NARCON 2010 Official Thread

[billspad]

NARCON 2010 will be held in Worcester,MA at Clark University March 13-14, 2010. As you may know, Clark University is where Robert Goddard did some of his early work. The first liquid fueled rocket flight took place in nearby Auburn and, weather permitting, we'll be holding a commerative launch on Sunday March 14 on the site of that launch (now a golf course). Our keynote speaker is in charge of collections at the Goddard library where Goddard's papers are kept.

Worcester is located near I-90 and is a little over an hour from airports in Boston, Connecticut and Rhode Island. We have a block of rooms reserved in the Crown Plaza Hotel.

Food will be available for lunch and dinner on Saturday. There is a bistro and a cafeteria in the same building. The cafeteria is all you can eat at a reasonable price. The NARCON planning team has sampled the food and found it to be of good quality. A more formal dinner will be held in the evening before the keynote speaker and town meeting.

We have many of the seminar slots filled but we could still use more speakers. If you like to volunteer to talk about your specialty please contact Bob Krech at [email protected]. Don't be shy. You're going to be talking to a bunch of rocketeers just like yourself.

We've heard from several vendors already and will be contacting the ones we know about in the next couple of weeks. Vendors interested in participating at any level can contact Guy Wadsworth at [email protected].

Fliskits is creating the commemerative kit and providing it free to the first 60 people who register. As you've probably guessed, it will be one of Goddard's rockets.

Registration and more information can be found on narcon.org. Questions can go to [email protected] or just ask them here.

 

[bobkrech]

The NARCON website went live 10 days ago, and 16 people have already registered with 114 days to go. This is pretty phenomenal response for a convention in March and if it keeps up, we might get close to 200 attendees!

The CMASS crew has been working hard for the past year to make this NARCON memorable. We investigated several historic New England locations for this convention but in the end chose Clark University in Worcester, MA as the venue for NARCON 2010 because of it's historical significance to American rocketry. Clark was the home of Dr. Robert Goddard, the father of American Rocketry, and it was his development of liquid fueled rocket motors that makes space travel possible.

NARCON 2010 will be held on March 13-14, 2010, and we've really planned a jam packed weekend. During the convention there will be 3 sets of 5 parallel sessions on a variety of topics for a total of 45 presentations. The sessions will cover model rocketry, high power rocketry, propulsion, electronics, recovery, competition, scale, safety, education, advanced projects, aerospace science, and several build-it sessions. I'm contacting potential speakers that I would like to hear and have almost half of the seminar slots filled but I know I've missed some good folks so if you like to volunteer to talk about your specialty please contact me at [email protected] and present your pitch. Don't be shy. You're going to be talking to a bunch of rocketeers just like yourself.

No convention at the home of Robert Goddard would be complete without a talk about the Father of American Rocketry, and who better to give the talk than our Keynote speaker Mott Linn, the Clark University Archivist and former archivist of the Goddard Collection.

But wait there's more. To complete the weekend, we have arranged a model rocket launch from 3PM-5PM on Sunday afternoon, March 14 to commemorate the 84th Anniversary of his first flight flight on March 16, 1926 at Aunt Effie's Farm, the launch site of Goddard's first rockets which is less than 4 miles from Clark University.

Worcester is the second largest city in MA and has a lot of attractions, and big events scheduled year round. To make sure that we could actually do all these things in a weekend, we engaged Destination Worcester to help us with lodging arrangement, venues and other opportunities. They assisted us in obtaining an unbelievable $89 rate at the Crowne Plaza, our host hotel and the best hotel in Worcester. The Crowne Plaza is located only 1.8 miles from Clarke and the discounted rate includes free indoor parking which comes in handy in March.

The unofficial start of the convention is at 7 PM, Friday evening, March 12 in the Lobby Bar at the CP. You can pick up your registration materials there, and get a chance to meet everyone in a social environment. There's a lot to do on Saturday and everyone's got to eat, so to make it really easy, we arranged to have brunch at the Clark cafeteria on Saturday noon, and to have a catered dinner at 5:30 before the keynote speaker.

