We welcomed a new member, Curtis, and talked about all facets of CORSA. We made plans for the upcoming launch, and changed the start time from 10:00 to 11:00, hoping to avoid some of the morning chill. We also talked about launch fees at our club launches.
Ed encouraged the other members to use and become familiar with Open Rocket. We plan to post our design files to this website.
At our October meeting, the big news was that Lloyd Newman, the founder and director of CORSA, has had to step away from the club for personal reasons. Ed Hingsbergen was chosen to step in as new director.
We discussed our experience at the Cub Scout launch, and the things we can do to improve future launches. The 6-pad launcher we currently use is excellent; adding another 6-pad rack would speed up the prep during large launches. We also want to find a tent with sides for use during winter launches, and a PA.
In September, we again partnered with Cub Scout troop 701 for a launch at Freedom Park in Sunbury. The Scouts brought and flew a wide variety of Ready-to-Fly rockets and kits they’d assembled. The enthusiasm and excitement of the Scouts was contagious; the CORSA members had as good a time as the Scouts and their families.
The Scouts launched 64 times, with the following motors:
7 – unknown
46 – A
7 – B
3 – C
There were few deployment failures, and few rockets lost. The occasional ignition failure was met not with frustration, but with curiosity and resolve. The scouts were an impressive group to work with, and we hope to have the pleasure of working with them again!
At our meetings in April through September, we of course discussed business, and planned a couple launches. We also shared construction techniques and practices, and did some hands-on kit building. This was great experience, for both the beginners and the experienced model builders.
Since our last meeting we received a letter from the IRS determining that we meet all of the criteria for a community charity. The Central Ohio Rocketry & Spacemodeling Alliance is officially recognized as a 501(c)(3) non profit corporation. Ok, perhaps not big rocketry news, but it in 6 months we have completed all of the necessary filing to be a fully compliant non profit corporation. This opens a lot of doors as we move forward with other community and non-profit activities.
There has been progress on securing a partnership for a LPR/MPR field that will be available once a month year round. We need to start building our community outreach now. We are going to start with a focus on the schools and youth organizations that are nearest the site. We can’t use the site without it being a benefit to community and the community can’t use the site until arrangements are final. It’s a bit of a cart/horse, chicken/egg situation but we feel strongly that both will come together in time.
Our rocket topic was an overview of the Open Rocket application. This is an open source application which costs nothing to download and use. Ed gave a presentation on its’ basic schematic features, how to build a rocket and model its’ flight. The application is easy to use and feature rich. There wasn’t enough time to explore all its’ features. This will be a topic we’ll visit again and focus on specific elements of rocket design and flight models.
The last hour of the meeting was spent in open discussion. Ed brought the book Rockets of World by Peter Alway. Erich Z. shared a balloon rocket launch design that one of the OSU aeronautics seniors is doing for his senior project. If it’s successful, it will be the first time a rocket will have been launched at 100,000 ft.; previous launches have been attained heights of approximately 30,000 ft. Michael K. shared some ideas he has for on board electronics although nothing specific was discussed. Lloyd N. asked for some input on adding a payload bay to an Estes Pro II Partizon. The rocket has a unique 2.5″ body tube which is between BT-70 and BT-80 so it will involve design and construction using custom parts.
Paul D. joined our meeting via a Google Hangouts video meeting link. This was CORSA’s first utilization of “remote attendance”. There were a few bugs but we are going to continue to work on this delivery method as an alternative for members who may be on the road for work or otherwise unable to attend an opportunity to participate without being present in person. We still encourage members first and foremost to attend in person as there are too many hands on elements that can’t be duplicated virtually.
You can view the meeting presentation here: CORSA 03_2016 March Meeting
APRIL MEETING PREVIEW!!: Educator Bulk Pack Build
As the groups we support continue to increase we will need to be prepared to help our school and youth alliances build rockets that are available as educator bulk packs. You may choose to build one rocket individually or as a team as a dry practice run for this important future CORSA goal and activity. We will have one of each of the following rockets:
Apogee Apprentice
Apogee Avion
Apogee Research Express
Estes Viking
Estes Alpha
Quest Courier
Quest Astra
Quest Payloader One
We had a special guest drop by at the beginning of our meeting! Dr. David Robertson, Physics Professor at Otterbein University, stayed after his last class to see how we liked our “new digs”. Dave shared his appreciation of our alliance and thinks that more students will get involved as word spreads of our presence on campus. Oh, and we REALLY appreciate our “new digs”.
CORSA members elected our first board of directors. All nominees were acclaimed (unopposed). Our new and first leadership team is:
Director – Lloyd N. NAR 97987
Deputy Director – Joe P. NAR 83768
Recording/Financial Officer – Ed H. NAR 71396
Senior Adviser – Paul D. NAR 26702
We have narrowed our LPR/MPR launch site search down to three possibilities. Lloyd has already begun contacting the municipal entities that own the sites. While we all have “go fever” it’s important for us to stay focused on securing a site as a responsible community partner. We will not fly without permission and then ask for forgiveness. We are taking the responsible and more challenging path of building alliances with land owners (public and private) to secure sites we can use on a consistent basis. It might take a little longer to secure a site, but in the end we will have a working partnership that hopefully should ensure we can remain welcome guests for the long run.
Our rocket discussion was “Hidden Gems of the NAR Web Site”. We reviewed logging in and how to update our personal information. The members only access to R&D reports had members ooing and ahhing until we had mental overload. There is SO MUCH information in this area it would take months to read it all. The safety area of the web site has been updated and provides easy access to a lot of valuable information. Most of the reports are on high power safety but the principals found within them can be applied to low and mid power as well. In the education area we had a brief review of the NARTREK program and TARC which will be a major outreach objective once we have a launch site. Last, but not least, we explored the competition area.
