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)
Meeting Minutes – SacL5 Chapter
Date: June 14, 2025
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 PM PT
Location: Zoom (virtual only)
Website: https://sacramentol5society.nss.org
Chair: Joe Bland
Attendance (partial list)
– Joe Bland (President)
– Jan Roston
– Ed Kulis – Secretary, Website Admin
– Gregory
– Michael Abramson
(*Paul Turner and Eric James were absent*)
Preliminaries
– Reminder: Meeting was recorded.
– Participants were asked to identify themselves and briefly show video.
– Meeting start delayed slightly for greetings.
Chapter Business and Reports
Treasurer’s Report – Joe Bland
– Old Account: Still frozen.
– New Account Issues:
– Legal name required; current chapter name not registered as a fictitious business name.
– Need to file with county, publish in newspaper, and pay fee.
– Plan: File fictitious name, return to US Bank.
– Action: Joe will handle filing and share legal name documentation with members.
– Other Notes:
– Founder Robert Compton had no will; funds inaccessible.
– NSS registered with State of CA but not with Franchise Tax Board.
– Interest income would be taxable.
Benevity Hours
– Action: Ed Kulis to submit volunteer hours.
– Joe to confirm submission deadlines.
Succession Planning
Gregory has drafted an Officers’ Handbook for other organizations due to past issues with leadership disappearance. Might be a good idea for Gregory to draft a similar document for SacL5.
Website Update – Ed Kulis
Updates presented. Paul Turner is moving. Shared treasurer report and video materials.
Arduino ArduCAM SD Card Image Capture – Balloon Device Progress
The YouTube video linked here and below describes the build of an Arduino Camera Device that will take a picture and store it in the standard jpeg format. Apple Preview or any other app can then display or edit the image without error. The video also describes how to get started with Arduino and the work needed to develop a novel device design and code.
– YouTube Video: Arduino Nano, ArduCAM, SD Card creates JPEG file.
– Website progress page: https://sacramentol5society.nss.org/novae/arduino-arducam-sd-card-image-capture/.
– Please share the YouTube link with your friends and mention that they should share the link with any young people interested in science and engineering.
– Questions please contact: Ed Kulis – [email protected]
Reports on Broader NSS Activities
NSS Chapters’ Assembly – Jan Roston
– Key topics: NASA funding cuts, power-beaming, civilian launch approvals, advocacy for science.
– Jan to advocate for broader science support.
– Shared real-world impacts of budget cuts.
– Discussions on education, tax fairness, and scientific priorities.
NSSCA Chapter Resources (Ed Kulis)
Chapter resources now listed on NSS site. No formal acknowledgment from national.
NSS Chapter Committee – Joe Bland
Leadership changes noted. Ongoing struggle for chapter recognition. Dave Stuart is new chapter president.
Action Items
– Joe Bland: Contact Benevity about deadlines.
– Joe Bland: Check out TinkerCad to design balloon device enclosure in a way that students can imitate.
– Paul Turner: Contact Ken Davis (SES school) re: MiniCube test system.- Joe Bland: Contact Benevity about deadlines.
Ongoing Projects & Old Business
– Open Space Organization (OSO): Continued development by Michael Abramson. Collaboration invited.
– MiniCube Balloon Flights: Ed Kulis and Paul Turner discussed increased traffic (144 hits).
– Propulsion System Proposal: Gerald Nordley’s concept of nano-particle ships.
– Lunar Settlement Concept: Deferred (Don Wade absent).
New Business & Member Project Updates
– Eric James’ steam engine: No update (not in attendance).
– NASA Grant Application – Joe Bland: 2 patents soon; will present in future meeting.
Open Discussion / Space News
– LIGO site purchase idea (Keith).
– LIGO funding, politics, strategic priorities.
– Apple now allows developers to use AI tools at no cost.
Adjournment
Time: 7:30 PM
Note: Don Wade, Paul Turner did not attend.
Announcements
Jan’s Party: Scheduled for Saturday, June 21, 2025, at 8:00 PM.
Minutes Prepared By:
– ChatGPT on behalf of Sacramento L5 Society. Proofed and Edited by Ed Kulis.
Contact: Joe Bland, President – 916-429-6252 | [email protected]
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?
