The Range Head, February 2002

Jack Hagerty, LUNAR #002

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Welcome to 2002 and LUNAR's 10th anniversary year! This club was started when Mark Weiss (LUNAR #001) held an organizational launch at Gardella Greens in September 1992. The new Police Station currently occupies that spot so we won't be setting anything off there to commemorate the event, but we should think up something to do for next September. I'm open to ideas. Two things I'd like to pursue, if enough of you are interested, is putting a float together for the Rodeo Parade (imagine torching off some motors from the back of the float!), and making an exhibit at the "Young California" building at the fair. I have all the administrative contacts, etc., to do these, but you folks are the ones that will have to come up with the exhibits. We can discuss this at the next meeting in March.

THAT'S A WRAP!

I feel like I should apologize for having to cancel last month's launch. It's not that I can control the weather or anything, but that was the wimpiest storm that ever caused us to cancel! It wasn't even a 1/4A storm; it was barely a MicroMax storm! Still, when I went out at 6:45 to check, the rain was falling lightly and continued to do so on-and-off all morning. LUNAR has to have a zero tolerance policy towards any sort of moisture. The exhaust residue on the pads is extremely destructive when mixed with water (black powder residue forms sulfuric acid and composite propellant residue forms hydrochloric acid). We tried extending a launch into a light, misty rain a few years back, and really did a number on the pads. If you've ever wondered why the launch rod sockets are so rusty, now you know!

The month before, though, we finished off 2001 in fine style. It was cloudless and windless all day with temperatures in the mid '50s (although it felt hotter than that standing in the unfiltered sun all morning!). Attendance was a bit lighter than normal this year. In fact, it was the only launch all year not to break 200 flights, but not by much. Below are three sets of stats. First is the summary for December, second is the summary for the whole year, and third is the average for the year (the totals divided by the 10 launches for the year).

December, 2001
Total Flights: 198
Total Motors consumed: 208   plus 0 unknown
Total Impulse expended: 5,988
Average Impulse: 28.8 A low range "E"

Motor Use Breakdown:
1/4A 1/2A  A  B  C  D  E  F  G H
 1     5  13 37 56 30 23 19 22 2
=================================

Summary, 2001
Total Flights: 2,729
Total Motors consumed: 2,832  plus 34 unknown.  
Total Impulse expended: 89,130   
Average Impulse: 31.5      A mid range "E"

Motor Use Breakdown:
1/4A 1/2A  A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H
 17   73  343 544 790 331 170 183 267 114
=========================================

Average Launch, 2001 10 launches
Total Flights: 273    
Total Motors consumed: 282  
Total Impulse expended:  8,913    
Average Impulse: 31.6 A mid range "E"

Motor Use Breakdown:
1/4A 1/2A  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H
 2     7  34 54 79 33 17 18 27 11
==================================

One final stat which we started last year. If you take a total amount of impulse, it's relatively easy to figure out how much mass you could have sent into orbit or even to the moon. Here's how much mass LUNAR could have lofted to various destinations based on the total impulse we burned over the year. The destinations are Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), to orbit around the moon, and actually landing on the moon:

To LEO    To GEO   To Lunar Orbit  To Lunar Surface
10.36 Kg  7.19 Kg     7.02 Kg         5.98 Kg

THANKS!

I want to give a big public "Thank You" to Tom Hail for steering our newsletter for over two years and an equal number of "honorable mentions" in the national LAC Newsletter competitions (see the editorial on page 4 of the November/December "Sport Rocketry" for the latest one). An equally big thank you to Geoff Canham for taking over the editorship, and for the smooth transition between them. Geoff did an admirable job for his first issue in December, considering my virtual absence. (That's like virtual presence in reverse. You are really here, you just act like you're not.)

MOVING FORWARD

Even though we're celebrating a significant anniversary this year, we are not just looking back. As most of you know, we are actively looking for a new launch site due to the encroachment of suburbia at Robertson Park. My favorite candidate site, the thousands of open acres off of North Livermore Avenue towards the north of town, was eliminated due to it being under the secondary approach to the airport (about 30% of the traffic flies right over that area). We have opened talks with RCH Lonestar, the gravel company that owns the property between Vineyard Avenue and Stanley Blvd., to see about using the large flood plane on the north side of Vineyard Ave. We've enlisted the help of County Supervisor Scott Haggerty (hmmm, I wonder why he was so eager to help?) plus all the folks at LARPD whom we've had such a good working relationship with for the past decade, to back us up. No news yet, but I'll keep you informed.

Something else new for this year, we've had to move our meeting site a few blocks from the Carnegie Building to the LARPD Rec. Center on 8th St. This is actually a much better site for meetings, and the January one went well.

The meetings are still on the same date and time (7:30 PM the Wednesday before the launch), and once we move to our new field (wherever that might be), I'm going to try and arrange third-Saturday-of-the-month launches for every month, if possible. That has always been our goal, and without soccer and horse events to conflict with our dates, it should work.

BOARD SHAKEUP

At the January meeting we held our annual and there was a bit of shuffling of the people who are running your club. Last November, Lee Teicheira approached me saying that he wanted to serve on the board, so I polled the board, and Tony Cooper offered to step down as VP, although he is still going to do membership (a non-board position). I didn't want to place Lee directly into the VP position, so Steve Kendall moved from member-at-large into the VP slot, with Lee replacing him as member-at-large.

Not exactly a palace coup, but the biggest personnel change we've had in a while.

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