NARCON 2014

[jadebox]

Apologies for not providing real-time updates on NARCON as would be expected in today's Twitterfied world. But, the organizers kept us busy pretty much from the time we got up until we went to sleep!

In summary, the event was well-planned and executed. The hotel was really nice. We met so many incredible people. I'll post photos and tell some stories when I recover a little. We have stopped for dinner on the way home.

-- Roger

 

[Tiger]

I had a great time, the panels were excellent and the sunday tour was just amazingly cool!

 

[WillMarchant]

The panels, presentations, vendor room, and tours were all superb.

Can't wait for the Altimeter3 and the ChuteReefer!



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[billspad]

Can't wait for the Altimeter3 and the ChuteReefer!

Tease. How about some details?

 

[WillMarchant]

Tease. How about some details?

Heh heh... 8)

Altimeter3: a little bit bigger than the 2s. A miniUSB port (sorry, don't remember the exact flavor) for charging. Big news is Bluetooth with tight integration to, initially, iOS. So all sorts of graphing and mapping by fusing with your iPhone or iPad's sensors. Android will be supported but they did iOS first as that is a harder process. The hardware has been certified by Apple. We should see it relatively soon.

John had another name for the ChuteReefer. But it is a tiny (fits in 38mm, probably not in 29mm tubes) altimeter with a solenoid release and rechargeable battery to add non-pyrotechnic dual-deploy to rockets that use motor ejection at apogee. I expect we'll find other uses. Sounds like it could possibly come out later this year. It looks very cool!

John's also actively working on a very tiny and cheap "tracking node" that would form ad-hoc networks whenever it hears one of its brethren and report stored tracking data. The idea is that if a lot of people fly these that tracking data would get reported when nodes bump into each other. I'm not explaining it very well, we should probably wait until John's slides show up on the NARCON site...


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[jadebox]

Altimeter3 ...

Plus John Beans showed a little frame that the AltimeterThree will snap into and out creating a neat way for you to mount the altimeter and move it between rockets easily.

The AltimeterOne and AltimeterTwo will inherit the new form factor so they will fit in the same frame. They will also benefit from a nicer display and better battery.

I missed most of the technical sessions, so I'm looking forward to seeing the videos.

-- Roger

 

[NARCON2014 Team]

Thanks to all who attended NARCON 2014. We hope you learned something useful and had fun along the way.

It's our intention to post the video of each session and any Power Point presentations we received to our NARCON 2014 website. But that WON'T HAPPEN for at least a few weeks. So please be patient. Also, allow me to lower your expectations on the video quality. We essentially turned the camera on and turned it off for each technical session, and relied on ambient sound reaching the camcorder microphone. We'll do our best to boost that as needed. We're working on a "better than nothing" kind of philosophy here. Maybe next time we'll do three-camera recordings in each room with full wireless, digital Dolby sound. You can afford $500 conference fees, right?!

NARCON 2014 Team

 

[dpower]

NARCON 2014 was an absolutely excellent conference. Well organized, chock full of technical sessions, an enjoyable dinner with 3(!) shuttle astronauts, and a fantastic tour of CCAFS given by *highly* knowledgeable volunteers with their own impressive resumes.

The first evening at the CCAFS history center was a great kick-off, including a fun hunt for facts. The lunch panel with local space legends, going back to early days of US Rocketry was really informative, *and* fun.

The real challenge was choosing which technical sessions to attend, with 4 per time slot, there just were no easy choices; I would have liked to be in 2 or 3 places at once, each and every hour. There was a fine mix of model rocketry, university projects, and real rocket science, both historical and current.

The Icing on the cake was the opportunity to meet Vern & Gleda Estes.

A *big* thanks to all the folks who put together this event.

 

[jadebox]

I've posted some of our photos from the event at:

https://www.rocketreviews.com/narcon-2014.html

-- Roger

 

[Dr.Zooch]

Great photos!

 

[proflaser]

The thing people did at NARCON that was the most fun was not attending the technical sessions, listening to astronauts, visiting with old rocket friends or even touring the historic launch pads. People got the biggest grin from reading the severe winter weather reports from their hometowns while sitting in the 70 degree Florida sun. I think the crew from Minnesota won the bragging rights on that one. NARCON was very well attended from across the country. It was a great program that was very organized and ran smoothly. I even got a little sunburn on my cheeks Sunday, which feels good when you come back home to blowing snow.

 

[GuyNoir]

People got the biggest grin from reading the severe winter weather reports from their hometowns while sitting in the 70 degree Florida sun.

Yeah, but then I had to get off the plane Sunday night in Chicago, and as soon as I stepped into the jetway, I could see my breath. :shock:

To echo comments made earlier, the NARCON crew did a FANTASTIC job all around! :clap:

 

[jadebox]

I've written a blog post about our experiences at NARCON 2014. See:

https://blog.payloadbay.com/?p=88

I'll probably add to it as I think of more things to say!

-- Roger

 

[FatBoy]

I had a great time at NARCON. Thumbs up to ALL of the organizers! I know the work that goes into hosting a NARCON and can appreciate the work that you all put into running it. It was a fabulous break from the long Minnesota winter we have been having. Thanks to all!

 

[jadebox]

Oops, I posted the wrong link to my blog post about NARCON in the earlier message. It is:

https://blog.payloadbay.com/?p=88

I fixed the previuos message.

-- Roger

 

[Winston]

Man, I sure wish those NARCON 2014 seminar videos were up on YouTube...:cyclops:

 

[Dr.Zooch]

Dr. Zooch Rockets joine NAR at NARCON 2014... Got my card! I'm good to 2017!

There goes the neighborhood.

 

[NARCON2014 Team]

Hello again from NARCON 2014 -- gone but not forgotten! Still working on session videos to post on You Tube. Could be an Easter-time gift. In the meantime, we have permission from the KSC Visitor Complex to share this discount coupon we handed out at NARCON to the entire NAR community. Feel free to share, pass along, publish in your own section newsletter or website, or whatever... The coupon is good through the end of August. So come on down and see Atlantis!

 

[WillMarchant]

Videos of the technical sessions are starting to appear on https://narcon2014.org/