Tag Archives: RRS standard alpha

February 2023 meeting

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by Joel Cool-Panama, Secretary, RRS.ORG

The Reaction Research Society held its monthly meeting at the Compton/Woodley Airport location, February 10th, at 7:30 PM PST.

Agenda topics of the meeting were:

  • Pyro-op licenses. New applications, test materials, CALFIRE website list, renewal period reminder.
  • Newman motor pouring class interest
  • Outreach
  • CALFIRE Rocket subcommittee
  • Bill Claybaugh
  • Jim Gross meet up in San Fernando Valley for electrical firing video
  • Symposium
    • Entrance fee
  • Larry Hoffing

Past Events

On January 22nd, 2023, we hosted another work event at the MTA. The work event was productive, but the electrical and septic work are not yet done. More support during the work week was requested, and another event was scheduled for February 19th.

Keith Yoerg held a firing event at the MTA on January 28th. He, Leanna Lincoln, Rushd Julfiker, Jim Gross, and Michael Rouleau attended. Keith recorded videos of the event, including slow motion footage, of the four micrograin standard alpha rockets they fired. Larry briefly went over methods for cleaning out alpha rocket propellant tubes as a part of the discussion.

FAR’s liquid rocket symposium on the same day, January 28th, at the Flabob Airport in Riverside was a success, having about two hundred persons in attendance. Videos and presentations from the event are currently hosted on Mark Ventura’s website.

The society is pleased to announce the new Constitution has officially been ratified. While there were no opposing votes, the fact is that a majority of society members did not vote on the matter.

On February 6th, the executive council discussed the new website. We currently expect that the site will launch by the first of March. As of now, we are seeking tax exempt status from Paypal, in order to reduce the cut of our donations which they take. We also need to archive the old website.

Regarding our April symposium, we are currently leaning strongly towards holding the event at the Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro, which has approved the event. It should be noted that the location has good parking, and might provide food for the event. We also discussed holding a class on their football field.

Current Events

The Society is pleased to announce that Keith Yoerg is currently getting his recommendation letters for a Class 2 Rockets pryo-op license. Wolfram is also undertaking the process for obtaining a license, and Michael Rouleau is considering it as well.

For any others who might be interested in obtaining a pyro-op license, it was mentioned that the lowest grade license, Class 3 Rockets, doesn’t require recommendations from fellow license holders. Instead, recommendations from any non-related person as to your character will suffice.

John Newman’s solid motor pouring class at the FAR site was also mentioned at the meeting. He is going to be hosting the class on the first and third Saturday’s of March. So far, nearly ten society members have shown interest in attending.

Society vice president, Frank Miuccio was pleased to announce his first class in a year at Nickerson Gardens. The class demonstrated straw rockets and Newton’s three laws of motion.

Society treasurer Larry Hoffing attended the last CALFIRE Rocket subcommittee in Dave’s place. Mark Holthaus of FAR and David Reese of ROC have been giving a lot of good guidance to CALFIRE regarding laws governing rocketry which will be taken for legislative review this year in Sacramento. Based on some language seen in a recent draft, society president Dave Nordling had strong reservations against manually relieving pressurized tanks which should be avoided by design on rockets and remote releases should be mandated instead. This will be mentioned in further meetings at the committee.

Bill Claybaugh continues to prepare for a late April launch and may need to use the MTA again in the near future.

Future Events

Jim Gross is still planning to watch some educational videos with members of the society. The location was set for his home in Northridge, but the possibility of an online meeting, potentially through Zoom, was discussed.

The date and time for the society symposium has been set for April 15th, 8am to 5pm. The society discussed using the preceding Friday evening to set up for the event. The ordering of exhibits was discussed as well, and it was suggested that universities be allotted later presentation times, as well as big ticket exhibits. A limit of twenty minutes and twenty slides was suggested for each exhibit, but it was suggest that this number of slides was in excess of the time alotment. There was also brief discussion of holding a launch at the event.

The subject of fundraising at the Symposium was also discussed. It was suggested that some or all visitors pay an entrance fee, but it was mentioned that another society encountered issues when they sought to do the same. It was suggested that the society could have a dedicated RRS table to collect donations which would require constant monitoring. It was also suggested that donations might help cover expenses and the need for cleanup volunteers after the event was mentioned.

The CALFIRE Subcommittee has deliberated on some new rules. Among them are a requirement that blockhouses have two layers of sandbags on their roof or the equivalent to slow down projectiles. Although the idea is not new, there is some question about the exact and specific need of sandbags to provide adequate protection versus other means of construction providing similar or even superior protection.

Larry Hoffing needs a blueprint for a new blockhouse which Chris Lujan is to assist with. It should be noted that the contractor who worked on the septic system is a mason, and could be asked for assistance when time requires.

Following the completion of the restroom, the next project which the society wishes to tackle is the creation of a sixty-foot launch rail for liquid propellant rockets. Many universities have requested this and Mark Holthaus of FAR may be able to give us the design for the one used at FAR.

Another potential future project is the surplus LNG container that the society owns. While it isn’t ready for use and requires some refurbishment, some groups to the MTA have inquired about our capacity to deal with LNG. The society will need someone to work this project.

The next society meeting will be on March 10th, 2023. Contact the secretary for details.

