EL DORADO HILLS, California USA — A new rocketry organization promises to bridge the gap between the upper certification levels offered by national hobby rocketry organizations and civilian rocketry/space exploration.  Once the challenge of becoming certified as a Level 3, where is a hobbyist to go?

If an individual is an independent thinker and doer, he can become a maverick.  A rocket maverick, that is.  A group of rocketry enthusiasts who had previously pushed the upper levels of organized hobby rocketry have formed a new organization, Mavericks, for the purpose of giving you the challenge and support to enter the upper realms of the sport.

Rocket Mavericks of El Dorado Hills, California was created to bridge the gap between the rocketry hobbyist and the aerospace community, enabling the civilian rocketeer, while working in collaboration with international universities, to have access to the technology, education and infrastructure resources that can open space exploration for all.

Founded by group organizer Thomas Atchison and such notable hobby rocketry enthusiasts as Steve Jurvetson, Dick Matthews, Ky Michaelson, Gene Nowaczyk, Tom Rouse, Bob Twiggs and William Walby, the team has accumulated numerous accomplishments between them:

• As a senior executive and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years, Tom Atchison caught the civilian space bug from a lunch discussion with a few of founders of Xircomm, including Dirk Gates, and has never looked back. Having worked for NASA-Ames Research Laboratories in 1980, Tom decided in 2002 to pursue his passion for space exploration again, by joining the civilian space race full time, designing and building his own rockets, and organizing the Mavericks.
  
  
• Steve Jurvetson is a managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ.com), a leading venture capital firm with affiliate offices around the world.  Steve was the founding VC investor in Hotmail, Interwoven, and Kana and he also led the firm's investments in Tradex and Cyras, and in pioneering companies in nanotechnology and molecular electronics. Previously, Steve was an R&D Engineer at HP, where seven of his communications chip designs were fabricated. His prior technical experience also includes programming, materials science research, and computer design at HP, the Center for Materials Research, and Mostek.
  
  
• An avid R/C enthusiast, Dick Matthews has also been interested in rocketry since grade school. Dick attended his first high power launch in 2002.  Shortly thereafter he completed his Level 1 flight. Dick finished his Level 2 rocket in 2003, which flew successfully the next spring, followed by his Level 3 flight to 24,000 feet at XPRS in 2004. The last two years, Dick has participated in the ARLISS program, and was an active participant in the To100k Project, a group project which attempted to launch a sustainer to 100,000 feet.
  
  
• Ky Michaelson and the CSXT/GoFast team were the first civilians to successfully launch and fly a rocket out into space, on May 18, 2004. Through the years, Ky has created and run many successful businesses. Today, Ky is retired from the world of business, so he can concentrate full time on rocketry. Ky is a major partner of Orbital Expressways, Inc., a start-up commercial rocketry endeavor with the lofty goal of low-cost space access for everyone.
  
  
• Gene Nowaczyk is a payload specialist and design engineer for Payload Specialties, a sounding rocket services organization in Raytown, Missouri. Gene has been flying civilian high powered sounding rockets for 15 years, and has been a member of Tripoli for 10 years. Gene is also the first civilian rocketeer to successfully fly to the top of the Black Rock FAA altitude waiver reaching 93K feet above sea level.
  
  
• A real estate developer and home builder in the San Francisco Bay area and Lake Tahoe region, Tom Rouse's leadership in the construction and real estate business have gained him national recognition and awards on recent projects. Tom is currently the Tripoli rocket competition and records chairman as well as the founder of the internationally recognized ARLISS rocket competition. Tom is the founder and owner of Rouse-Tech, a manufacturer of rocket motor hardware and the CD3 high altitude recovery technologies.
  
  
• Professor Bob Twiggs is the head of the Stanford Space Systems Development Laboratory (SSDL).  A consulting professor in Stanford's Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, Professor Twiggs has 20 years of industry experience, including work with high-power microwave amplifiers and as a software engineer, before joining the academic ranks.
  
  
• William Walby started building and flying rockets when he moved to Reno at age of 13. After a brief departure from the hobby, he returned and has been certified Level 3 since 1999. William worked with a group of Aeropac members who assisted NASA in proofing a new data acquisition system which required flying 6” diameter rockets at speeds near Mach2 through a set of goal post-like antenna, a program which led to the original ARLISS rocket design.  William is currently a research physiologist UC Davis where he has been since 1981.

Membership in the Mavericks is restricted to individuals who have an active Level 2 or Level 3 certification with either the National Association of Rocketry or the Tripoli Rocketry Association and have and active federal explosives user permit. 

The organization will be holding three classes of competition for members as part of their annual International Civilian Space Competition. According to their website, each class "will consist of specific competition categories, developed to drive the innovation, technology, and solve key problems in areas of civilian space exploration."

