ZOG-43aPRil 2004 Page 1

The ZOG-43The Newsletter of NARHAMS, NAR Section #139.NARAM-43 National Champions, 2001

Inside this issue: Page 3- MicroMaxx gone for good? Page 5- AstroBulletin Page 8- Who are these Cadets, anyway? Page 9- NASA Space Place Page 10-11- Plans for planes... AND MORE!

aPRIL 2004Vol 26 Issue 4

The model of choice for the discriminating KATE-2 flier.Most events were flown with the Super-Six. Photo by Doug Pratt.

Kate Bittle and Bill Harvey hook up their models for a contest flight.See page 4 for the results. Photo by Doug Pratt.

By Dr. Chris Kidwell, NAR 45225 On March 13, record numbers of NARHAMSterscame out to Middletown to compete in our annualsection meet, KATE-2. We had a total of 38competitors, which is the largest non-national meet Ihave ever attended. What made it even moreimpressive is that so many chose to brave the brutalconditions, with a cold 10-20 mph wind all day. Wealso had 13 of the NARHAMS Cadets flying theirSuper-6 and Longfellow models in their firstcompetition launch (and doing very well against theseasoned ranks of Bittles and Filler). A roll of the dice got things started to determine thetime for Random Duration. After several more rolls,we finally got a time people could live with: 55seconds. The wind really played havoc with strategy,as many people chose to go for shorter flights in hopesof actually seeing their models again. In A Division,the Cadets swept the first 6 places, led by KarlNotturno at 54 seconds. In C Division, Ed Giuglianocontinued to benefit from his R&D project and tookfirst with 42 seconds. Kris Bittle, being the only BDivisioner, was combined with Team Division forthe entire meet, and came in third with 33 seconds.Mostly Harmless took second with 53 seconds, andwas just barely beaten by Raging Rocketeers with 54seconds. To level the playing field somewhat for the Cadets,we required everyone to fly Super-6 models for BStreamer and B Parachute Duration. Some of the big-time competitors “souped up” their models withthinner fins and big Mylar streamers, but as long asit looked like a Super-6 from a distance, everyonewas content. Kate Bittle took first in A Division with

2 flights of 92 seconds. Jim Filler won C Division with 101seconds, followed closely by Ole Ed Pearson with 95seconds. Kris Bittle turned in two impressive flights totalling161 seconds to win B/Team Division. B Parachute Duration was an exercise in endurance andrecovery ability above all else. The majority of flights thatworked ended up way out into the housing development, orif you were lucky, in the open field beyond the houses.Matthew Filler finally got his act together and led A Division

KATE-2 Section Meet Draws a Crowd

... continued on page 4

with 170 seconds. Jimwasn’t far behind inleading C Divisionwith 162 seconds.Murphy’s Lawers putthat Internatsexperience to work towin B/Team Divisionwith 158 seconds.Those same peopletopped their respectivedivisions in A Super-Roc Duration as well.

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ZOG-43ZOG-43ZOG-43ZOG-43ZOG-43Volume 26 Number 4Volume 26 Number 4Volume 26 Number 4Volume 26 Number 4Volume 26 Number 4

April 2004ZOG-43 is the official newsletter ofNARHAMS the National Association ofRocketry Headquarters Astro ModelingSection # 139

NARHAMS is the oldest model rocket clubin the United States!

ZOG- 43 is dedicated to model rocketeersof all ages, abilities, and interest. We arecommitted to providing the most current,up-to-date information on model and realworld rocketry, and to provide educationalmaterial as well as entertaining information.ZOG -43 is published monthly and isavailable to anyone on a subscription basis.Current rates are $10 for meeting pickup oremail or $15 for postal mail U.S. Funds for12 issues a year, payable to NARHAMS Material in ZOG -43 is not copyrighted.Free and unlimited reproduction is grantedwith the proper credit to the author and/orZOG-43.

For more information.....

If you have any questions about ZOG-43or NARHAMS, or if you have anycomment(s), correspondence, freemerchandise or if you’d like to submit anarticle, send them to :

ZOG-43, 5269 Rivendell Lane, Apt 5,Columbia, Md. 21044E-Mail ZOG-43 at:zog43editor@yahoo.com

ZOG-43 is edited by Kevin Johnson, and isa seven-time winner of the NAR/LAC“Rockwell” Trophy, recognized as the bestNAR section newsletter.

