Ok, most Tripoli rocketeers have not attended
BALLS. So I wanted to help provide them a bit of the feel
of what this launch is like. This is the first trip to
BALLS for Chris Harris, Randy Marek and I and the 2nd for Eric
Smedstad.
"Overview of what BALLS is: BALLS is THE premier
Experimental Rocket Launch in the Continental US for the
past 26 years.BALLS is held in the Black Rock Desert, North
of Reno, near Gerlach, Nevada. BALLS brings dedicated
rocketry enthusiasts devoted to the leading edge of
non-professional rocketry activities together for the best
demonstration of experimental motor design using today's
best technologies, and probably the largest non-professional
rockets seen anywhere. BALLS 25 is a venue for
projects that should NOT be flown publicly due to safety and
legal restrictions. This may include, but is not limited to,
LARGE rockets, complex staging or clustering, metal rockets,
self designed and/or fabricated rocket motors and new
technologies being developed or proven. Black Rock Dry Lake
has always been the site of large rocket launches. Its wide
open vastness is unprecedented for its high altitude
recovery record. Through the years BALLS has grown into
non-professional rocketry's show place of the best there is.
The quality, craftsmanship, shear size, power and technology
edge cannot be compared to any other launch anywhere. The
best thing is the exchange of new thoughts and methods that
are presented openly to anyone who asks. This launch will be
primarily for Research Motors and/or Dangerous projects.
BALLS is not open to the public and unless you are directly
involved in flight activities, a Pre-Approved Experimental
Project or invited by persons active in such ventures, you
will not be allowed to attend." Waivers at Black Rock
regularly exceed 100k. Commercial motor flights below
K, unless they are extreme altitude record attempts, are
declined. Launch days are Friday-Sunday.
Departed Houston on Monday afternoon and arrived on the
playa on Wednesday afternoon after several hard days of
driving. The scenery here and the mountains are simply
awesome.
Todays activities - Thursday: Today is all about
set up and final preparations for your rockets. The
weather changes rapidly here as we started the morning in
the low 40s with mild winds. Around 2pm, a fairly
strong windstorm came in and attempted to destroy our canopy
cluster. Temps are still in the 50s with windchill dipping
into the 40s. Yup, NOT HOUSTON. Throughout the
day, more and more rocketeers arrived. Unlike a TH002
launch, BALLS attendees show up in large RVs, trailers and
LOTS of GEAR. You likely will need to provide your own
launch equipment here. This year is specials as the
organizers have set up some general use pads. Chris
and Eric have feverishly been working on the pad and launch
control systems. Eric's 2-stage goal is 80k' so our launch
site is a mere 2,500' away from LCO. That would be
halfway down the runway in Hearne... Jim Jarvis and
Stu Barrett (from AARG) will be aiming for 150k' this year
so they have the launch site which is a mere 2.5 miles away
(that would be the Dixie Diner in Hearne).
The good news is that all appears to be doing
well. Eric Smedstad will be trying again to loft his
2-stage N-N to 80k'. Chris Harris has a minimum
diameter 75mm flying on an M3700 to 25k'. Randy has a a
Chris Harris-built minimum diameter 98mm rocket flying a
long burn 98mm M1720 AMW flying to 24k'. I have pulled
out my trusty L3 bird and slammed in a much bigger M2088
research motor that I am hoping will break 20k'.
Half of the fun at BALLS is flying your rockets. The
other is watching the other HUGE PROJECTS. Many of our
rocketeers have never seen a truly large motor such as an N
or O motor. Over the next three days there will be a
signficant number of N, O and P motors and clusters.
There will likely be a few even larger projects.
That's enough for now! Talk to you all tomorrow!
-Andy and the rest of the crazies representing Tripoli
Houston (freezing our butts off in NW Nevada)