You can get full details and register on-line now at https://www.narcon.org On-line registration is $35. Saturday Brunch is about $9 (pay at the cafeteria), and reservations for the the catered dinner are $26. An era appropriate black and white (actually black and light blue) tee shirt is also available on-line for $20.

Hope to see you all in March.

Bob

 

[WillMarchant]

But wait there's more. To complete the weekend, we have arranged a model rocket launch from 3PM-5PM on Sunday afternoon, March 14 to commemorate the 84th Anniversary of his first flight flight on March 16, 1926 at Aunt Effie's Farm, the launch site of Goddard's first rockets which is less than 4 miles from Clark University.

Will we be able to fly our own rockets, Bob? If so, any general guidelines on power or altitude?

Thanks for helping to run NARCON!

 

[billspad]

Will we be able to fly our own rockets, Bob? If so, any general guidelines on power or altitude?

Thanks for helping to run NARCON!

Bob usually jumps on these things instantly. He must be still recovering from Thanksgiving.

What gets launched will depend a lot on the weather and the condition of the ground. It's a golf course with trees so it's going to be necessary to keep the altitude low. I'm sure we'll have more information as the date gets closer.

 

[jflis]

Bob usually jumps on these things instantly. He must be still recovering from Thanksgiving.

What gets launched will depend a lot on the weather and the condition of the ground. It's a golf course with trees so it's going to be necessary to keep the altitude low. I'm sure we'll have more information as the date gets closer.

Good thing we're flying the Goddard Rocket... Although the model flies better than the original, it still doesn't go very high...

 

[bobkrech]

Will

The launch site is the 45 acre Pakachoag Golf Course so it's strictly a model rocket launch because we don 't have 1500' separation required for high power.

https://www.infosports.com/golf/1980229.htm

The Goddard Launch Site is located half way between the pond and the A on the satellite photo on the reference above.

As Bill said, the recommended altitude will depend dramatically on the wind speed and direction, but it's likely that you wouldn't want to go much over 1000' if there's any wind.

It not a problem for the FLISKITS commemorative rocket since it probably won't exceed 150'. BTW That's more than 3 time the altitude of the original.)

Bob

 

[bobkrech]

With 101 days till NARCON 2010 we have 23 paid attendees and 5 confirmed vendors. Not too shabby for November registrations.

We have about 20 confirmed speakers, but we could still use more speakers. If you like to volunteer to talk about your specialty please contact Bob Krech at [email protected]. Don't be shy. You're going to be talking to a bunch of rocketeers just like yourself.

Bob

 

[WillMarchant]

With 101 days till NARCON 2010 we have 23 paid attendees

That means the next 37 people to pay for registration will also get the "free commemorative "Robert Goddard" rocket kit by FlisKits" as detailed at https://narcon.org/Registration/registration.php

 

[H_Rocket]

The launch site is the 45 acre Pakachoag Golf Course so it's strictly a model rocket launch because we don 't have 1500' separation required for high power.

And I was gonna do my Carbon Fiber Mongoose on a K555SK.


rats

 

[billspad]

And I was gonna do my Carbon Fiber Mongoose on a K555SK.


rats

If the wind was blowing the right way it might make it back to CT.

 

[AKPilot]

Have the seminars/topics been identified yet?

If not, when do you think they'll become available?

 

[billspad]

Have the seminars/topics been identified yet?

If not, when do you think they'll become available?

The plan is to have everything firmed up by the end of December.

To echo what Bob said, we can still use more speakers. We have plenty of classroom space available. If we get enough volunteers I won't have to do one. I can walk around and look concerned. I learned that from Al last year.

 

[H_Rocket]

I managed to make blind panic look nonchalant

Not bad...