Years won: 1969, 1973, 1975, 1990, 1991,1992, & 2003

Zog-43 staff typist is none other thanJennifer Ash-Poole a.k.a. Secretary to theStars !

Photographs: by Kevin Johnson, exceptwhere noted.

ZOG-43 is produced on a Compaq Evo PCwith a Pentium 4 processor using AdobePageMaker. Masters are printed on a CanonImageRunner 5000 copier/printer.

This Edition: 35 copies

NARHAMS ON THE WEB

http://www.narhams.org

Send and receive E-mail with otherNARHAMS members through NARHAMSWeb page grouplist via yahoo-groups.

ZOG ROYZOG ROYZOG ROYZOG ROYZOG ROYAL COURTAL COURTAL COURTAL COURTAL COURT( NARHAMS OFFICERS )

ZOGZOGZOGZOGZOG (President)

Jennifer Ash-Poole

410-674-6262

Vice Zog Vice Zog Vice Zog Vice Zog Vice Zog (Vice-President)

Jim FillerCOLLECTCOLLECTCOLLECTCOLLECTCOLLECTOR OF THE ROR OF THE ROR OF THE ROR OF THE ROR OF THE ROYOYOYOYOYAAAAALLLLLTTTTTAXESAXESAXESAXESAXES (Treasurer)

Ed Pearson 301-577-7775

KEEPER OF THE HOLKEEPER OF THE HOLKEEPER OF THE HOLKEEPER OF THE HOLKEEPER OF THE HOLY WY WY WY WY WORDSORDSORDSORDSORDS( Secretary )

Chris Kidwell 571-434-7507

COURCOURCOURCOURCOURT JESTERT JESTERT JESTERT JESTERT JESTER (SectionAdvisor)

Khim Bittle 301-293-2399

NARHAMS serves Baltimore, the state ofMd., Washington DC and the surroundingMetropolitan areas. The club is a sectionof the National Association of ModelRocketry (NAR) and we are the oldestcontinuously active model rocket club inthe United States, first established as a highschool club in 1963, changing our name toNARHAMS when chartered as a NARsection in 1965. NARHAMS is the onlyfour time winner of the NAR “Section ofthe Year” award.

Years won: 1997,1998,1999, 2001

NARHAMS members regularly fly theirmodel rockets at NASA’s Goddard SpaceFlight Center on Soil Conservation Rd. inGreenbelt Md. The launches are open tothe public and are held the first Sunday ofevery month (weather permitting), startingat 1 PM.

Sport Launches are usually held the secondSaturday of every month at MiddletownRecreation Park in Middletown Md. Checkthe web page for updates.

NARHAMS welcomes all prospective newmembers to our monthly meetings. They areheld on the first Friday of the month from7:30 to 9:30 PM at the College Park AirportAnnex Building. Dues are 10 cents a week,with an initial 50 cents up front (good for 5weeks) as a sign of good faith.

NEW: Monthly meetings available on-linevia chat-room , simply go to theNARHAMS homepage and click on thelink.

Directions to College ParkAirport:Follow I-495 to Kenilworth Ave. South.Make a right onto Paint Branch Parkway,then make a right on Cpl. Frank S. ScottDr. At the airport entrance go straight to theOperations Building, the annex building isadjacent to the “Ops” building.

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!!

From the President- April 2004 Ahh spring! Time for dusting offthose models we have been building,and time to start sneezing if you haveallergies. Time to come out to thelaunch range, even if the house andyard are demanding some attention.Launch rockets before doing thatspring yard cleanup! You’ll feelbetter. Plus, if you spray paint yourrockets before you pick up the last ofthose leaves, you’ll be saving thegrass. (At least, that’s what I tell thehubby.) Have you ever gotten a number inyour mind and then suddenly it iseverywhere? Well, as we all know,the number 43 is special toNARHAMSters, even if we don’tknow why. (Let’s all keep Ed Pearsonhealthy so he can tell us in a fewyears.) I have had the number 43come up a lot. While watching“Without a Trace” on TV, I havenoticed that they like to use “43 hoursmissing” in a lot of their shows.When at a meeting for security atwork, I heard the manager say, “Imust be getting slow, that took me43 minutes to get through thepresentation.” (This was his thirdtime to give the presentation. I thinkit was 43 minutes because I wasthere.) I have seen the number 43show up in various comic strips. Is itme? Do I notice this because I amnow Zog Bubbles? Be on the look out for 43 and thoseZ clouds. Happy Spring!

