RCSP Education Update – Thrusters, Rovers, and Conferences

David Hewitt
Propulsion Engineer
Dynetics, Inc.

It has been a long time since I’ve posted for the RCSP blog, but needless to say it has been a very busy last few months for my teammates and me. There have been many exciting developments this year, but lots of hard work still to do in accomplishing our mission goals. Most of the last six months for me have been a whirlwind of projects weaving in and out of various prongs of educational opportunities.

In my capacity as an officer in the Huntsville Alabama L5 Society, I was heavily involved behind the scenes helping to make the 2011 International Space Development Conference (ISDC) happen. A culmination of three years of effort, ISDC in my mind was a smashing success, and there is not much praise I can add on to what has already been said by other team members on previous blog entries. However, as someone who wore multiple hats as conference staff, HAL5/NSS member, Dynetics employee, and RCSP team member, I want to commend the unsung heroes that were the ISDC volunteers. It would not have been possible without their hard work and enthusiasm.

During the week of ISDC, on May 17, Andy Crocker and I went to Horizon Elementary School in Madison, Ala., to participate in the students’ Space Week activities. Andy gave a presentation with lots of cool videos to a group that included 3rd, 4th, and 6th graders. After that, we gathered outside where I had set up the hybrid suitcase rocket. With the excitement high and countdown loud, the rocket did not fire. In a classic case of unexpected failures, the battery to light the igniter was dead, even though I had charged it. I had a backup suitcase in my truck, but we ran out of time. So, once again with the suitcase rocket cranky, I had to explain to the kids that test failures occur and a teacher took the opportunity to speak of perseverance.

The next day I returned with the Bigelow hydrogen/oxygen suitcase thruster and gave a great demonstration to all the 2nd grade students at Horizon. This time it was a push-button success with lots of fire and no smoke. I told them a little about Newton and his laws of motion and about force and thrust. Since the thruster exerts 5 pounds of force when fired, there was no better demo of force than the table rocking on every ignition.

Capping off the demonstration, I decided to have the students pick a teacher to push the button and fire the thruster, to the great amusement of all. After this was finished and the classes were led away, I was approached by an articulate and bright young girl who asked me, “Who is the president of your company?” I knew beforehand that Sydney Baumbach, granddaughter of Dynetics President Tom Baumbach, was in the 2nd grade at Horizon, but I had no idea she would be bold enough to approach me (though I was not surprised either). The teacher who was with us who had been using my camera to photograph the event offered to take a picture of us, an engineer with a student at the controls of the thruster.