Author: Administrator

This fall we will be conducting two rocket launches. One rocket will be a three and a half inches in diameter and eight foot long. The other Will be six inches in diameter and twelve feet long. Both rockets are upgrades of what we’ve flown before.

The three inch diameter rocket will have the biggest change. Our earlier version used a phenolic airframe reinforced with Kevlar in key areas. We flew that version to 72,232 feet. The new rocket will have thin carbon shells over a nomex honeycomb core. It will need all new molds for the airframe and nose cone.

The bigger rocket, The ML, will be casted from the existing molds. It will likely be the last one off the existing molds. Later it will also be upgraded to shell and honeycomb core airframe type. We were going to upgrade both to the new airframe, but new molding for the big one will a bit much for now. The existing airframe will still meet the mission goals for one more flight.

ML and 3inch diameter rocket          ML-1
3 inch diameter rocket in flight.
For us rockets are not an end themselves. They are a tool for airship development. They will serve as delivery vehicles for Mach Gliders and testbeds for engine and drag reduction technologies.

The Saturday build session was replaced will a full plan review. We spent the day going over the missions and projects covering the next eight years. Sometimes with all the push on missions and with a large array of technology projects it’s hard to see how it all fits together. It’s important to take a hard look at the plan with the entire team every now and then. It helps keep everyone focused and on track. We’ve made a big change to the number of missions. Flights were combined and bigger steps taken. We’re reduced the number of missions left in the development program from just over one hundred to just over sixty. This summer we will be flying our 100th mission. Hey, were over half way there! When did that happen?

People Everywhere

The Sacramento L-5 Society also had their monthly meeting Saturday. They were rolling in right as we were finishing the team meeting. Our own Karl gave a great talk on rotating habitats.

It was great to see L-5 member Allen Goff get coverage for his FLOC concept. The article was very good however, I don’t see the need to refer to new and out of the box ideas as “crazy” and “insane” over and over again. It seemed unnecessarily rude.

10. I’m Al Shepard’s Caddy!!

9. Kennedy said go, so I’m going.

8. Black sky matches my hair.

7. As Buzz says ‘Magnificent Desolation’.

6. Earthrise!

5. I’m on my way to Mars.

4. Q. Where do Americans walk? A. They walk on the moon.

3. I want to be the Alien.

2. One big step for me.

1. I just want to go.

What’s your reason? 

The storms and flooding didn’t slow the team down.

We finally got the shop completely rearranged and ready for the next series of missions. The shakeout also included a huge part sorting ordeal. There are literally hundreds of little part drawers, boxes, plastic organizers and the like. They tend to get filled with the odd IC here the and extra capacitor there. After a few years there are more stray parts then there are Starbucks. Bob showed saint like patience in sorting a googolplex of parts one at a time. The good news is that it’s DONE!!! Our dogo of space flight is ready to rock once again.

Everyone had to take a moment and get measured. We’re working on articulating the seats for the crew module. We not making custom seat of each team member, however to we do want them to be comfortable for long duration for the widest range of people.

Also, the support cabling for the Tandem parachute cannon was completed in spite of all the chaos.

80 knot winds and lots of rain caused flooding and downed trees in front of the shop. Inside was dry. However, the power went out dozens of times today. Give me a house at 140,000 feet….

The street out front.

Downed trees and flooding at our parking lot entrance.

Mini Ascenders called Mach Gliders will be used for much of the research for the Airship to Orbit program. Here’s a drawing of a Mach Glider reentering the atmosphere. The background picture is from the Away 25 mission.

The last few days have been focused on two things. Adjusting the missions for 2009 and 2010 and trying to get the shop back together. These task have something in common.
You move one thing and spend the next week trying to adjust all the implications.

Mean while here’s a cool pic of an early Dark Sky Station tether test.

The electronics and sewing areas of the shop got shaken out, turned upside down and rearranged. The old electronic benched were put into storage and a new peg board and shelves were put up.

All the rearranging will allow up to better managed assembly of multiple vehicles. Before we could handle two in progress at once. Three became a mess. This year we will have four to six under construction at any given time.
We are still so piled in boxes it looks like we’ve moved!

We even managed to get a little project work done. A big thank you goes out to Brad and Bill for getting a twenty-eight foot loop line sew onto the new balloon launch bag.

Bob and Ed, contractors of doom……

While going through old tapes we found we some scenes of the big airship in the hanger. The footage was put on a tape that recorded vent tests of the smaller Ascender 90. It was sitting under the vent test label for years. The tape has 16 minutes of walking around and under the Ascender 175 while she was floating eight feet off the ground. I trimmed it down to just over four minutes and added some things to come at the end. Oh, and I couldn’t resist adding some Sons of the San Joaquin music for fun.

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As the plans for the upcoming year firm up the shop gets rearranged accordingly. We tend to build big things in little spaces so every square foot counts. Saturday projects that are scheduled for late in the year got hosted up and away and other equipment brought out and dusted off.
We also got a little work down on the supports for Tandems parachute cannon and a bit of sewing on a new balloon launch bag.