Zog Bubbles

What’s the Deal withMicro Maxx? With all the conflicting news out ofNARCON that hit the rocketry emaillists this month, someone needed toget the straight story. Who better thanJohn McCoy? John sent a note to BillStine, along with some examples of

Pratt Hobbies is proud to announce that we are now a QUESTdealer! Contact us for all your Quest and MicroMaxx products.

ASP MicroMaxx kits now in stock! NARHAMS members get special brother-in-law discounts!!

www.pratthobbies.com○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

his masterful work at micro scales,and got this response on what toexpect for Micro Maxx in the future. “Thanks for all the pictures. I reallyenjoy seeing them. Here’s theauthoritative word on Micro Maxx. As it exists today - it is beingdiscontinued. No more production ofRTF litttle plastic bricks. I have overa million motors and igniters on handand another million motors in process- there is no need for anyone to panicbuy. I do plan on releasing some newhobby style kits next year. We willbe releasing a launch pad conversionkit that converts our full size pad foruse with the igniters and ourcontroller. Look for a “Super Value” set of 10rockets and 50 motors at HobbyLobby Craft stores in mid-June(retailaround $30). Motors and igniters willbe in plentiful supply during theinterim period. If you have troublegetting them from your local retailer- try one of our online dealers. ModelAerospace has ‘em. We are also introducing a new “Q2”igniter for our 18mm motors thissummer. This new igniter will alsowork in the micro motors. You arefree to post any of this information.Thank you so much for your supportand enthusiasm for Micro Maxx.Regards,Bill Stine President Quest AerospaceNAR#24”

X43-A Breaks Speed Recordby Hogan Lansk, NCBTC News A pilotless NASA X-43A scramjetbroke the world record forhypersonic speed March 27 when itachieved Mach 7 for a ten secondflight.

Carried above the Pacific Oceanand under the wing of a modified B-52, the X-43A first separated fromits carrier, used a rocket engine to loftit 100,000 feet and then flew usingits no-moving parts scramjet toachieve 4,780 mph. This shattered the previous speedrecord of the SR-71 aircraft whichranged in the Mach 3 regime. NASAsays more X-43 tests are planned.!

Garett and Paul Miller’s V-2 lumbers intothe sky over KATE-2. Photo by MikeMagieri.

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Cumberland Ed’s KATE ReportBy Ed Giugliano, NAR 46086 It was a great day - good to be flyingagain. It was windy but we all knowhow to handle it. I went for some nicewalks in the neighborhood. I felt alot like Mister Rogers, “Hi neighbor.Can I get my rocket off your lawn?Can you say rocket. Sure you can!” The streamer duration modelslanded on the field, but my parachuteduration birds were in theneighborhood. I recovered one out oftwo PD models. My R&D project forRandom Duration worked again - thepercent error was higher than what Iwanted because I deliberately angledthe launch to try and keep it on thefield (no kidding, really!). I also thinkI goofed up the parachute andundersized it a little. In Superroc, Idouble DQ’d using a proven model.Go figure. I brought out some glidersbut wasn’t about to fly them in thewind. I had a good meal at James Gangand the ride home wasn’t bad.Stopped at Wonder Books inFrederick (nothing new) and saw theFillers at Dunkin’ Donuts (I neededcaffeine and sugar for the looooongride home).

Random DurationA DivisionPlace Contestant % Diff1 Notturno,Karl 1.82 Eacho, Shawn 23.63 Eacho, Chris 36.43 Gold, Connor 36.44 Cochetti, Emmett 50.9B Division (combined with Teams)Place Contestant % Diff3 Bittle, Kris 40.0C DivisionPlace Contestant % Diff1 Giugliano, Ed 23.62 Pearson, Ed 29.13 Johnson, Kevin 36.44 Harvey, Bill 49.1T Division (combined with B)1 Raging Rocketeers 1.82 Mostly Harmless 3.63 Lyons Den 40.04 8-Ball Racing 76.4

B Parachute DurationA DivisionPlace Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Filler, Matthew 91 79 1702 Bittle, Kate 67 27 942 Bittle, Kindra 65 29 943 McArdle, Henry 93 934 Eacho, Shawn SEP 88 88B Division (combined with Teams)Place Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total3 Bittle, Kris 71 50 121C DivisionPlace Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Filler, Jim 89 73 1622 Giugliano, Ed 64 74 1383 Ha, Tom 83 834 Harvey, Bill 22 44 664 Johnson, Kevin UNS 66 66T Division (combined with B)Place Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Murphy’s Lawyers 80 78 1582 Raging Rocketeers 66 69 1354 Lyons Den 58 58

