Minutes of ERPS #286

Minutes of ERPS General Meeting #286
01 July 2004

The President called the meeting to order at 8:13 PM. Members present were 
Kevin Bollinger, Rick Eversole, Sean Lynch, Dave Masten, Pierce Nichols, 
Julie Porter, Michael Wallis, and Chris Winter. Dennis Brittain, a friend 
of Michael's visited.

Reports and discussion on agenda items were as follows:


DOCUMENTATION
-------------
Chris Winter

	Julie had a CD she burned containing images from the Ranch. She turned 
this over to Michael, who will put the useful ones on the Web site.

INFOTECH
--------
Sean Lynch

	Michael informed Sean that one of the servers needs a little 
administration work. Sean will take care of it.

LIAISONS
--------
Michael Wallis

	PRS has not replied to us regarding our plans for a November launch 
campaign at MTA.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS
--------------
Michael Wallis

	Michael has heard nothing new from the NASA Centennial Challenges group.

	S.1260 is apparently dead for the current session of Congress. Efforts are 
under way to resolve the dispute over wording and make sure the bill is re-
introduced ASAP.

TREASURER
---------
Rick Eversole

	We have money, but most of it is allocated.

	Rick has presented a check to Dave Weinshenker to reimburse him for the 
order of heat transfer fluid. The fluid should be here tomorrow (Friday).

	Discussions with the Stanislaus County Planning Commission are under way 
concerning the Crow's Landing site. This was once an Air Force 
installation, and has a landing strip. Apparently NASA has jurisdiction 
currently, and is cleaning up the site. The Planning Commission anticipates 
using it for general aviation. It could also be suitable for POGO flights.

	Dovebid has promised that the robot arm will be placed in a liquidation 
within a week.

	Rick will order two workpiece holders that Kevin needs for his filament 
winder.

CHIEF SCIENTIST
---------------
Kevin Bollinger

	Kevin showed a pintle engine he is assembling. This needs a spot of work 
on teh pintle tip; then it will be ready for use in testing the six 
hypergol combinations he is investigating.

	He also had with him a number of books, including "The Rocket Fuel 
Handbook". This volume contains a chapter on mercaptans. It does NOT 
contain the words "Hey! This stuff STINKS as a rocket fuel!"

	NASA -- perhaps because of homeland security concerns -- has taken all its 
technical documentation offline. Kevin is working on scanning the 8000-
series documents he has, and will ultimately transfer them to CD-ROM.

FLIGHT CONTROLS
---------------
Dave Masten

	Flight control code has taken a major uptick in capability. Dave is 
dealing with a minor compilation problem; he expects to have it resolved 
soon.

PROPELLANTS/SPARGER/FF
----------------------
Pierce Nichols

	Freezewheel Mark I is almost ready for testing. The weekend after 
Independence Day holiday looks good.

REGULATORY
AFFAIRS
-------
Dave Weinshenker

	Nothing to report

SAFETY
------
Dave Masten

	Safety is AOK.

TESTING
-------
Dave Masten

	Nothing to report

**** PROJECTS

Composites
----------
Kevin Bollinger

	Nothing to report

Gizmocopter
-----------
Sean Lynch

	Because of the Independence Day holiday, there will be no Gizmocopter 
meeting this Monday.

KISS
----
Dan Solvin

	Nothing to report

POGO
----
Dave Masten

	Nothing to report

SMARTFLIGHT
-----------
Dave Weinshenker

	Nothing to report

Spike
-----
Sean Lynch

	Nothing to report


NEW BUSINESS
============

	NASA has released a Java interface to its old (Fortran) code for chemical 
equilibrium analysis. Rick is working on adapting this for use.



Meeting #286 adjourned at 9 PM. The next meeting will take place on 15 July 
at the Denny's on Bowers Avenue in Santa Clara. Watch the list for full 
driving directions.

"Radio has no future."
	-- Lord Kelvin

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Winter
Secretary, ERPS


+++ PLEASE ADVISE THE SECRETARY OF ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THESE 
MINUTES +++