| Attending: | Gerald Nordley, Dave Weinshenker, Michael Wallis, Dan Solvin, Stewart Cobb, and Julie Porter. |
| Call to order: | 20:10 |
Old Business:
- The following pre-meeting agenda items were discussed.
- Nothing new to report.
- Nobody has been to the ranch yet this year.
- Dan Solvin is designing peroxide/ethanol engine with a 5″ OD, 12-14″ long, that should provide 450 lb thrust. It can be configured for either monoprop or biprop operations. He estimates biprop mode ≈.75 kg/s HTP flow and .17 kg/s ethanol, with HTP mass flow ≈2 times that in monoprop mode. The engine design is for regenerative cooling by oxidizer. It will be made mainly of 7075 aluminum. The chamber design point is 300 psi. The flight version would have a tank diameter of about 8″.
- There was discussion on wall thickness versus that of the Agena engine. whether an N2 purge was needed for shutdown. There was considerable discussion on load cells, instrumentation, various pressure and strain measurements that can be made and/or how to make them.
- Dan Solvin plans to gimbal engine, eventually, which led to much discussion on the mechanics of same and how to connect the thrust structure and engine while allowing for active control. Dan’s drawing of gimbal flow connection was passed around, We would need help with software for this. The software would be written in C and needs floating point, which led to a discussion of the PowerPC chip and software vs. hardware floating point. There was discussion on testing gimbal software, and alternatives. Fins may do for the time being. There was discussion on V2 fins/vanes control systems. Mike Wallis found several relevant web pages during the discussions.
- Dan Solvin has most of the K.I.S.S. vehicle, Dave Weinshenker has some of forward section. G. Nordley suggested a possible static display for SiliCon. Videos should be available. Web site has the K.I.S.S. 1 and 2 flight videos already posted. Michael W will work on getting more posted.
- Treasurer Michael W reported the status of accounts and incorporation paperwork issues.
State of Peroxide:
State of Ranch:
State of Engines:
State of Vehicles:
Other Business:
New Business:
- G. Nordley visited XCOR recently and saw the Lynx mockup. No computer linkage is being planned – it’ll be pilot piloted. (Saves on software development and configureation control.) Some discussion on Lynx trajectory and ops plan. See XCOR website.
- Julie P reports having some ERPS metal tubes from Eric’s IPT shop. There may be some more ERPS metal scrap as well. Julie has an EDM (Electric discharge machining tool) but nowhere to operate it.
- Load cell purchase options were discussed for in-flight data gathering. Approx. $500. Stu C suggested using strain gauges attached to structure in lieu of flying an expensive load cell. There followed considerable discussion on strain measurements versus mass flow rate and acceleration. Stu C will research data sheets on strain gauges and provide web pointers.
- The next meeting was discussed. The venue and the third Tuesday seemed to work for everyone, so the next meeting will be on June 17, at 1238 Prescott (G. Nordley’s house).
Julie moved to adjourn with Michael seconding. Without opposition, Pres. Weinshenker adjourned the meeting at 21:38.
G. Nordley, Recorder
Board Meeting 20 May 2008
A brief Board meeting was convened by M. Wallis at 21:40.
A quorum was present, with Julie Porter, Stewart Cobb, Michael Wallis, Gerald Nordley and Dave Weinshenker.
- Michael Wallis reported that under the existing bylaws, the Chairman of the Board cannot also be the President, Secretary or Treasurer. He nominated Stewart Cobb to the position of Chairman of the Board, which Stu accepted. Dave Weinshenker seconded. There were no other nominations and Mr. Cobb was elected without opposition.
The board meeting was adjourned at 21:50.
G. Nordley, Recorder.
General Meeting #327