Meet ChampsA DivisionPlace Contestant Total Pts1 Filler, Matthew 2462 Bittle, Kate 2003 Eacho, Shawn 1304 Notturno,Karl 113C DivisionPlace Contestant Total Pts1 Filler, Jim 3102 Pearson, Ed 2003 Giugliano, Ed 1844 Mangieri, Michael 88

B Streamer DurationA DivisionPlace Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Bittle, Kate 59 33 922 Eacho, Shawn 32 38 703 Filler, Matthew UNS 48 484 Bittle, Kindra 42 SEP 42B Division (combined with Teams)Place Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Bittle, Kris 65 96 161C DivisionPlace Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Filler, Jim 30 71 1012 Pearson, Ed 58 37 953 Giugliano, Ed 41 40 813 Harvey, Bill 48 33 814 Mangieri, Michael 41 21 62T Division (combined with B)Place Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total2 Raging Rocketeers 97 33 1303 Mostly Harmless 98 23 1214 8-Ball Racing 17 17

A Super-Roc DurationA DivisionPlace Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Filler, Matthew 3828 2261 60892 Ha, Zachary 3059 30593 Bittle, Kate 1330 924 22544 Ha, Christopher 1995 1995B Division (combined with Teams)Place Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total-- Bittle, Kris SEPC DivisionPlace Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Filler, Jim 4488 924 54122 Pearson, Ed 2990 29903 Mangieri, Michael 2358 23584 Williams, Alan 1452 1452T Division (combined with B)Place Contestant Flt1 Flt2 Total1 Murphy’s Lawyers 5474 7830 133042 Mostly Harmless 1584 6240 78243 Raging Rocketeers SEP 1717 1717

B DivisionPlace Contestant Total Pts1 Bittle, Kris 162T DivisionPlace Contestant Total Pts1 Raging Rocketeers 2542 Murphy’s Lawyers 2103 Mostly Harmless 1824 Lyons Den 65

Section PointsNARHAMS 3299!

...continued from page 1 Meet Champions were MatthewFiller, Kris Bittle (no surprise there),Jim Filler, and Raging “I’m donewith competition” Rocketeers.Overall, we picked up 3,299 pointsfor the club. I want to give a big thankyou to everyone who put up with foulweather and the unavoidable launchdelays. Special thanks go to Jennifer Ash-Poole for helping keep the Cadetsstraight, and to Khim Bittle, JimFiller, Ed Pearson and Alan Williamsfor their time spent running therangehead.

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FREDERICK, MARYLAND1305 W. 7th Street

Frederick, MD 21702Phone: 301-694-7395 Fax: 301-694-7394

Show your NARHAMS membership card and receive a20% discount off rocket kits, motors, and building

supplies!!

May AstrobulletinBy Jennifer Ash-Poole, NAR 61415

Full Moon - May 43rd Quarter - May 11New Moon - May 191st Quarter - May 27

May! The month when school isalmost out, the weather gets warmer,and we get to see 4 planets in the sky!But first, some important dates. May18th is the 35th anniversary of theApollo 10 launch. May 28th is the45th Anniversary of a Jupiter Claunch carrying two monkeys.Launch a Jupiter C PMC model atECRM next month. May 3rd isNational Space Day and May 9th isAstronomy Day. In the first week of May, looktowards the West just after sunset.You will see Venus, Mars and Saturnin a row going up towards the Geminiconstellation. If you look almoststraight overhead, you will see Leo,which looks like a backwardsquestion mark. Between his legs isJupiter. If you have binoculars, youmay see the Galaxy M35 betweenMars and Saturn, but you may haveto be in a really dark spot. On May 4th, there is a total lunareclipse, but only if you are in theEastern Hemisphere (We live in theWestern Hemisphere, if you don’tknow.) On the morning of May 5th,right after the full Moon, the Aquaridmeteor shower will be at its peak.Unfortunately, with the Moon beingso bright, they may be washed outwith the light. Face the east, andmeteors should look like they arecoming out of the constellationAquarius. The Moon will be behindyou, so hopefully you will have someluck seeing and wishing on a“shooting” star.

