Meeting Minutes - June 13, 2016

Meeting called to order at 7:20pm on June 13, 2016
Old Business:

• May Launch
• Launch was scrubbed due to weather
• Bring your TARC-for-the-rest-of-us to the June launch
• Treasurer and Membership Reports
• No change from last month

New Business:

• TARC Summer Camp
• This summer camp is designed for two-four 7th-12th grade students and at least one coach/adult, is hosted by the ERC in Fairmont, WV, and sponsored by the WV Rocketry Association & STEM Enterprises. Teams will spend 4 days building several rockets, 3D printing, and will leave with a TARC rocket they can compete with this year. 
• APPLY TODAY: http://goo.gl/forms/YWomAAPp6RpuJZLR2
• Questions? Jaime Ford at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 304-367-8379
• S4 Summer Camp
• The 5-day workshop is designed for 10 teams of two-four 7th-12th grade students and at least one coach/adult who either attended our TARC camp, or have prior TARC experience. The camp is hosted by the WVU Physics and Astronomy department, and is sponsored by the WV Space Grant, WV Rocketry Association, STEM Enterprises, and the NASA IV&V ERC. This program targets students. We will build, solder, program and test Raspberry Pi-based micro-computers payloads, test our payload on a weather balloon, design, build, and launch our payload on a large model rocket, and learn to analyze our data. 
• APPLY TODAY: http://goo.gl/forms/1KGrCq0lVNTPcz6t2 
• Questions? Dimitris Vassiliadis at (304) 293-4920 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Todd Ensign 304-685-3146 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• HPR Launch Site
• Potential Mannington Launch Site behind Blackshere Elementary School
• Upcoming Launches
• June 25 – Mark Suter is running the launch
• A-competition: Highest launch on an A engine
• TARC-for-the-rest-of-us carry over from the May launch
• July 30 – Aaron Ford is running the launch
• Follow the Leader competition: Aaron will send out the specs for a rocket and the idea is to try to meet or exceed the specifications
• Fundraiser Ideas
• Pink Launch in October
• Most funds go towards Brest Cancer Awareness but some go for us
• Invite Relay for Life
• Rocket-A-Thon
• Every 50 or 100 feet have a donation amount
• Example: Rocket altitude is 150 feet, donate $5/50ft = $15 donation
• T-Shirt Sale
• Get wholesale prices and sell at MSRP
• Launch Supply Sale
• Get wholesale prices and sell at MSRP
• Have bake sale at the end launches for the 2 summer camps

Meeting adjourned at 7:50pm. Next meeting is July 11 at 7pm.

Meeting Minutes are available in PDF format here.

Meeting Minutes- April 11, 2016

Meeting called to order at 7:30pm on April 11, 2016.

Old Business:

• TARC Recap
• NAR Section #749 was started over 3 years ago with the goal of outreach to students
• Have successfully met and continue this goal
• Quite a few members aiding the National TARC launch
• S4 Update
• No news on the Space Grant
• Anticipate hearing news very soon
• Treasurer Report
• Dues money has been added.
• The Safety Grant was received and has been spent.
• No other changes to the treasurer’s report.
• Membership Report
• Have just over 50 members currently (not all paid)
• If you owe, pay up

New Business:

• TARC for the Future (Successes and Failures)
• It was difficult to fine tune the parameters
• The national cutoff was extremely challenging
• Need to implement a different launch setup
• Rage Safety Officer is responsible for just the pad area
• Launch Safety Officer is responsible for inspecting launches
• Recommend this for all our launches, not just TARC launches
• Launch earlier in the season
• Suggest teams to launch in September and October
• Incentivize launching early
• Buy teams engines that launch early?
• As a NAR club we need to realize that TARC season starts in the summer, not in the winter
• As a club we need to make the effort to launch when the weather was good
• Make the teams “pay to play” to make them take ownership of the project
• Recommend having a backup rocket
• Something will fail and a backup is always good to have a backup
• Consistency and repeatability between rockets is key
• Upcoming Launches
• April 30 – Easter Egg Launch
• Ed will provide guidance
• May 21 – TARC for the Rest of Us
• Will follow most of the same rules except for time
• 45 seconds (no window), no multiplier
• 850 feet target altitude
• Above/Below altitude is 1 point. Time is 1 point for second above and below
• June 25 – A Competition
• Only limit is the using an A engine
• Use the Alt-tracks to track altitude
• Highest altitude wins
• July 30 – Follow the Leader
• Likely will use a C6 with tube fins
• Do not have to follow the rocket exactly but try to match the leader rocket’s anticipated performance
• S4 Summer Camp
• July 18-22
• Work is underway to prepare for the upcoming camp
• Encourage all team members to support the TARC final in Northern Virginia the weekend of May 13-15.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45pm.

