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