Mission – Why We Exist
- Help enthusiasts find ways to contribute.
- Provide sources of enabling training to facilitate engineering prototyping.
- Establish a clearinghouse for the ongoing objective analysis of proposed space development technologies.
Meeting Details for each Months Meeting
Home Page: SacramentoL5Society.org
SacL5 Officers: Joe Bland President, Jan Rosten VP, Ed Kulis Secretary/Website Admin (click name to email)
Sacramento L5 Society (SacL5) – Meeting Minutes
Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:35 PM PDT
Location: Zoom (Virtual only)
Chair: Joe Bland, President
Recorder: Ed
Attendees: Joe ,Ec, Gregory, Eric, Michael, Robin, Paul, Jan
1. Opening
– Meeting opened at 6:00 PM by Joe Bland.
– New member Robint welcomed.
– Paul noted he would arrive late.
2. President’s & Treasurer’s Report (Joe Bland)
Issues with frozen and new checking accounts remain unresolved.
Funds exceeding $12,000 exist but lack of access persists due to:
– No response from the bank.
– Need for signature verification.
– Unknown status of signatory authority.
Larry Ahern is no longer VP; new VP is unclear on signature requirements.
NSS requesting proof of nonprofit status:
– Need a signed EIN document.
– Joe Redfield and Carol to provide support documents.
– Dave Stuart and new VP have not responded to nonprofit status inquiry.
3. Project & Technical Updates
Balloon and MiniCube Efforts:
– Ken Davis may contribute.
– JP activities:
– Testing half-height rack with less helium.
– Planning a mini-cube flight, though no schedule confirmed.
– Proposal: promotional image with board logo instead of previous $20,000 display deal.
– Submarine project progressing; issue with motor remains, but control system developing.
4. Website and Communications
– Ed Kulis provided update on SacL5 website.
– Ongoing work on online presence and resources.
5. NSS and Chapter Committee Reports
Jan Roston reported:
– NSS Chapters’ Assembly discussed chapter reports.
– Many did not submit reports, including SacL5.
– Joe to submit report after April 15.
– Next Chapter Assembly: Monday at 5 PM PDT.
NSSCA Resources Subcommittee:
– Jan will request Perri to share resource link with Ed.
Chapter Committee (Joe Bland):
– Inquiries from Canada to start a chapter unresolved.
– Joe resent contact to new VP of chapters.
– SacL5 may assist Canadian effort.
6. Educational and Outreach Initiatives
– Paul Turner to update SES school contact and MiniCube Grant Program.
7. Old Business / Action Items
– Joe Bland:
– Create 3D CAD model of MiniCube.
– Remove XHS from agenda.
– Ed Kulis: Attempt to contact Kris.
– Michael Abramson: Continue development of white paper on “Open Space Organization (OSO)”.
8. New Business
– Discussed planning for balloon flights using one or two MiniCubes (Paul & Ed).
– Space News:
– Concern over White House budget cuts to NASA.
– Environmental concerns over SpaceX landing areas on protected atolls.
– Joe banned from posting to NSS chapter list; Paul suggests creating SacL5’s own discussion platform.
9. Member Project Updates
– Eric James: Progress on steam engine project.
– Joe Bland: Pursuing potential NASA grant; update on patent likely to issue soon.
10. Open Discussion
– Michael Abramson referenced Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” and internal NSS politics.
– Paul recommended a letter be drafted to obtain a signed nonprofit confirmation.
– Discussion of horizontal communication between chapters.
11. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 PM PDT.
Next meeting: Saturday 5/10/25 6pm PT
Project Activities
Projects in Progress
- Balloon Device Project – See: Details
- Project started for see details page created on website
- Eric’s Steam Engine
- Will run on compressed air.
- It’s a “Walking Beam” Design with fly-ball governors to stabilize speed with offset cams to operate the steam valves.
- White Paper on an Open Space Organization
- Development of White Paper on an “Open Space Organization (OSO) (Michael Abramson)
- Michael presented the current state of the proposed white paper.
