MARS Member Meeting
February 9, 2017
Attendees:
Evan Brown
MaryBeth Clune
DeWain Feller
Greg Young
Jim Goggins
Linda Newman
Tom Mullaney
Brett Carrier
Dennis Juris
Bill Clune
Tom McCarthy
Ferenc Gy. Roka
Nat Kinsey
David Haas
David Riedel
Eric Roth
Steven Rea
Minutes:
The January 20117 minutes were approved as written (with the addition of Evan Brown to the list of attendees).
Introductions:
MaryBeth called the meeting to order. The members present introduced themselves.
Report of Officers
President’s report:
MaryBeth applied for a NAR grant to cover the costs of constructing new LPR pads.
MaryBeth has also been in touch with John Derimiggio to follow up on the status of the new launch control system. Dave Riedel said that the launch system electronics should be ready by the March meeting. Nat will be working on the new fiberglass enclosures for the main controller— he needs the final design (hole spacing, etc.) before he can start working on drilling. The enclosure box will cost about $200.
MaryBeth asked Dennis to give an update on the away cell. Dennis spoke with Tom Cohen about keeping club access to the existing tower, and it is not clear if we will be able to get access to it. The issue of the construction of a new away cell was discussed. It was deemed safer to use hydraulics instead of a winch for raising the tower. A counter balance weight will also improve stability during the raising of the tower. There was a discussion as to whether the trailer (for transporting the away cell) needed to be road-worthy. Evan said that the trailer would need brakes due to the weight of the away cell. We may want to use a boat trailer as a starting point for the construction of the trailer so that we can use the license plates (that come with the boat trailer).
In order to get the construction of a new away cell finished by NYPOWER, we would need to get the design developed now and begin construction soon. We will still pursue trying to obtain access to the existing tower for NYPOWER, but we will need to proceed with designing and constructing a new one ASAP in the event that we unable to secure the use of the existing one. As a backup, we do have two large pads that can be used for the BFRs (but it would not be easy to raise large rockets on these pads, and it would be necessary to use a ladder to reach the arming switch on the rocket after the rocket has been raised on the pad).
Nat also talked to Jim Sekol (who is building the LPR racks) about the hydraulics for the away cell, and he has some ideas for the design of the away cell tower. After some discussion on how the complete design will be accomplished, Nat will email Jim Sekol to ask if he can engineer a design for us. We don’t necessarily need a ham radio tower, but if we do not use the ham tower, it will be necessary to use a ladder or climbable structure in order for the flyer to reach the arming switch (so the strong preference is to use a ham tower). We want a 20’ tower in order to accommodate the large rockets that we expect to be flown from the field.
For the LRP rack, we will need to build at least a few new heads to accommodate mini rails.
We had discussed last month about the desire to get a new storage trailer; however, the away cell is the more urgent priority for this year’s budget.
Vice President’s report:
No new report
Treasurer’s report:
Evan paid O’Brien’s Septic $80 for the porta potty bill for the New Years launch.
We need to get all accounts under MARS’ name rather than personal names. We want to conduct our business in a more corporate way.
Secretary’s report:
No new report
Committee Reports
- Membership, Bill Clune
Five people have paid for their membership renewal. Seven people made accounts on the web site. The new membership/renewal system is much easier to use than the old system. We should post minutes and reports on the web site. The forum is largely dormant. We want anyone to be able to access a forum, but we want restrict access to the minutes and reports to club members.
- Education, Evan Brown
Our display at the Rochester Museum and Science Center on will be on March 4th, and a planning meeting for it will be held on March 9th.
TARC participants will be flying practice flights on the June 10th and 11th club launch. The TARC program held will be on October 28th.
- Launch Ops., Greg Young
Greg is working on the process for securing waivers and to open/close the window during each launch.
- NYPOWER, Mary Beth. A one day pass will be available, but it will not be advertised (it will be walkup only). There is interest in a night launch. We will contact The Three Legged Pig to see if they can be the food vendor again this year.
Old Business
- We need to print new brochures that use the name “National Warplane Museum” instead of the older name of “1941 HAG”. We need to update the graphics and use high-resolution graphics.
New Business
No new business
Concerns:
No concerns were raised
Adjournment:
The board meeting was adjourned.
Raffle
An Estes Space Ship One kit was raffled off, and MaryBeth won it.
Show and Tell
MaryBeth showed off a decal from Apogee Components that says “Rocket Mom” because that is the username that she has been using.
Dennis showed photos of his upscale Sprint and the nose cone of an X-15 from a kit that he got from Ken. He modified it in order to allow it to be dual deploy by putting the main parachute compartment within the nose cone and shoulder. He asked for ideas on how to make it dual deployment.
Ferenc showed battery-powered string lights that he got from Barnes and Noble that fits into a BT-60 clear payload section.
Eric Roth showed off a 3-D printed transparent high power rocket.
Even showed off his Estes Plasma Probe. The tube sizes of the original rocket scale up nicely to 2”, 3” and 4” tubes, and the nose cone is close to a PML 4:1 nose cone, so he built an upscaled version that he showed off as well. He will print off the decals himself.