Minutes for the Meeting of June 19th 1996

On June 19th, 1996 SEDS held its first summer meeting. We had attendance of 11 people and the meeting lasted from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Our speaker, and president, Guy McArthur spoke on the subjects of current projects, fundraisers, ISDC 1996, and our fall agenda as of now.

The first project discussed was SEDSat. SEDSat will no longer be a tether mission, but will instead be ejected into orbit from a canister via shuttle. We would also like to have an automated download of telemetry by Dove sat over the packet modem by the end of July.

The second project spoken about was what is being done with rocketry. We have a grant for 1,000 dollars for a hybrid motor and this is being worked upon. Andrew and Ramon are also designing an electronic microprocessor based instrument interface for the rocket. Anyone who would like to help in this project is to contact either Andrew Tubbiolo or Guy McArthur.

The third undertaking of SEDS is the designing and building of a 6 inch telescope. Presently the mirror is being ground. Postings are sent out frequently about this, so make sure that you look for them. Grinding usually takes place on Saturdays at Terri Bressi's abode.

Also in the division of web projects we now have 4 people working on Starbase. This is a page that presents a model of stellar evolution. Aaron S, Guy M, Lars K, Dan W are all presently on top of this feat. If you are interested contact one of the 4.

Our second order of business was to discuss upcoming fundraisers. We presently have $733.74 in our account and with 2 more carwashes we believe we can top $1,000. It looks like our next carwash will be on June 29 or 30th. We will be advertising for it in LPL, and we urge as many members as possible to please come and help out. Keep an eye out for where and when it will be held.

Other fundraisers include a movie night in the fall, and looking into a CD-ROM for SEDS to sell. Any ideas on the latter are more than welcome. The officers will be meeting with Mike Drake and we will be asking him about sponsorship on the SEDS homepage. We will also ask Dr. Levy about this matter.

We also overviewed ISDC 1996 in New York. 6 people from the Tucson chapter were present for this event. You can view pictures of these 6, Guy McArthur, Ric Zaller, Phil Cojanis, Steve Ratts, Chris Lewicki, and Andrew Tubbiolo on their sojourn in the Big Apple by accessing www.seds.org/seds/history. There are also photograhs of the 6 in the office.

DPS will be held in Tucson this year in the fall. Mark Sykes will be the chairman and he has asked that SEDS be the volunteer force behind the seminar. We would be handling slides for speakers, making sure areas are clean, giving directions and so forth. We would be gaining invaluable contacts and knowledge. Mr. Sykes has given us a green light for a booth at the seminar should we desire such. In November there will also be a Amateur Satellite Conference held in Tucson.

Also discussed was the education of the public about SEDS. Susan Brew will put us on the speakers bureau list which will go out to teachers in the fall. We should plan to have some project groups lined up such as hamshack, SEDS sat, rocketry, scope and astronomy.

Guy McArthur is also interested in teaching classes in programming in C, C++, Perl, HTML, and maybe later Java. This would occur this summer, and if you are interested you should contact him.

Our fall agenda is as follows at this time: August 28- Dr. Li-Zhi Fang, Frontiers of Cosmology September 11 September 25- Space Debate (possibly) topic: Space Station or UFO's October 9- Dr. Jonathan Lunine, The Pluto Express Mission October 23 November 6 November 27- Mark Sykes, Near-Future Space Goals (tentative) December 11 The blank dates will be filled in at a later date.

And lastly we discussed the bonzai trip to White Sands, New Mexico to see the launching of the DC-XA. The next lauch dates will be on June 26th and July 15th. On June 26, they will be performing "out of plane aerodynamic manuevering", and on July 15 will be the final test of the DC-XA with a "high dynamic rotational manuever simulating deorbit, reentry and landing". If you would be interested and or can drive please let either Guy McArthur or Mary Dunkley know at least 3 days in advance. It looks as if the June 26 flight will be the one that we are interested in the most. Other bonzai trips would be hiking and or Kitt Peak. These will be spoken about at a later date.

Minutes for the Meeting of August 28, 1996

The first SEDS meeting of the fall semester was on August 28, 1996. We had incredible attendance for our guest speaker Dr. Li Zhi Fang, and quite a few new members in the office afterwards.

The president of the UofA SEDS chapter, Guy McArthur, introduced the administration to every one present: Michael Koller (Vice President), Aaron Schultz (Treasurer), Mary Dunkley (Secretary), and Kirsten Tynan (Ascending Node Editor).

Kirsten Tynan spoke briefly about the Ascending Node. Volunteers to write articles can e-mail Kirsten at ktynan@seds.org. Chris Lewicki then spoke about SEDSAT which will be launched in 1998. For more information see the article on page of this issue or email chrisl@seds.org. Chris Greene spoke about the current rocketry project. Chris can be contacted at greenec@seds.org or see page for more information. Guy McArthur covered the current status on the telescope that is being ground and polished. Anyone interested should speak with Aaron Schultz(aschultz@seds.org) or Terri Bressi(tbressi@seds.org) or see page . The educational outreach program was discussed by Andrea Vicars and includes such areas as rocketry, and the internet. If you are interested please e-mail Andrea (andrea@seds.org) or Jenny Washburn (antares@seds.org) with your ideas.

Our Banzai trip to the Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater, and Meteor Crater two weekends ago was a blast. Guy, Mary, Ramon, Aaron, Toshi and Yu all drove through the night and arrived at the South Rim of the canyon on Saturday morning. We then met Bruce Carter and his wife Frances and they continued along the journey with us. Saturday night we were able to observe comet Hale-Bopp, many thanks to the Knutsons for the use of their telescope. Sunday we ventured to Sunset Crater where we assembled Aaron's grill for the first time and were stunned by the magnificent lava flows. Then on to Meteor Crater where we were almost blown into the crater itself, it would have been the only way to be able to see the bottom since it is closed off to the public. On our way back to Tucson we took the scenic route through Sedona and were overjoyed to see running water, which everyone promptly jumped or slid into. Yes, people we saw the 3 holes in Arizona and ate an awful lot of hotdogs!

Dr. Fang then spoke on the "Crisis in Cosmology". The Hubble Space Telescope has showed us that stars periodically change and that the age of the universe as documented is too small. Some ways mentioned of measuring the age of the universe that have succeeded are gravitational lensing, and measuring baryonic to photon ratios. The German satellite ROSAT has provided measures of heat in baryonic mass and total mass. Gravitational lensing produces 2 images and these can then be correlated, but there are systematic differences between ROSAT and gravitational lensing. There have been 3 other crises to speak of: 1917 (Einstein), 1948 (Cambridge), 1967 (Quasars). With the help of large high powered telescopes and using the inflationary model along with what is known of physics we may be able to accurately figure out the correct age of the universe. Dr. Fang then fielded various questions and was thanked.