- SPECIAL LOCATION. April 1, 2010 at 7 PM at the U.S. Space and
Rocket Center (USSRC) Educator Resource Center Auditorium. Also known as
Marshall Institute
Educator Resorces Center. At One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, Alabama.
HAL5 free public lecture on "Great Science With A Great Observatory: The Chandra X-Ray Observatory Celebrates 10 Years of Successful Operation"
with guest speaker Dr. Martin Weisskopf. Our thanks to U.S. Space and Rocket Center for the use of the facility.
- April 10, 2010 Yuri's Night Hunsville. At Davison Center. See Yuri's Night Hunstville website for additional information.
- Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 7 PM
at the Huntsville - Madison County
Main Public library.
HAL5 free public lecture on "The History and Chemistry of Solid Rocket Propellants: Harnessing Energy for Propulsion"
with guest speaker Dr. Jamie Niedert, Chief Scientist, Energetics, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile R&D Center (AMRDEC)
Redstone Arsenal.
Dr. Neidert graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Alabama in 1982. He was awarded his doctorate from Vanderbilt University in 1986 with his dissertation work in the area of inorganic chemistry while working for Dr. Mel Joesten. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Neidert accepted an offer from Thiokol Corporation to work as a chemist in the field of solid rocket propellants. He was with Thiokol from 1986 until 1995 at which time he took a position with Atlantic Research Corporation. Since 2003 Dr. Neidert has been employed by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile R&D Center where he is a solid propellant formulator/chemist. He is the author or coauthor of over 40 scientific papers and has 9 patents.
Abstract
The history of solid propulsion can be traced back to the Chinese in the 13th Century and their use of black powder for weaponry ("flaming arrows"). The advent of other energetic materials such as nitroglycerine (NG) and nitrocellulose (NC) in the 19th Century revolutionized the explosive and mining industries - with Alfred Nobel's invention of ballistite and dynamite. The 20th Century saw great advancements in energetic materials - synthesis, characterization, stabilization, formulation. The two World Wars along with exponential industrial growth catalyzed this work, culminating with the spin-off of the Cold War efforts toward the NASA's Apollo program in the1960's and 1970's. Propulsion systems have included solids, liquids, hybrids, ducted rockets, air breathing, gels as well as combinations of many of these in overall system approaches, for military as well as launch systems. The challenges to deliver more velocity, more payload or more lethality has pushed the propellant formulators (all chemists or chemical engineers) to merge the disciplines of chemistry, engineering, physics and materials science toward the overall objective of the given mission. Today's goals for propellant and explosive formulations not only include improved performance, but also include low/no toxicity, low sensitivity (shock and thermal) and lower costs. These goals are in conflict with one another many times and forging a compromise is often required. Propulsion concepts, thermochemistry, energetic materials structure/property relationships, polymer cure chemistry, adhesives and performance parameters will be presented.
- Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 7 PM at the Huntsville - Madison County Main Public library. HAL5 Annual election of officers and membership meeting. If you are interesting in running for office (please email , Yohon Lo) or helping out, please come to the meeting. We need your feedbacks.
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At the 2009 NSS International Space Development Conference (ISDC), NSS's
annual conference, in Orlando was a great success. Several
of your Executive Officers attended and helped out at the conference.
It is my pleasure and honor to bring you the following news from the
conference.
First. HAL5 received the Chapter of the Year award at the 2009 ISDC. Our Treasurer, Ronnie Lajoie, received the award from NSS on the behalf of HAL5. We could not have done this without the hard work of the HAL5 Executive Officers and your continued support. Thank you.
Second. HAL5 has won its bid to host the 2011 ISDC. This is the second time HAL5 has hosted ISDC, the last time being 1993, which was a resounding success. The Chair of the 2011 ISDC is Bart Leahy, the Vice-Chair is Yohon Lo, and the Business Manager is Melissa Roth. The conference will focus on Huntsville and Northern Alabama's high concentration of experts in multiple fields of space, including human space exploration, space science, and new technologies, as well as "new space" entrepreneurs, Earth-based space applications, and biotechnology. Please visit HAL5's ISDC 2011 page for more information.
Would you like to give a talk to HAL5?
HAL5 Officers' Meeting
Members and general public are welcome to attend the HAL5 Executive Officers' meetings.
Second Thursday of each month, except for holidays, at 6 pm. With the lost of our current meeting
place, we are going to meet at the Main library in on Monroe Street whenever possible. It will be in the second
floor meeting room.
2010 Officers meetings:
May 13, Main Library Meeting 2nd floor.
June 10,
July 8,
Augus 12,
September 9,
October 14,
November 11,
December 9.
Project HALO Regular Work Night
Open to all current HAL5 members. We meet on Wednesdays from 7 PM to 9:30 PM at Steve's except for holidays and other conflicts. If you are interested, please .
Upcoming Activities and Events of Interests
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Yuri's Night Huntsville 2010 April 10. For information forth coming.
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ISDC 2010 May 27-31, 2010. 29th International Space Development Conference (ISDC 2010) in Chicago, Illinois.
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ISDC 2011: May 18-22, 2011. 30th International Space Development Conference (ISDC 2011) in Huntsville, Alabama. ISDC 2011 is coming back to Huntsville Alabama for its 30th conference. The last time Huntsville Alabama L5 Society (HAL5) hosted the event was in 1993, and it was a great success. Stay tune for additional information. If you are interested in co-sponsoring, exhibiting, presenting and helping out with ISDC 2011, please let us know.
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