Big, Bad Black Rock or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love... Dust Dave Lindbergh – CMASS
Contents (or, questions to be answered) What is the Black Rock Desert? How do you get there? Is it a good place to fly rockets? (yes) What happens there? Do you want to go there next year?
CHAPTER 1 Where is the Black Rock Desert??
Planet Earth
U.S. of A. you are here Black Rock Desert
In north western Nevada Black Rock Desert
Launch Site
Nearest city = 80 miles Nowhere Central
CHAPTER 2 OK, whats so great about it?
The Black Rock Desert Dry lake bed, considered one of the flattest surfaces on earth 100 miles long, 10 to 40 miles wide 4000 feet high 80+ miles from nearest city Owned by the Bureau of Land Management (public land) Wikipedia: See also - High Power Rocketry
playa (ply-ahh) Spanish word, meaning surface of incredibly huge and flat dry lake bed
The playa
CHAPTER 3 How do you get there?
We did it this way
Vehicle & Operators 1986 Coachmen 28 motorhome 3 drivers, in shifts 51 hours door-to-playa
Route I-90 to Chicago Then I-80 to Nevada Or, you could fly to Reno, then drive – But then how would you get your rockets and motors there? – And what would you live in there?
Good place to store rockets & stuff
Is that the same place they do that Burning Man thing? Yes.
CHAPTER 4 OK, what does it look like already?
First view - dawn
Setting Up
Blowing Dust
XPRS Launch Site Waiver to 100,000 feet (& they use it) Closest power line – 20 miles Closest object > 3 inches tall – 5 miles No plants, no animals, no insects No rocket-eating trees (no trees)
XPRS = eXtreme Performance Rocket Ships September each year, hosted by AeroPac – Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific
ARLISS launch
Another ARLISS flight
Toward sunset
Flightline
Cars making dust
Surface of the playa
Walking out to the pads
ARLISS HQ
Lonely porta-potty
Porta-potty under the stars
Porta-potty in space
Flightline at night
Milky Way
Smoke from cookfire
Your presenter
Our campsite
Dust in the morning
Waiting out the dust
One way to keep out dust
Rocket stuff storage tent
The next morning
Dust gets everywhere
Starting to clear
But still windy
Finally, clear visibility
And flying!
My camera/GPS rocket
Flies well (F40-4)
But takes lousy pictures
Landing
LCO table
A nice HPR flight
2 nd stage ignition
Tony & Adam w/first rocket
It flies great!
Vendors
More flights
Vendors
Flying rocketeers
Night launch evening
Ready for first night launch
CATO over LCO table
Strobe light on descent
Camping on the Playa Bring everything you want to have – Water, food, power, gasoline, rockets… – There is nothing there. Nothing. Cookfires are OK (not on the ground) $8/day to the BLM for camping fees – Plus launch fee (about $40???)
Advice Bring water, lots of water Read the website carefully for tips Drive carefully and slowly on the playa – Dont kick up dust Be prepared to camp in the middle of nowhere (the precise center, actually) Bring water, lots of water
THANK YOU More info: (my web site) (all maps & satellite imagery courtesy of Google)