly vertically and burying themselves straight into the hard dry lake bed. At the launch event of April 7th, nearly all of the rocket propellant tubes were bent. Typically, this only happens if the rocket strikes a rock beneath the surface, but it is quite uncommon. Osvaldo’s invention of the Rockextractor proved to be a swift tool for reclaiming found alpha rockets.

Osvaldo’s newest invention, the Rockextractor

As a side note, Frank had mentioned that the USC short film “Rockets in the Projects” covering the November launch event with Grape Street Elementary class and the LAPD CSP program will be screened with other short films at Annenberg Hall on the campus of USC on Wednesday, April 18th. Seating is very limited so those interested in seeing the film should act quickly.

The third agenda topic was about the RRS expanding its roster of licensed pyrotechnic operators (pyro-op’s). We have great support from our current pyro-op’s but the society would benefit from having more. The RRS will be building a training manual that includes the materials mandated by the California Fire Marshal’s office to attain a license in rocketry. This tool will be an effective study tool for members looking to become licensed pyro-ops. At the very least, the training helps spread safe practices in the society. Given the limited time we had at this month’s meeting, we agreed to discuss this topic further at the next month’s meeting in May.

RRS pyro-op manual and training guide

The fourth agenda topic was something that Larry Hoffing discovered. The 2-bit Circus Foundation is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the next generation of inventors to advance environmental stewardship and spur community engagement. The 2-bit circus has a futuristic arcade in downtown Los Angeles and has reached out to the RRS to be an exhibitor at their next event in Hawthorne, California. The RRS was supportive of this idea and once more details become available we will find a few members to attend the exhibition to help us reach more people at this event for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) education which our shared passion.

Two Bit Circus Foundation – STEAM education

The fifth agenda topic briefly discussed an idea that I have developed a second-stage design that fits with the RRS standard alpha payload tube. With a short segment of 1-1/4″ PVC tubing turned down to fit inside the 1.75″ OD payload tube and machined PVC end cap, a second stage motor with a graphite nozzle can be fired atop of the micrograin booster. A short length of Type-1 PVC round stock was donated to the RRS by Industrial Plastic Supply Inc. of Anaheim, California. There are many plastic suppliers, but not many that offer such a range of plastics in small quantities better suited for experimenters and hobbyists with modest personal budgets. I happily recommend them to all.

Industrial Plastic Supply Inc. – Anaheim, California

An interstage piece is necessary to trigger the second stage after a set time delay. I have designed an umbilical connector piece that uses a 3.5mm audio plug and panel-mount jack as a switch.

3.5 mm audio jack, panel mount

To internally mount the switch at a shallow angle for easy extraction of the plug as the alpha rocket lifts away from the launch rack required a unique plastic piece that Richard Garcia was able to 3D print for me in plastic. The fit check was a success so now I have to get the connector wired and mounted.

two of the umbilical jack mounts, plastic nozzle puck in the foreground

The solid motor grain itself was thought to be simple rocket candy, but other solid propellant types could be tried. Chris Lujan offered to pour a second stage grain for my design. Richard Garcia also offered to make his next motor grain to fit in this standard payload tube size. I have designed most pieces, but some aspects of this design need more work and testing. The RRS would like to encourage our members and our partner organizations to design and fly payloads with our standard alpha rockets which are easy to produce. Time was short so this topic was also tabled for the next month’s meeting as this work evolves.

RRS standard alpha, second stage assembly (work in progress)

The sixth agenda topic similarly had no real time to get into the details. The quarterly progress report of the SuperDosa project had only the RRS ballistic evaluation motor (BEM) to discuss. This workhorse tool will help the RRS accurately determine burn rate with variable nozzle puck sizes. Richard Garcia did turn out a basic set of graphite puck nozzles for the BEM.

