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
Website: https://sacramentol5society.nss.org
Meeting Call: Sacramento L5 Society, Local Chapter, National Space Society
Where: Virtual presence only, via Zoom
When: Second Saturday, each month beginning at 6pm PT
Pre-Zoom notes:
•These meetings are recorded.
•Folks will be asked to briefly share their video, and phone callers asked to identify themselves.
•We use the “waiting room” format. If I keep you waiting, call me and bawl me out! 916-429-6252
Join Zoom meeting:
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbdpRGEmNm
Meeting ID: 868 9868 4719
Passcode: Ask Joe Bland email
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: May 10, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM Pacific Time
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Attendees
Don Wade, Robin Scott, Ed Kulis, Jan Roston, Michael Abramson, Joe Bland, Eric James
Introductions & Member Updates
- New attendee: Don Wade – shared concept of an “Augmented Gravity Facility” on the Moon.
- Ed Kulis: Working at Apple on AI and documentation; offered to make videos for Don’s project.
- Eric James: Retired mechanical engineer.
- Jan Roston: Apollo enthusiast; shared thoughts on NSS support.
- Gregory: Joined last year; retired IT professional.
- Joe Bland: Science fiction enthusiast, inventor with multiple patents related to thermochemical energy.
Key Reports & Updates
President’s & Treasurer’s Report (Joe Bland)
- Nonprofit verification received from new NSS VP Gabriella Lindberg. New account can now be opened under non profit status
- Larry Ahern has retired after 50 years.
- Status update on ‘frozen’ and ‘new’ checking accounts.
- Benevity submission still pending. Ed will submit after Joe verifies account/Benevity.
Website & Media (Ed Kulis)
- Shared traffic report, Arduino Nano camera video, and Balloon Project page.
- Presented attendee photos and SacL5 website gallery.
Balloon Projects
- Jan discussed weather balloons reaching edge of space.
- SES school interest in balloon-based devices.
- Update on MiniCube Grant Program with SES (Paul Turner). Paul not present
Chapter Assembly & NSS Updates
- Chapters exist globally (India, Australia, Germany, etc.).
- Requirements for good standing: 3+ NSS members.
- Florida formed new chapter; next ISDC near Melbourne, FL.
- Challenges with NSS mailing list moderation and posting.
- Election for Chapter Assembly Officers ongoing.
Action Items
- Joe Bland: Contact Benevity about volunteer hour submission deadline.
- Paul Turner: Reach out to Ken Davis (SES School) re: MiniCube project.
Ongoing Projects
- White Paper – Open Space Organization (OSO): (Michael Abramson)
– Request for feedback and editing collaboration.
– Joe to distribute draft for name suggestions and edits. - Balloon Device Project:
- Continued development using one or two MiniCubes (Ed Kulis, Paul Turner)
- See: Arduino Button Triggered Camera
New Business
- New propulsion concept by Gerald Nordley discussed; paper may be published on SacL5 blog.
- Lunar settlement Augmented Gravity Facility concept with Earth gravity presented by Don Wade and Joe Bland.
Member Projects
- Eric James: Steam engine project nearly complete; undergoing painting.
- Joe Bland: Working on potential NASA grant; patent approvals pending.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM.
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?
