Minutes of October Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met at Harry Bear's All-American Grill in Moore on October 12, 2013. In attendance were Steve, Karen and Brian Swift, Vicky, Tim Scott, Dave Sheely, Dennis Wigley, Claire and Clifford McMurray and Syd Henderson.
Quote of the month: “The future can be better than the past. We can leave better worlds for our children,” Jeff Greeson.
What’s Happening in Space?
We watched the Astra 2E launch for International Launch Services by a Russian Proton Rocket from Baikonur. Video of this can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plpsodmQ2oc.
MIT scientists have developed robot cubes that jump and snap together, self-assembling into various shapes. There is video on this on various sites, including http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZbJS6LZbs. Known as M-Blocks, these have no external moving parts, but rely on internal flywheels and magnets to move.
The San Diego chapter of SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) has used a 3-D printer to fabricate a rocket engine. The engine is 6 -7 inches long and weighs about ten pounds. It is made out of cobalt and chromium and can generate a thrust of 200 lb. The article is at http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=1423. The engine was successfully tested, and video of that is at http://www.space.com/23107-3d-printed-rocket-engine-student-video.html.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 version 1.1 blasted off from California on September 29. We went through the article by Irene Klotz at news.yahoo.com/spacex-falcon-9-blasts-off-california-160719211--finance.html. The Falcon 9 launched the Canadian science and communications satellite Cassiope into a polar orbit.
The LADEE spacecraft has arrived at the Moon to begin studying the extremely tenuous lunar atmosphere.
Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft’s thrusters were tested at Las Cruces, New Mexico, bringing the spacecraft one step closer to reality. The CST-100 will be a piloted spacecraft that carries seven astronauts into orbit, is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Initiative (CCiCap) and should make its first flight into orbit sometime in 2016. For article, see http://www.americaspace.com/?p=42846.
The Juno spacecraft passed Earth for a gravitational assist on October 9, coming within 350 miles of the surface of the Earth. Juno went into safe mode twice since the flyby, but recovered from the second one on October 18.
Soyuz TMA-10M took three astronauts to the space station, and landed in Kazakhstan, returning an ISS crew who completed their 165-day mission on the Space Station. For launch video, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVkPOr2cKs0.
Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, the fourth American in Space and second American to orbit the Earth, died on October 10 at the age of 88. The last survivor of the Mercury 7 is John Glenn, who was also the oldest. Carpenter was an aviator, astronaut, aquanaut and author, and spent time on SEALAB II.
We watched an Inspiration Mars video. To meet their deadline, they would have to launch in January 2018. The round trip would be 501 days and they would not be using a Hohmann transfer orbit.
Business meeting:
The treasury is unchanged since last month.
Steve gave a report on the OSIDA meeting.
Steve has come up with a flyer for the Space Art Contest. Claire thinks we could have the winners posted at SoonerCon next June. What prizes should we offer? What are we going to say to teachers about the contest? We might want to start small in one school district. We should invite David Lee Anderson to a meeting.
The next meeting will be at Harry Bear’s at 2:30. [We’ve since changed it to 3:30 p.m. We’re going to move the business meeting back to the beginning of the meeting.]
For Yuri’s night, we need a larger venue. We could do it at the Moore Library. Yuri’s Night will fall on a Saturday. Perhaps we could simply do a dinner.
--Minutes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
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