Minutes of November Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met November 10, 2012 at the Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. Attending were Steve, Karen and Brian Swift, John Northcutt, Tim Scott and Syd Henderson. Region 3 Chapters Organizer Chris Carson was up from North Texas. Chris was going to the NSS Board Meeting the next week and wanted our input.
For NSS: a proposal to put a space station at L2, the Lagrangian point between Earth and the Moon. (This is an unstable point, but a space craft placed there requires minimal energy to stay put.)
Oklahoma Space Alliance nominated OSIDA director Bill Khourie of Oklahoma's Space Hall of Fame.
November is the month we begin officer nominations for next year. Steve Swift was nominated for President, John Northcutt for Vice-President, Syd Henderson for Secretary and Tim Scott for Treasurer.
Utah likes NASA to use solid rocket boosters since Utah is the major producer of ammonium perchlorate, a strong oxidizer used in propellants. [It naturally disintegrates upon heat into the gases nitrogen, chlorine, oxygen and water, so has strong explosive potential.]
We need to encourage the formation of new NSS Chapters. Chris has been pushing for Ad Astra to have a couple of pages devoted to chapter activities.
We're selling Enjoy the City coupon books again. Tim can commit ten, Syd to seven, Steve and John to five each. Claire and Kip will also sell some, but were in Australia to view the eclipse. We need to get in touch with them, Tom Koszoru, David Sheeley and Russ Davoren.
We have $466.80 in the treasury.
Chris brought a poster board covered with first-issue post cards related to space.
Presentations:
Quote: "Life, forever dying to be born afresh, forever young and eager, will presently stand upon this earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars."--H. G. Wells.
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier for the second time during his record setting October 14 skydive. When you break the sound barrier, you can't hear anything outside of the cone of air around you.
We looked at a photo mosaic of Valles Marineris. This canyon on Mars is 4000 km long and 200 km wide.
We watched the Soyuz roll out for the Expedition 33 launch to the space station, and the subsequent launch.
Curiosity funding was hit by Hurricane Sandy.
Kids are recording screams and sending them to orbit. I don't know if this has any connection with Alien.
Paintballs might deflect an incoming asteroid: By making it brighter, it will be deflected by radiation from the Sun.
We watched the video of Sandy as seen from space. Sandy was the widest hurricane in history (but not the strongest).
NASA's Space Launch System is using futuristic technology to build the next generation of rockets.
We postponed discussion of the Roadmap till next year,
July 20, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, is on Saturday in 2013.
Steve brought samples of the Space Art Contest flier.
Syd had a box full of Ad Astras and gave them to people to distribute.
--Minutes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Notes on November 14 OSIDA Meeting
The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority met at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation on November 14. Jack Bonny, James Cunningham, Donald Wetekam, R. Allen Goodbary, Jay Edwards and Robert Conner were the board members present. There were five in the audience, including Steve Swift and Syd Henderson.
Dr. Stephen McKeever, the Oklahoma Secretary of Science and Technology, gave a presentation on unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Energy, aerospace, agriculture, information systems, transportation, defense and security will all benefit from UAS. The state government wants to establish Oklahoma as the go-to state for research, development, evaluation, training education and applications of UAS. This has the support of the entire Oklahoma Congressional delegation, which includes members of key House and Senate committees such as the House and Senate UAV caucuses. There is a strategic partnership with the Army at Fort Sill. The Oklahoma Training Center-Unmanned Systems (OTC-US) is in Lawton.
Starting in January 2011, Oklahoma State University has a UAS degree program offered at the MS and PhD levels to build and fly UASs.
The National Severe Storms Laboratory is located on the OU Campus. The NSSL and OU jointly promote advanced radar for atmospheric sensing, for the Departments of Defense, Transportation and Commerce. A National Science Foundation-funded 4000 sq. ft. radar installation is being constructed.
The opening date for the new Operations Control Center at Spaceport Oklahoma is March 31.
The Spaceport wants a walk-behind concrete saw for airport runway maintenance. Cost is $2400. The board approved.
Meetings for the year 2013 will be on the second Wednesday.
. --Notes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright �2012 Oklahoma Space Alliance.