RRS BEM graphite nozzle pucks, courtesy of Richard Garcia

The cylinder piece is with Osvaldo once he can find time to machine the bore and pressure ports. The top and bottom plates will be made soon by CNC Specialty Machining of Huntington Beach. This is the same machine shop that did a quality job with milling the S-type load cell adapter blocks for the RRS horizontal thrust stand. Thanks to Matt Moffitt of CNC Specialty Machining which is soon to relocate their business in Huntington Beach next month.

RRS ballistic evaluation motor design concept

The last agenda topic was the last preparations necessary for the RRS symposium coming next Saturday, April 21st. This event will easily be larger than last year’s event with over 400 Eventbrite reservations made just before the meeting. We have a longer list of speakers including new participants such as NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center’s (GSFC) Wallops Island Flight Facility (WFF) in Virginia. We will need all of our members to help us support this event. Please spread the word!

There will be a lot of work in setting up the night before. Members are encouraged to come help set things up at 7PM on the Friday night beforehand, April 20th. Contact Frank Miuccio who is our symposium coordinator if you would like to help.

vicepresident@rrs.org

The RRS meeting went out to the exhibition hall of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. The RRS will have the whole center for our public event and we hope everyone can come. Frank will send me the final agenda with the speaker list and the presentation times. This is an all-day event, but consult the RRS.ORG website for updated information. I plan to make a posting for the RRS symposium soon.

The meeting adjourned as the Ken Nakaoka Community Center closed. Osvaldo did some work for our new members with a clamping assembly to hold their rocket casing in their own horizontal thrust stand to test their full-sized boosted dart motor. Although independently conceived, this work nicely fits with the SuperDosa project and the RRS is glad to have another project to help advance the work of the society and our members.

RRS members stand outside of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center after the meeting with the horizontal thrust stand

If there is anything I have missed or misstated, please email me:
secretary@rrs.org

Our next meeting will be Friday, May 11, 2018. Please come as we will have much to discuss after the symposium and plenty to do in this summer of our 75th anniversary as a society.

January 2018 meeting

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The RRS met for its monthly meeting, Friday, January 12, 2018, at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. We got a late start (8:04pm), but we covered a lot of ground.

Anniversary issue of the Astro-Jet is now available for purchase ($10/copy)

Everyone is reminded that the anniversary issue of the ASTRO-JET newsletter of the RRS is now available for $10 a copy. This special issue will be available in print only and proceeds go to benefit the society and our upcoming symposium event. Bill Janczewski and I have worked hard to bring this milestone issue together and we will have them ready for printing and distribution next week. To order, you can contact me by email (secretary@rrs.org) and send me your mailing address. Payment can be made by check to the “Reaction Research Society” sent to our P.O. Box 90933, in Los Angeles, CA, 90009-0933, found on our website.

Payment to the RRS for the ASTRO-JET newsletters can also be made by clicking our “DONATE” button on the website which directly links to our Paypal site. Please note your are paying for the ASTRO-JET and the number of copies.

Frank brought one of George Dosa’s liquid rocket chambers to the meeting for inspection by the society. This single element coaxial injector has not been fired, but George had this made several decades ago. There was talk about what modifications could be made to get this article into hot fire.

George Dosa’s coaxial injector and chamber

Richard Garcia also brought his own liquid rocket chamber as part of the on-going RRS standard liquid rocket project he has been championing.

Richard Garcia’s pintle injector and chamber design

After the usual reading of the treasury report, we began to discuss the agenda topics. The meeting began with announcing our new members who have recently joined us: Michael Lunny, Bryan Calungcagin, Nancy Squires, Barsoum Kasparian and Jack Oswald. The RRS is glad to welcome our new members.

The discussion had turned to membership cards. Bill Janczewski has worked up a new card design and Frank was working with Bill on a few changes. The RRS does not issue membership cards except on an on-demand basis. RRS member, Alastair Martin who runs a printing business had several ideas for different types of card stocks and discussed them with the RRS.

Larry Hoffing had asked about getting a short run of business cards to support his role as the RRS events coordinator. Frank had said he has the resources to get these made.