Keep those binoculars out. On May9th, Comet Neat can be seen in theWest South West. If you go out andlook every night, it will look like thecomet is moving up the sky towardsthe constellation Cancer. Try to figureout which way the tail is going.Tails of comets are created by the iceball going through space. The tails arethe matter that gets burned off. Asthe month progresses, the cometshould be getting fainter. If youhappen to be in Australia during May(and not helping at the TARC finals)you could also see Comet Linear.Astronomers don’t know if these willbe really bright comets, but youshould be on the lookout for them. !

On May 25th, Mars and Saturn looklike they pass really close to eachother in the sky. There is no reasonto fear, both planets are still in theirorbits. But it should make for aspectacular sight. They will be in theWest North West right between thetwins in the constellation Gemini.They will be 1.3 degrees apart. Seeif you can see them as two planetsand not as one big planet. Don’t forget, the middle of themonth has the cicadas coming. Theseare earthbound insects, but this is the17 year cicadas, just like comets thatcome back and visit Earth.Hopefully, the cicadas won’t disturbyour star gazing.

Comet NEAT photographed in 2002. Photo by Arnie Rosner.

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Greetings ‘HAMStersBy Roy Lappalainen, NAR 83317 I am one of your newest members.I have been out of sport rocketry formany years. The last time I built orlaunched a rocket was in 1970 andthe last time I witnessed a sportlaunch was in the mid 80’s when Iattended a launch where rocketswere being fired with the largestmotors I have ever seen. I can’tremember the acronym but, I doremember that “dangerous” was partof it. The space program was a part ofmy life and my family for manyyears. I grew-up on the east coast ofFlorida (Cocoa Beach, Cocoa andTitusville). My father was anengineer on the NASA tug boats andparticipated in many of the recoveryoperations from Gemini thru someof the first flights of the space shuttle.My stepmother was a secretary in theNASA safety office. In 1979-80 Iworked for Rockwell Internationaland at the time they were the primecontractor for shuttle processing.There I was a quality controlinspector of the thermal protectionsystem of the Columbia and I spentmost of my time working inconfiguration management. Duringmy tenure I had some veryinteresting projects but I will savethat for another time. My stepbrotheralso worked in configurationmanagement in the document andrecords department and of course wehave many friends and acquaintancesthat worked in just about every otheraspect of the space program atKennedy Space Center. Since moving to Maryland myprimary interest has been incompetitive sailboat racing. With 9/11 and the war on Iraq theavailability of crew has diminishedgreatly. That and the current

economy has made it a necessity thatI race less often. So, what to do withall this extra time? Actually, I was thinking about anactivity to do with my friend’s son.My friend is currently in Iraq andwon’t be back until some time inApril. I remembered seeing therocketry program on the DiscoveryChannel and that triggered memoriesof rocket launches as a youngster.Rockets! What a great idea! So, I didsome searching on the web and thatbring me were I am today. I have beena member NAR, NARHAMS forabout a week now. I have been verybusy reading and building rockets tolaunch during the sport launches, clubmeets, NSL and NARAM and I amalso working on completingNARTEK and other competitions.Oh yeah, I also plan on bringing myfriend’s son to some of the Goddardlaunches. I am so jazzed about being part ofthe NARHAMS section and I amlooking forward to meeting each andevery one of the members and havingmany good times this year and in theyears to come.

Roy Lappalainen – FleetEstes Bull PupEstes SizzlerScratch – Odd Rock Hearts-A-FireThrustline Astron Sprint Clone- In ProgressScratch clone Estes Warp II- In ProgressScratch 1/53 sport scale Delta II- In DesignPratt Hobbies Super-6- In QueuePratt Hobbies Longfellow- In Queue

Others to build this year:Boost GliderRocket GliderHeloEgglofterPlastic Model

L1/L2 Certification- LOC/Precision ExpeditorOther- Scratch 1/10 – 1/14 scale Delta II

Ode of a Metal Boxby Ole Ed, NAR 5694 Alan Williams came over to myhouse to go with me to the KATEsection meet a few weekends back.He missed an historic occasionalthough I let him know it was aboutto happen. Alan preferred to playwith my son’s dog, Maggie. Whenhe was through, the deed was done.What was this momentous event?Nothing more than the dumping ofmy range box into a new range box. My old range box had gotten toosmall over the years and it was alwaysa chore to pull out things, find whatwas needed and then stuff everythingback in again. Occasionally the box

would pop open while you carried itand dump a goodly portion of stuffonto the ground. It would never giveyou warning it was going to do ithowever. It was one of the lessendearing qualities of that range box.So when I found a new bigger plastictool box for $12 at Home Depotaround Christmas time, I snapped itup. It just took me until March to dothe deed and transfer the items. Funny when you look back atthings. It seems like only yesterdaythat Jan Blickenstaff and I boughttwo identical metal fishing tackleboxes at a sidewalk sale at PrinceGeorges Plaza in Hyattsville. ThePlaza was only about three years oldthen—1964 and the shopping center