MARCH MEETING PREVIEW! – Open Rocket overview with Ed! Flying rockets is fun, building kits is more fun, and modifying the kits is even better, but the ultimate prize is to fly your own original design. OpenRocket is a free, fully featured model rocket simulator that allows you to design and simulate your rockets before actually building and flying them.” You can down load Open Rocket for free from their web site: http://openrocket.sourceforge.net/
You can view the meeting presentation here: CORSA 02_2016 February Meeting
Members with the rockets that were brought for show and tell.
We started the New Year in our new home at Otterbein University. We want to express our gratitude to the University, the Physics Department, for the use of the facility, as well as Drs. David Robertson &and Aaron Reinhard of the Physics Department for meeting with us in November and opening the door for this new community alliance. THANK YOU!!
We have been looking for and at fields in the central Ohio area that are at least 1,000 ft. on their smallest side for low power and mid power rocket launches. We have identified some sites and are preparing to contact the land owners.
Members brought their favorite rockets that they have built over the years. Michael N brought an Estes Baby Bertha. Joe P. brought his Phoenix and X-15 rockets. Lloyd N brought a Quest Courier and shared his favorite scratch built parachutes and streamers. Ed H. shared the”BIG ROCKET” he used for his HPR2 certification.
You can view the meeting presentation here: CORSA 01_2016 January Meeting
Ed Hingsbergen NAR 71396 took this video with the Estes Oracle video rocket on a D12 motor, July 5, 2009.
Parents and scouts enjoying a smooth safe launch.
Cub Scout troop 701 in Sunbury, Ohio successfully launched their rocket projects this past Sunday. CORSA provided full launch support which allowed the scouts the experience a genuine NAR sport launch. Each flier filled out a launch card every time they flew. Erich Zahn provided assistance with packing recovery systems, and inserting motors/igniters to those who needed it. After the rockets were ready, the scouts had their rockets checked out by Paul Demus who was the RSO (Range Safety Officer), then proceeded to Ed Hingsbergen who was the LCO (Launch Control Officer) for their final trek out to the pad. 30 different fliers flew a total of 55 flights. There were no CATO’s or RUD’s but a few rockets did experience recovery failures including one “heads up” lawn dart. The motor report for the launch is:
…
1/2A – 4
A – 24
B – 10
C – 4
unknown – 13
A small sample of the many rockets the scouts flew.
The scouts flew a variety of Rockets. There was a Estes Mini Fat Boy in a red white and blue paint scheme, an Alpha III, a Shuttle Xpress, two Phantom Blues that went up solo then were launched in a drag race, and many, many others.
Scouts and parents didn’t just show up, fly, and leave. Many questions were asked and answered as the crowd made observations about flights. A scout asked why the rockets seemed to float sideways (parallel to the ground) before ejection. A CORSA member explained the relationship of the wind, center of gravity, center of pressure and why the rocket floated sideways. After seeing all the different motors people were using one parent asked what all the numbers and letters meant on the side of the motor. Paul Demus explained the code which prompted even more questions. It was good to see the participants engaging in rocket discussions.
The scouts and their parents gradually left with the smell of black powder in their rockets and smiles on their faces.
CORSA members Paul Demus (left) and Ed Hingsbergen review launch operations before scouts arrive.
CORSA members Paul Demus and Erich Zahn are ready to help the scouts.
5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – LAUNCH!
CORSA Director Lloyd Newman (left) assists a first time rocketeer at the pad.
The purpose of the Ohio State rocket launch was to give our new members experience building and launching a low powered rocket (LPR) and also to have fun. Considering many of the new members did not have any experience with rockets, this was their chance to start learning about rocketry. We bought an educational pack of Estes Vulcan Rockets for everyone to build. It was fairly cheap and was able to be put together with wood glue in about an hour so it was the perfect model to give our members for one of the first meetings. It was active enough to get them excited for the school year and for the club but critical enough that they had to think about the design of their model. With the Vulcans we used Estes B6-4 motors since they could be launched in a nearby field without risk of losing the rockets.
That next week we launched the rockets at a nearby park with the help of the newly formed NAR chapter the Central Ohio Rocketry and Spacemodeling Alliance (CORSA). The members of CORSA were generous enough to bring their launch stand so that we could launch multiple rockets at once. As well as ensuring the general smooth running of the launch, they were also able to help out the rocket team when the friction fit motors were slipping out the back of the rockets. There were still several motor separations but without their help half of the rockets may not have been able to launch. Throughout the entire launch there were many “wows!” and lots of talk on how their flight went as well as how the current flight is going; lots of “that was a good one” or laughing if it spun out of control. One member expressed their excitement by stating they wanted to start launching their own rockets. Luckily there were no CATO’s; however, there was one case where the center of pressure (CP) was too far away from the center of gravity (CG) and the rocket spun out of control nearly 20 feet off of the launch pad. No one was hurt but everyone was given the spectacle of a failed launch. Overall everyone enjoyed the launch! They appreciated the help and shared knowledge from the CORSA members. This was a great launch to start out the semester with and I know all of them look forward to more launches in the future!
Members of the Rocket Team at The Ohio State University installing their motors before flight.
Rocket Team President and CORSA Member Erich Zahn (left) assists a team member at the pad.
Lloyd Newman (left), CORSA Director, assists Erich Zahn, Rocket Team President and CORSA member, with failure analysis on a rocket motor that failed to ignite.
Lift off!
Members of the Rocket Team at The Ohio State University ready for launch.
Members of the Rocket Team at The Ohio State University ready for launch.
Another successful lift off!
Erich Zahn(right), Rocket Team President and CORSA member, assists other rocket team members at the pad.