- We will look for other names since “Open Space Organization” has awkward connotations and “Outer Space Organization” may be in use by other organizations.
- Here are a few alternative suggested by Michael and Joe:
- Open Outer Space Organization (OOSO)
- United Outer Space Organization (UOSO)
- Space Development Organization (SDO)
- Space Developers Organization (SDO)
- Outer Space Development Organization (OSDO)
- Outer Space Developers Organization (OSDO)
- United Space Development Organization (USDO)
- United Space Developers Organization (USDO)
- United Outer Space Development Organization (UOSDO)
- United Outer Space Developers Organization (UOSDO
- Organization of Outer Space Development (OOSD)
- Organization of Outer Space Developers (OOSD)
- Joe’s Projects and Patents
- Joe’s patent applications on energy generation, storage, and distribution still in process
- Patent office hasn’t rejected any patents and the process is moving forward.
Chapter Library
- Paul Turner Books
- See Paul Turner’s Publications at Cle Curbo on Spotify and Space Trade Update
- Quest for Sylvane to buy: Amazon.com Services LLC. To learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFK3R5JK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4GW4RK0NG26WJWD29GYA
- In the Garden of Mistress Bloom – Awarding winning SciFi Stories
- A debut collection of short sci-fi fiction that explores time and space with mischievous humor.
- JP Aerospace
- Tours
- NSS Headquarters at the Cape offers tours of Kennedy Space Center
- Breakfast on the Moon Series
- SacL5 YouTube Breakfast on the Moon Series
- The YouTube channel contains the series of video conferences that SacL5 organized from 2019 through 2023 to celebrate each of the Apollo Lunar Landing Missions.
- Websites – Cool Links
- Dark Sky Festival
- Meet the artist that shot a bouquet of flowers 30,000 meters into space | CNN
- A Japanese Artist Launches Plants Into Space (nytimes.com)
- Homepage | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
- Webb’s Jupiter Images Showcase Auroras, Hazes – James Webb Space Telescope
- Andry Astronaut You Tube
- NASA Cube Sats
- Dream Chaser
- Books
- Rebecca Doyle is the Author of Our Moon
- Rebecca is a journalist covering the cosmos, with a focus on astronomy, space exploration, and history.
- The late Robert Compton, our SacL5 founder. published a Physics text book like no other.
- Design Notes Log G,O.D (General Operations Director)
- This is a text book like no other. It follows the mental processes of the lonely Creator, defining matter to enhance the experience of existence and then creating time to distinguish matter as it moves. The logic continues in this way to build the intuition and demonstrate the mathematics required in the first few years of college physics courses.
- Some of you may remember that thrill. as you learned the calculus of derivatives providing the symbols that could move the static structures of algebra through the pictures in your mind. Compton’s book continues this thrilling awe that mathematics creates as its symbols correspond mostly to the universe with enough accuracy to create houses and steeples and medicine and instruments to travel beyond the clouds and deep into atoms.
- Design Notes Log G,O.D (General Operations Director)
- A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars” by Les Johnson – Realistic discussions of crewed starship designs / timeframes for a feasible trip to Proxima Centuri in a reasonable amount of time
- “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell – A SciFi novel about the first contact and a a trip to meet singing aliens living near Proxima Centuri. The meeting does not go well.
- The Alice Network – Women Spies in World War 1
- Fly Girls – How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History
- Goodnight Moon Base – What if every bedtime was a powerful inspiration for your child’s future?
- Rebecca Doyle is the Author of Our Moon
- Media
- Moonfall – Leave your physics back at home but if you like a series of mostly predictable travails to reflect dim light on your popcorn then go for it.
- Start Trek: Strange New Worlds – “Quality of Mercy” – Last episode of Season 1. Rich characters, deep references, thoughtful reflection on what qualities are mercy
- The Orville: New Horizons – Comedy but good
- Star Trek: Discovery – No universe too big to save and of course, need to save all multi-verses through all time…
- Severance – Hmm…, might that enthusiasm for work, plaques, and quarterly pizza parties really be for someone else?