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Calendar of Events for 2004Mar 5- Monthly meeting, PrattHobbies building sessionMar 6- Cadet building sessionCollege Park Aviation Museum 10 am-NoonMar 7-Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterMar 13- Sport Launch, KATE-2section meetMar 27- Sport Launch, no themeApr 2- Monthly meeting, 1/4A Flexiebuilding sessionApr 3- Cadet building session,College Park Aviation Museum 10am-noonApr 4- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterApr 10- Sport Launch, OPOSSUM-8open meetApr 15- Wood Acres ElementarySchool Space Day and Rocket LaunchApr 25- Rockville Consortium ofSciences building session and launchApr 30-Monthly meeting, Old TimersReunionMay 2- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterMay 8- Sport launch with C.P.R.,Newville, PAMay 15- TARC Fly-offs, GreatMeadows, VAJun 5-6- Sport launch and ECRM-31regional meetJun 5- Monthly meeting HobbytownUSA, Frederick 7:30-9:00 pmJun 6- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterJun 26-27- RAMTEC-11 regionalmeet, Newville, PA

Jul 2- Monthly meeting, Mold-making/casting discussionJul 4- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterJul 10- Sport launch, US scale modelsthemeJul 18- Goddard Contest, GoddardSpace Flight CenterJul 30- August MeetingJul 31-Aug 6- NARAM-46 nationalmeet, Great Meadows, VAAug 1- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterAug 14- Sport launch, Rockets I foundat NARAM themeSep 3- Monthly meeting, elections,staging discussionSep 5- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterSep 11- Sport launch, night launch andglider themeSep 19- AIAA picnic and demo launchOct 1- Monthly meeting, scale modeldiscussionOct 3- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterOct 9- Sport launch, Oktoberfest, non-US scale model themeOct 9-10- Steel City Smoke Trails 4,reginoal meet, Jonesburg PAOct 23- Planning meeting 10-4Nov 5- Monthly meeting, helicopterdesign/building sessionNov 7- Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterNov 13- Sport launch, no themeDec 3- Monthly meeting, pot luckdinnerDec 5-Public launch, Goddard SpaceFlight CenterDec 11- Sport launch, no theme

Sport launches are held at Middletown Park from 10am-4pm, waiver upto 3.3 lbs and “G” motors not exceeding 62.5 grams of propellant. Allflights “E” power and above are restricted to 5 degrees from vertical andbetween the hours of noon and four PM. Call ahead to confirm launchand waiver availability. Business meetings are held at the College Park Airport Annex Building,except where noted above. Meetings begin at 7:15pm with buildingsessions or presentations and last until 9:00pm or so. Regular Businessmeetings follow until 10:00pm. If no presentation or building session isscheduled, please bring whatever project you are working on currently. Questions? Call Club President Jennifer Ash-Poole at 410-674-6262 orvisit NARHAMS online at http://www.narhams.org

would be another 20 years before itbecame enclosed. In the sixties, thestores faced each other along a longpromenade that ended on one endwith a Murphy’s five and dime andan A&P grocery store on the otherend. Annually there would besidewalk sales and merchants wouldput out a table or two and get rid oftheir outdated wares for ridiculousprices. Neither of the two range boxes hada lock, and the merchant wanted 10cents for each. We bought thesetreasures and took them home. Youneeded a pointy object to open themwhere the lock used to be or youcould just carry them by theirhandles and sooner or later they’dpop open anyway without warning.I decorated mine over the years withthe latest NARAM stickers—NARAM-6, NARAM-7, NARAM-8, NARAM-9, NARAM-10, etc. Jannever decorated his. He later joinedthe Navy and headed off for VietNam. He left me his range box andeventually one of the most intriguingghost stories I have everencountered. Someday if you wantto know about it, I’ll tell it at a clubfunction, but everyone will have tobe polite and listen, for the story istrue and Jan’s story deserves respect. I ended up putting my stuff in hisbox and using my own to carry therockets I would use at contests.When I dumped everything into thatbig plastic new range box last month,an era was over—some tools andsupplies had been in Jan’s/my oldrange box for more than threedecades. Someday I am going toorganize what’s in that newbox…and probably write about it.!

