Minutes of ERPS #289

Minutes of ERPS General Meeting #289
19 August 2004

The President called the meeting to order at 8:10 PM. Members present were 
Rick Eversole, Sean Lynch, Dave Masten, Gerry Nordley, Julie Porter, Adrian 
Tymes, Michael Wallis and Chris Winter.

Reports and discussion on agenda items were as follows:


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

	Nothing to report

INFOTECH
--------
Sean Lynch

	Replacement of the defective HDD on Cube is still under way, due to 
logistics issues.

LIAISONS
--------
Michael Wallis

	Gerry repeated his offer to distribute ERPS literature at Worldcon. Chris 
will e-mail a copy of the latest brochure file to Rick, who will print some 
copies in color and get them into Gerry's hands before he leaves for Boston 
on the 28th.

	Michael will prepare a proposal for ERPS use of the Crow's Landing site in 
Stanislaus County. This site is stil controlled by NASA, but the County is 
looking for ideas to implement when ownership transfers.

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

	In the Senate of these United States, there were two versions of S.1260, 
the Commercial Space Transportation Act of 2003. The first was sponsored by 
Senators McCain and Brownback, and introduced on 13 June 2003. That bill 
was modified in committee and reported out on 24 July as Calendar #232. 
S.1260 is now dead. It has been replaced by S.2772, which like its 
predecessor has been read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation. Known as the Space CHASE Act, it is sponsored 
by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who introduced it on 22 July 2004. The 
official title is "A bill to promote the development of the emerging 
commercial human space flight industry, to extend the liability 
indemnification regime for the commercial space transportation industry, to 
authorize appropriations for the Office of the Associate Administrator for 
Commercial Space Transportation, and for other purposes." There is still 
hope that it may pass before the 108th Congress adjourns in September.

	Due to personal obligations, Michael will not be able to attend the next 
COMSTAC meeting in Washington on October 26-27.

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

	All money in the treasury remains committed, and budgets for FY2005 are 
still being prepared.

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

	Nothing to report

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

	See Gizmocopter

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

	As previously reported, ambient heat inputs prevent the freezewheel 
assembly from getting cold enough to form crystals of H2O2. Dave 
Weinshenker has constructed a foam-filled insulation box to cover the 
freezewheel. This will be installed and tested at the next opportunity.

REGULATORY
AFFAIRS
-------
Dave Weinshenker

	Nothing to report

SAFETY
------
Dave Masten

	Safety is AOK.

TESTING
-------
Dave Masten

	The possibility of one or more test flights at MTA in November was 
discussed. Achieving this goal remains problematical.

**** PROJECTS

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

	Nothing to report

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

	The problem with the IMU not talking to Gizmocopter's flight computer is 
due to the flight computer not booting with the proper drivers for the 
serial ports (geTTY). Sean has located another boot CD; this will be 
applied at the next meeting on 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
============

	None



Meeting #289 adjourned at 8:47 PM. The next meeting will take place on 2 
September at the Denny's on Bowers Avenue in Santa Clara. Watch the list 
for full driving directions.


Respectfully submitted,

Chris Winter
Secretary, ERPS


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