 

[bobkrech]

Have the seminars/topics been identified yet?

If not, when do you think they'll become available?

Troy

We're planning to have 3 sets of 5 parallel sessions on a variety of topics for a total of 45 presentations.

Clark University is a great location and the facilities are awesome. If there are more volunteer speakers, I can expand the program as we have reserved 5 class rooms and 2 large conference rooms, and potentially have access to 3 additional class rooms, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that many parallel sessions. The sessions will cover model rocketry, high power rocketry, propulsion, electronics, recovery, competition, scale, safety, education, advanced projects, aerospace science, and several build-it sessions.

I've been contacting potential speakers that I would like to hear and have about half of the seminar slots filled but I know I've missed some good folks so I'm still looking for volunteers. If anyone's interested please contact me at [email protected] and present your pitch.

Once I have all the presentation titles, I'll group the speakers together into appropriate session groups and post them on https://www.narcon.org I expect this to happen around New Year.

Bob

 

[bobkrech]

And I was gonna do my Carbon Fiber Mongoose on a K555SK.


rats

Best we can offer is (2) G80's.

Bob

 

[sunward]

Registered.

Vendor spot and dinner for 2.

 

[MarkII]

Something wrong with the registration page? I hit the Submit Form button 5 minutes ago, and my hourglass is still spinning.

EDIT: 15 minutes ago now...
EDIT: 30 minutes...
EDIT: 45 minutrs now, and it's still spinning away...
EDIT: 1 hour, and still no response. The hourglass just keeps on spinning.
EDIT: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Still no response. Clearly something is broken.
EDIT: 1 hour, 30 minutes. And counting.

MarkII

 

[billspad]

Something wrong with the registration page? I hit the Submit Form button 5 minutes ago, and my hourglass is still spinning.

EDIT: 15 minutes ago now...
EDIT: 30 minutes...
EDIT: 45 minutrs now, and it's still spinning away...
EDIT: 1 hour, and still no response. The hourglass just keeps on spinning.
EDIT: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Still no response. Clearly something is broken.
EDIT: 1 hour, 30 minutes. And counting.

MarkII

It sent me an email at 1:30. If you're the person who wanted to know if he could add the dinner later it's yours. If you paid by PayPal it might have gotten hung up in that part but that goes directly to our treasurer who will probably read this today and let us know.

And the answer to the dinner questions is yes. There will be a cutoff date in February for dinners and T shirts. Up until then you can add what you want using the registration page.

 

[jbuscaglia]

It sent me an email at 1:30. If you're the person who wanted to know if he could add the dinner later it's yours. If you paid by PayPal it might have gotten hung up in that part but that goes directly to our treasurer who will probably read this today and let us know.

And the answer to the dinner questions is yes. There will be a cutoff date in February for dinners and T shirts. Up until then you can add what you want using the registration page.

Mark,

I did receive your registration form, unless there's another Mark in Tupper Lake who's also into rockets. I'm assuming that you didn't get the automated e-mail response. If you tried to pay via PayPal, I did not receive that. If you send in your payment, you'll be all set.

John
CMASS Treasurer

 

[MarkII]

Mark,

I did receive your registration form, unless there's another Mark in Tupper Lake who's also into rockets. I'm assuming that you didn't get the automated e-mail response. If you tried to pay via PayPal, I did not receive that. If you send in your payment, you'll be all set.

John
CMASS Treasurer

Thanks. It just hung on the registration page, without ever transferring me to the the PayPal page, and so I thought that the registration never went through.

There is only one person in Tupper Lake who flies model rockets, so anything that you see coming from that zip code will always be from the raccoon. I just checked my inbox and I did receive an automated response regarding my registration.

Is there a way that I can still pay you through PayPal? I haven't written a paper check in years. You can either email me with the details or send me a PM here if you want.