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Cadets Fly at GSFC We had several of our Cadet members come out to the Goddard public launchand fly their Super Six kits. Some even came out to fly the KATE-2 section meet last month.

Aaron Bryce Chris Connor Daevin

Dan Henry James Jeeven Jesse

Karl Robin

Shawn

In addition to the Super Six kits, theCadets have also built and flown PrattHobbies Longfellow kits. After flyingthe Longfellows, all of the Cadetsrecieved the Mercury level awards. Next up for the Cadets is to build andfly Edmonds Deltie boost gliders. Thebuilding session is April 3rd and theflights will be at the GSFC public launchon the 4th. The photos were taken byDr. Chris Kidwell. !

ZOG-43aPRil 2004 Page 9

This article was provided by the JetPropulsion Laboratory, CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, under acontract with the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration.

Sciencecraftby Patrick L. Barry and Tony Phillips Probes that can distinguish between“interesting” things and “boring”things are vital for deep spaceexploration, say JPL scientists. Along with his colleagues inNASA’s Space Technology 6 Project(ST6), JPL’s Steven Chien is workingto develop an artificial intelligencetechnology that does just that. Theycall it the Autonomous SciencecraftExperiment, and it’s one of manynext-generation satellite technologiesemerging from NASA’s NewMillennium Program. As humanity expands itsexploration of the outer solar system-or even neighboring solar systems!-the probes we send suffer from twounavoidable handicaps. First,commands radioed by missionscientists on Earth take a long timeto reach the probe: six hours for theplanned New Horizons mission toPluto, for example. Second, the great distance alsomeans that data beamed back by theprobe trickles to Earth at a lowerbandwidth-often much less than anold 28.8 kbps modem. Waiting forhundreds or thousands of multi-megabyte scientific images todownload could take weeks. Andoften many of those images will be“boring,” that is, they won’t containanything new or important forscientists to puzzle over. That’scertainly not the most efficient wayof using a multi-million dollar probe. Even worse, what if one of thoseimages showed something extremely“interesting”-a rare event like avolcanic eruption or an unexpected

feature like glaciers of methane ice?By the time scientists see the images,hours or days would have passed, andit may be too late to tell the probe totake a closer look. But how can a probe’s computerbrain possibly decide what’s“interesting” to scientists and what’snot? “What you really want is a probe thatcan identify changes or uniquefeatures and focus on those things onits own, rather than just taking imagesindiscriminately,” says ArthurChmielewski, one of Chien’scolleagues at JPL. Indeed, that’s what Chien’s softwaredoes. It looks for things that change.A mission to Jupiter’s icy moonEuropa, for instance, might zero inon newly-formed cracks in the ice.Using artificial intelligence to set

priorities, the probe could capture acomplete movie of growingfractures rather than a singlehaphazard snapshot. Until scientists can actually travelto deep space and explore distantworlds in person, they’ll needspacecraft “out there” that can dosome of the thinking for them.Sciencecraft is leading the way. Learn more about Sciencecraft atnmp.nasa.gov/st6. Kids can make a“Star Finder” for this month andlearn about another of the ST6technologies at spaceplace.nasa.gov/st6starfinder/st6starfinder.htm.!

The Autonomous Sciencecraft technology that will be tested as part of NASA’s SpaceTechnology 6 mission will use artificial intelligence to select and transmit only thescientifically significant images.

ZOG-43 aPRil 2004 Page 10

Micro-Meister John McCoy sentalong these two plans this month.Tired of those oversized 1/4Aflexies? Try this MicroMaxx ver-sion and test the timer’s eyes! I’msure it won’t be long before we seethe ARES ready to take flight fromJohn’s micro launch pad.

ZOG-43aPRil 2004 Page 11

http://marsairplane.larc.nasa.gov

The Aerial Regional-scale Environmental

Survey (ARES) is a proposed pilotless

rocket-powered, controlled airplane that

will obtain important and previously

unobtainable measurements of the

atmosphere, surface and interior of Mars.

Wingspan = 7.4 in Scale = 1/36

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ZOG-43 aPRil 2004 Page 12ZOG-43, The ONL ONL ONL ONL ONLYYYYY NAR Section Newsletter Published Monthly!

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