Meeting Minutes are available in PDF format here.

Meeting Minutes - May 9, 2016

Meeting called to order at 7:05pm on May 9, 2016.

Old Business:

• Easter Egg Launch
• Several launches occurred
• Barbie won the Easter Egg competition with a flawless flight
• Space Grant
• We were awarded a grant from the WV Space Grant Consortium
• Received $3,000 from the Space Grant for the S4 Camp
• Treasurer’s Report
• One deposit of $25, otherwise unchanged
• Membership Report
• One new member since last time
• Currently have 33 paying members
• Approximately 20 members that are inactive

New Business:

• TARC National Finals is May 13-15, 2016
• Five club members are heading to Virginia to volunteer for the event 
• The Website has been hacked several times over the past month
• The hosting company has had multiple issues over the past few months
• If there are issues with the website please contact Todd, Ricky, and/or Mark and they will get it resolved as quickly as possible. 
• TARC Summer Camp
• Camp will be July 18-21, 2016
• This is a change from the previous meeting
• Camp goes from the beginnings of what a rocket is through building simple rockets all the way through a TARC-ready rocket. The participants will be able to launch multiple launches.
• Small Satellites for Secondary Students (S4) Camp
• Camp will be July 25-29, 2016
• This is a change from the previous meeting
• Received money from the WV Space Grant Consortium in addition to monies from WV Physics Department and WV Rocketry
• This year there will be some accommodations for teams that are traveling from a distance.
• Upcoming Launches at the WVU Animal Husbandry Farm
• May 21: TARC for the Rest of Us
• Ricky and SarahEllen are the Launch Officers
• Using the same rules from the 2015-2016 TARC competition
• Only change to the rules will be the scoring (no x4 multiplier)
• June 25: Highest on an A Engine
• Mark is the Lunch Officer
• Simple goal: Highest altitude on a single A engine
• July 30: “Follow the Leader”
• Aaron will design a rocket on OpenRocket and make the plans available
• Club members are tasked with developing a rocket that will match his rocket’s altitude performance
• Closest to his design wins

Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm. Next meeting is June 13 at 7pm.

Meeting Minutes are available in PDF format here.

Meeting Minutes - March 14, 2016

Meeting called to order at 7:20pm on March 14, 2016.
Old Business:

• Safety Grant
• Safety grant money has been received
• Mark will be making the Lowe’s trip soon to purchase the items specified
• Treasury Report
• Same as last meeting
• S4 Grant
• Dimitris with the help of Todd, Ricky, and SarahEllen wrote and submitted the grant to the West Virginia Space Grant Consortium
• The total budget is for $6,000
• $2,000 from WVRocketry
• $1,000 from WVU Physics Department
• $3,000 from WV Space Grant Consortium
• Budget includes significant increase in travel and support
• Will begin actively recruiting teams throughout West Virginia
• The WV Space Grant Consortium will vote on the grant during their April meeting
• Membership Report
• Launches since last meeting
• Three launches since last meeting – Two club launches and one launch at the Tenant Farm
• TARC qualifications are starting to take place
• CTI experiences
• They work really well as long as you get your delay correct

New Business:

• Upcoming launches
• One this Saturday, March 19. Will likely be at the WVU Agriculture Farm
• Added a launch on March 26
• Future launch sites
• Two possible launch near Reedsville
• WVU Farm at Reedsville
• Possible friends of Ricky and SarahEllen with farm land
• Still need to find a HPR launch site, will continue investigating different sites
• Future Launch Competitions:
• Launch your [plastic] Easter Egg – Bonus points for “painted Easter eggs”
• Just the plastic containers
• Ed will specify the rules
• Launch will be at the end of April
• Club TARC-like competition
• TARC-like rules
• Two-eggs to 500ft
• Todd will specify the rules
• Launch will be towards the end of May
• Highest on an A Engine Altitude Competition
• Mark will specify the rules
• Launch will be at the end of June
• Follow-the-Leader
• The leader gives out specifications and club members have to build a similar rocket attempting
• Aaron will specify the rules
• Launch will be at the end of July
• TARC team updates
• Teams are making progress and using all available resources and spaces

Meeting adjourned at 8:20pm. Next launch is March 19 likely at WVU Agriculture Farm. Next meeting is April 11.

Meeting Minutes are available in PDF here.