MarkII

 

[cbrarick]

And I was gonna do my Carbon Fiber Mongoose on a K555SK.


rats

another rocket for the road gods to eat? :bangpan:

 

[bobkrech]

We're moving right along.

As of December 7, 2009: 30 paid registrations; 8 vendors confirmed. 25 speakers confirmed, 10 more probable.

https://www.narcon.org/Info/info.html Added to infomation webpage.

Bob

 

[GuyNoir]

Given Worcester's location, is there any advantage (or disadvantage) to possibly flying into Providence instead of Logan?

 

[jbuscaglia]

Given Worcester's location, is there any advantage (or disadvantage) to possibly flying into Providence instead of Logan?

It probably is a shorter ride to Worcester from Providence airport than from Logan. Straight up Route 146 to Worcester would be a piece of cake. The airport there is not too bad. Pretty much all the major airlines fly there and it's really convenient to the highway.

The biggest disadvantage is that there are fewer flight options available to Providence versus Logan. That can be important when weather might be questionable.

I haven't flown out of Providence in a couple of years. It used to be that there was a significant price difference between the two airports, but that really hasn't been the case lately. Southwest offers service to Logan now, too. For all its problems, the "Big Dig" has made getting in and out of Logan a lot easier. I used to go out of Providence just to avoid the hassle, but now it's not that bad.

 

[bobkrech]

Given Worcester's location, is there any advantage (or disadvantage) to possibly flying into Providence instead of Logan?

Logan International Airport, Boston, MA has the best selection of flights. It's 47 miles from BOS to the Crowne Plaza, Worcester, MA and the drive will take about 1 hour, and 1:30 at peak travel times. Airport shuttle cost: $48 each way. https://www.massport.com/logan/default.aspx

BOS Airlines: https://www.massport.com/logan/airli.html


Providence-T. F. Greene, Warwick, RI is the alternate airport south of Boston. It is 55 miles from PVD to to the Crowne Plaza, Worcester, MA and the drive will take about 1 hour. Airport shuttle cost: $48 each way. https://www.pvdairport.com/

PVD Nonstop Flights: https://www.pvdairport.com/main.aspx?guid=D278A0FF-D5C6-45EA-BEBF-C9F0DF93AEBB


Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Manchester, NH is the alternate airport north of Boston. It is 71 miles from MHT to to the Crowne Plaza, Worcester, MA and the drive will take about 1:15. https://www.flymanchester.com/

MHT Nonstop Flights: https://www.flymanchester.com/airlines/destinations.php



Hartford - Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT is the alternate airport west of Worcester. It is 73 miles from BDL to to the Crowne Plaza, Worcester, MA and the drive will take about 1:15. https://www.bradleyairport.com/home/

BLD Nonstop Flights: http://www.bradleyairport.com/Flights/destinations.aspx


Other travel distances:

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Worcester, MA to Clark University, Worcester, MA: 2 miles, 5 minutes.

Clark University, Worcester, MA to Pakachoag Golf Course, Auburn, MA: 4 miles, 8-12 minutes.

 

[AKPilot]

Is there a timeframe when a list of speakers and topics will be posted?

 

[billspad]

Is there a timeframe when a list of speakers and topics will be posted?

You can expect to see it in a couple of weeks. I believe Bob is just waiting for a couple of confirmations. I think you'll find it's worth the wait.

 

[bobkrech]

Is there a timeframe when a list of speakers and topics will be posted?

"Once I have all the presentation titles, I'll group the speakers together into appropriate session groups and post them on https://www.narcon.org I expect this to happen around New Year."

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showpost.php?p=63153&postcount=14

 

[bobkrech]

You can make your NARCON hotel reservations at the NARCON 2010 website. https://www.narcon.org/lodging/lodging.html

Simply follow the link on this page to the Crowne Plaza Reservation webiste to insure that you get the special $89 per night rate.

Only 66 days to go.

Bob

 

[dpower]

Registered, and looking forward to meeting TRF folks there!