Our discussion then turned to the upcoming RRS symposium to be held Saturday, April 14, 2018. We will try a new format of having our speakers present in the ballroom among our exhibitors. The collared white shirts we gave to our membership running the event was a good idea. We discussed getting these again with iron-on or screen-printed RRS logos to help identify those of us who will be running the event. Frank wanted to have posters showing a decade-by-decade look of the RRS over our 75 year history. This is a great idea and we’ll be working hard to collect old photos to have them on display at the symposium. Easels and other supporting equipment were in short supply as the brick walls of the Ken Nakaoka Community Center made wall-mounting very difficult.

For next meeting, we will discuss more of the details of the symposium including working on our list of presenters and exhibitors. Frank and I have already began to approach some of our prior speakers and exhibitors. We have already confirmed several from industry, government and academia including the LAPD CSP program and the Aerospace Corporation. We expect this year’s symposium to be even greater than last year’s event where we hosted over 200 people.

For the next agenda item, Frank and Larry will begin our next educational event with the students of Florence Joyner Elementary school in conjunction with the LAPD CSP program. This 5-week event will begin sometime in February with an expected launch event in late March. Alastair had indicated he’d like to participate, film and document this event. An update on this event will be given at the next month’s meeting.

Michael had indicated his interest in running an RRS educational event with his old high school, Redondo Union High School. Larry and Frank had offered to help him figure out how best to set this up based on the experience the RRS has had thus far. I had sent him the PowerPoint file I had made which can serve as the basis for the program he can give to an older group of students. This would be the first of several events that Michael and Bryan would like to hold on behalf of the RRS.

Our next agenda topic discussed establishing an account with the regional liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier, Clean Energy in Boron, California. Richard Garcia has acquired a methane dewar which will be used for liquid rocketry experiments at the MTA. Richard was able to have one of our contacts at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (F.A.R.) group modify the dewar such that it is ready for use. Our president, Osvaldo, said he would contact Clean Energy and give them the necessary information for the RRS to begin buying quantities of methane.

The next agenda topic was the quarterly briefing of the SuperDosa project. Osvaldo and I have identified chemical suppliers to produce the RRS standard solid propellant mixture recipe. We will meet offline to discuss prices and what is the best approach to proceed. Richard was going to work out some more simulations of our proposed vehicle to get an idea for sizing. The ballistic evaluation motor (BEM) that I designed is still in work. This is an important piece of hardware to characterize the burn rate of our propellant to help finalize and set the grain design. I hope to complete the assembly before the symposium which would also be the next quarterly reporting date (April 13, 2018).

The last agenda item was to discuss how to formalize the proposal process for RRS projects that we would like to seek funding from outside groups. One of the most important things to getting projects funded is to have a clear plan on what the scope of the project is, what purposes it will serve, what exact materials and quantities will be required and what the expected cost of this project will be using real quotes and defensible estimates. The RRS was in agreement and the executive council will meet later to discuss some of these documented proposals I have assembled. Projects include things like making more alphas and beta rockets, 3D printer for RRS use, spare electric generator for the MTA, getting a new launch rail built as backup, obtaining a liquid oxygen dewar…. etc.

The night ran late and our meeting concluded at 9:10pm.

There’s a lot of preparation that must be done in advance of our 75th anniversary symposium on Saturday, April 14th, so we’ll be putting this recurring item on the agenda for next month’s meeting.

For next month’s meeting, Frank will finish his paper rocket air launcher device that he has been making. This was inspired by the last educational event with Grape Street Elementary where the students visited the Space and Missile Command Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, CA. With luck, we hope to demonstrate it outside the community center and take some video for our YouTube channel.

YouTube – Reaction Research Society

Also, for next month’s meeting, I had promised Frank and Osvaldo that I would bring in my alpha parachute assembly that I have worked into a PVC payload tube. I have resolved some of the issues with my timer circuit, but I am still looking for access to a 3D printer to produce my internal umbilical switch mount.

As always, if there is anything here I have missed or misstated, please let me know. Our next monthly meeting will be held, Friday, February 9, 2018. Hope to see you there.

secretary@rrs.org

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.