LUNAR’clips
LUNAR’clips
Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry
Volume 8, Number 3
May / June 2001
Jack Hagerty, LUNAR #002
I apologize for the lateness of this issue. May has been an awful squeeze for me and it has been impossible to find even the two or three hours it takes to bang out this column. Of course, since the May meeting and launch are over, the main topics I usually talk about are gone (so much for my rough draft!). The following will be much more general, although there is one Night Launch item I'm going to squeeze in.
First off, I want to put in a big public "thank you" to Tony and Sheryl Cooper for running the last two launches. In March I was still on crutches from my broken ankle (I showed up and gimped around for a few hours in the middle, but it was really all their show). Then, of course, they ran our record shattering all day affair in May while I was out of town. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.
I'm not the only one who noticed. A note from Greg Wong said:
"I would like to thank Tony and the others for putting in as many hours as they did [at the May launch] to make it possible for all of us to fly and have fun. I know that this was an especially long day for Tony as he was there from the early morning hours until the sprinklers came on during the night."
About those sprinklers, I asked LARPD, and they said it was because our night launch was originally scheduled for April (where they programmed the sprinklers off), and the change in date was not successfully communicated to all the staff.
More detailed was this missive from Larry Lopez whom I arranged with to bring out his entire class, then dumped them all on Tony before running off to LA:
"Thank you very much for allowing my 8th grade class to launch their rockets on Saturday. The day turned out to be tremendously successful. The students were terrified before they started launching their rockets, but after they saw the first rocket launch they became excited with anticipation. You and your staff were awesome! Thanks for all of your help and recommendations to better improve this project for next year.
"The parents of the students were impressed by your club's professionalism and willingness to help. I look forward to future launches and I know that this experience has positively affected my entire 8th grade class.
"Next year, if possible, I would like to invite you or someone from LUNAR to make a rocket presentation prior to us beginning our construction or the rockets. The student would love it!
"Please pass this note on to rest of the LUNAR organization.
"Thank you very much,
Larry Lopez Science Teacher Assistant Principal Christian Community Schools (Fremont)”
With messages like this coming in, I feel like a parent whose kids have just won some kind of spectacular award! Gee, maybe you don't need me after all…
Here's the night launch item I mentioned above. It's just a general clarification. Paul Pittenger sent a note to the lunar.general discussion group asking:
"I want to be clear on the club definition of 'Night Rules.' I know we went through some changes on this in the last 2 years. Specifically there was a discussion of Strobe requirements for larger rockets, one message said anything over 54 ounces? Or was some other policy set?"
The new rules, Paul were due to a requirement that the FAA added to our waiver. Basically, anything flying under the waiver (i.e. 1,500 grams GLOW and up, which is actually 53 ounces) has to comply with the FAA requirement for anti-collision flashers. This is easier than it sounds as a disposable camera strobe in a clear section (or a couple strapped to the outside on either side of the rocket) flashing between 40 and 100 times a minute does the job. The strobes are usually white, but red and green are also allowed under the rule. You can add all the other lights you want as long as you also have the strobe.
Rockets below this weight can have any sort of lighting system as long as it's visible during the whole flight.
Once again LARPD has asked us to help out with the rocket portion of their annual summer science camp. The details are in this message from Moe Kline:
“Last year the Rocket Club helped LARPD's summer science camp launch their rockets at Robertson Park. We were hoping to do it again this year with the help of the club. The two days we were shooting for are:
Friday June 29, 10 AM
Friday August 10 10 AM
We would arrive at 9:30am to start getting ready. Let me know if the club is interested in doing this again and if the dates work out.”
I told him that we'd be happy to help out again so now I need a few volunteers. Everyone who's done this over the years always has a good time since the kids are both eager and (reasonably) well behaved. It would be nice if one of the volunteers has a truck to pull the trailer, but I can get the city to do that if no one does.
Many of you may have noticed that they're starting to develop the field to the south of our launch field. Several people have written me about it, including Warren Massey (LUNAR #007):
“Have you been by Robertson Park lately? It looks like we are getting new neighbors. In that big field to the south of the open soccer field it looks like there is a BIG chunk of suburbia moving in. Robertson Park as a rocket field may soon be no more.”
This has actually been the main topic of discussion at all of our club meetings this year. Bill Orvis has volunteered to investigate some of the fields north of town along North Livermore Ave. Others have suggested co-opting the site with the "Flying Electrons," the RC airplane club at LLNL.
While we'll still be following up with these, I'm open to all other suggestions as well. The only restrictions is that it be in the general Livermore-Pleasanton area and be relatively close to power and restrooms. We could always provide these, but it would be an extra expense for the club.
A couple of months back on the NAR Sections Advisor's mailing list, someone asked the innocent question "what is the average number of NAR members in NAR sections?" Note that we're not talking about the total size of the sections, but the number of members in the section who also belong to the national organization.
After much posturing by the different Section Advisors (including yours truly), George Gassaway, who maintains the HQ data base systems, posted the following. These are the official numbers as registered:
There are 96 active NAR sections in the country with 1,533 members belonging to those 96 sections. So, there's an average of about 16 members per section.
The top 10 sections by member totals are:
DARS = 65
LUNAR = 64
NASA-Houston = 61
CMASS = 54
NIRA = 52
SOAR = 45
SSS = 42
NOVAAR = 41
ROC = 41
CRASH = 38
At the other end of the spectrum, there is one with 1 member, one with 2 members, two with 3 members, three with 4, and twelve with 5 members.
This took me a bit by surprise. I knew that LUNAR was a big section, but I had no idea that it was right at the top of the list! Now I just need to have two of you out there who aren't NAR members to join the national so I can bragging rights with Buzz McDermott (the president of DARS in Dallas)!