MTA firing event, 2023-01-28

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by Keith Yoerg, RRS.ORG

The RRS held a firing event at the MTA on Saturday, February 28th, 2023.

The purpose of the event was to provide training for several society members who desired to gain experience in support of applications for Rockets – Class 2 Pyrotechnic Operator’s licenses from CALFIRE. Jim Gross was the PyroOp in charge for the day, with Rushd Julfiker, Michael Rouleau, Leanna Lincoln, and Keith Yoerg receiving training. The winter morning started off cool with Michael, Keith, and Leanna opening up the MTA and preparing the site for the day’s testing.

from left to right, Leanna Lincoln, Michael Rouleau, Rushd Julfiker and Jim Gross

RRS standard alpha rockets that had previously been launched as a part of RRS youth outreach programs were disassembled and cleaned of residue from their previous firings and propellant mixing supplies were prepped. Rushd arrived while Keith prepped and loaded his high power rocket “Flight On!” with an Aerotech H182-Redline motor for a launch later in the day.

Once Jim arrived at the MTA, a safety briefing was held and everyone in attendance provided a brief introduction detailing their background and interest in rocketry. The static test stand was then bolted to the vertical test stand concrete pad using bolt anchors already in place on the pad. The test stand is a modified I-Beam provided by Jim. After a temporary delay from difficulties in getting the gasoline generator up and running, enough zinc and sulfur micrograin powder for 4 firings were added to the mixing bucket and set up on the mixer.

Loading of alpha propellant tubes, Jim Gross overseeing the operations
Grilled lunch at the Dosa Building

While the propellants mixed, the group returned to the Dosa building for a lunchtime grill out of brats and pineapple. During lunch, the group watched a video on electric match ignition safety from the early 2000s’s provided by Jim, which had to be stopped early to return to the testing task at hand before daylight ran out. The video was “Basics of Electric Firing” by Scott Cartwright was purchased from the American Fireworks News.

Keith, Rushd, Michael, and Leanna then loaded the well-mixed propellant into the prepared alpha rockets and test fired the motors in that order. A video of the firing compiled by Keith can be found on his YouTube channel here, which was collected using RRS GoPro and quadcopter drone cameras.

Used alpha rocket strapped down to Jim’s I-beam static fire stand
Plume pointed north, galvanizing the concrete of our testing pad
Alpha rockets minus their payload tubes and nosecones
Keith Yoerg’s Flight On! rocket takes off on the 1010 rail at the RRS MTA.

Following the test firing of the alpha rockets, Keith launched his high power rocket “Flight On!” for the 3rd time, which was successful in both the flight and recovery. The group then cleaned up the site before locking up and leaving. Thanks to all who made this first firing event of 2023 a success, including former RRS President (and current PyroOp) Osavldo Tarditti for assistance with the propellants and current RRS Vice President Frank Muiccio for providing the alpha rockets used for the testing. We look forward to many more successful events at the MTA this year.

Nearing sunset at the RRS MTA loading area

MTA Firing Event, 2022-04-02

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by Dave Nordling, President, Reaction Research Society

The RRS held a launch event at the Mojave Test Area on Saturday, 4/2/2022. Larry Hoffing was our pyrotechnic operator in charge. It was a very pleasant day with low winds for most of the day.

The sign arch welcomes people to the Mojave Test Area

It was also the first time in a long time that all four members of the executive council were present at the same event. We took the opportunity to capture the moment in a photograph.

The executive council for 2022; Keith Yoerg (secretary), Dave Nordling (president), Larry Hoffing (treasurer), Frank Miuccio (vice president)

The primary project for that day was the launch of 15 Baby Bertha rockets made by the students of Nickerson Gardens over the six-week educational program the society held with the support of LAPD CSP. The rockets give the students a tangible sense of accomplishment and seeing them in flight from the MTA gives them good memories of what hard work can do.

The newest armada of Baby Bertha’s ready for flight.
Students wait in the Dosa Building before the launch.
The launch rails made ready for the event.

There was an RRS standard alpha made for this occassion which flew at the end. It was prepared by our experienced pyro-op, Larry Hoffing, and made an impressive finish to this school event.

Larry Hoffing (right) trains his colleague in the assembly and loading of a micrograin alpha rocket.
Larry Hoffing oversees the launch rail with Keith Yoerg for an alpha launch.

Secondarily, we had a few members of the USC RPL team out at our site to begin repairs of the concrete pad area used in their static fire tests. Removal of the male anchor bolts in USC’s custom mounting pattern were finally distorted too much to be useful. They were a frequent tripping hazard and their removal was a blessing.

USC RPL cinducts repairs of the vertical test stand pad.
USC RPL team at work making improvements at the MTA.

Also, the USC RPL team made several contributions to improving the MTA site with earthwork, brush clearance, and just good old fashioned hard work. We’re grateful to them coming out to help keep the site in good shape,

Earthwork in progress to backfill the erosion.
View from the blockhouse of the Peregrine rocket ready for launch.

The last portion of the day was spent launching a few more model and high-power rockets before the winds became too high. We used the time to plan our next event and rearranged our materials in our new storage container.

Our next monthly meeting is Friday, April 8th. Contact the RRS secretary for information.

secretary@rrs.org –