1. A Sounding Rocket class competition that focuses on suborbital flight, consisting of four competition categories, with specific competition rules related to deploying scientific and exploration payloads repeatedly above minimum altitudes of 30K, 60K, 100K, and 380K feet.
2. An Earth & Planetary Experimentation class competition which will award prizes based on the development of probes and experiementation payloads that deliever answers to key scientific questions regarding the earth and other plantetary systems.
3. A Planetary Exploration Rover class competition which will award prizes for the development of autonomous and remote telemetry controlled planetary rovers that assist in experimentation and planetary exploration.

The Mavericks already have a couple of launches on their calendar for 2007: a Tripoli certified experimental launch to be held July 11th-14th at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada and their International Civilian Space Competition to be held October 18th-21st also at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.  As an approved experimental prefecture of the Tripoli Rocketry Association, Rocket Mavericks will provide minimal launch insurance coverage at these events.  Everyone in attendance must sign a liability release waiver.

For more information on the Mavericks, visit their website at: http://www.rocketmavericks.com

02-07-2007 11:22 PM  #1
rickwald New Member   Joined: Nov 2006 Posts: 1	Membership Link The membership link on the Maverick site does not work.

02-07-2007 11:43 PM  #2
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2146	Quote: The membership link on the Maverick site does not work. I just clicked it and it worked fine?

02-08-2007 02:28 PM  #3
Steve_Shannon Will fly beer for rockets   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1657	It didn't work for me either. I am using SeaMonkey tonight instead of IE. From work, using IE6, it does not work either. It is probably a security thing but the error I get indicates a DNS failure. Third test, using IE7 at home: it still did not work. I fully expect that these problems are due to security related settings on my computers, but the failures do not yield messages that lead to diagnosis. I do not believe my configuration is overly secure. At home I have Norton Internet Security, hardware firewall connected to a cable modem, prompting for pop-ups and scripts. My work computer has Trend AV and typical firewalls, but CGI is necessarily permitted. All I wanted to do was determine the prices for different membership levels. That should not require a script, but should just be a text page.

02-09-2007 08:44 PM  #4
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	Something's wrong with this picture... I have to wonder why some of the obvious statements about this organization aren't raising more eyebrows, such as the comment, "an approved experimental prefecture of the Tripoli Rocketry Association." Every Tripoli member should question the reasoning for allowing this group of elite rocketeers to fly under the TRA insurance. Since insurance premiums are based on risk assessment, no insurance company in the world would look at the risk associated with launches such as those embraced by Mavericks and not evaluate that the risk has increased. The opportunity for catastophic results are far greater than normal high power rocketry or research flights. Such a prefecture will cause the insurance premiums for the ENTIRE group to go up if their activities are completely disclosed to the insurance carrier or agency representative, and could cause it to skyrocket depending on the number of flights performed by the group per year. Do you want to pay increased insurance premiums so the hobby's most elite rocketeers can enjoy that same coverage for no additional cost?

02-10-2007 01:01 AM  #5
Steve_Shannon Will fly beer for rockets   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1657	Be cool... Right now any guesses about an increase in insurance fees large enough to be felt by the entire membership is speculative. According to Pat Gordzilek, who is responsible for negotiating TRA insurance, things have not been fully discussed between the BOD and the Maverick group. That will happen. Lots of things could happen, including having this group pay for any increase in premiums. I am content to wait and see what the TRA BOD works out. It could be a really exciting contribution to rocketry. We really just don't know enough yet. I would urge us all to take a cautious wait and see attitude for now. We'll have plenty of time to cuss and discuss changes.

02-10-2007 01:22 AM  #6
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	Doesn't it strike you as odd that the one group of rocketeers that can very well afford their own launch coverage is instead using the Tripoli coverage, an action that could cause the premiums to go up for everyone else, the very group of people who can not afford their own launch coverage?

02-10-2007 02:52 PM  #7
Steve_Shannon Will fly beer for rockets   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1657	No, because we don't know that will be the case yet. Right now, three rules prevent what you are assuming: 1. Prefectures may not have Research flights without BOD approval. 2. Flights higher than 25K are prohibited without TRA BOD approval. 3. Flights with greater than 81,920.01 N-Sec (Q and above) are prohibited without BOD approval. That means that until the BOD and they agree on the details, they are not covered by TRA insurance (at least for the high altitude launches that you fear will drive our insurance up). Not only that, but every flight over 25K must requires paperwork to be submitted to the BOD and approval by the BOD before launching. This is not a bunch of people just showing up and launching to high altitudes without a serious amount of scrutiny and planning. So, until they and the BOD figure things out, we don't know for sure what the effect will be on the rest of us. I'm simply content to wait and see before leaping to conclusions. We have a good BOD, who have been very proactive in dealing with the insurance company.

02-10-2007 04:11 PM  #8
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	Quit assuming that the Tripoli BoD is going to save us from everything. The BoD *will* approve some if not most of their flights. Those flights, based on the nature of their size, impulse and projected altitude are significantly larger and higher that the averages of the balance of Tripoli's flights each year. Because of this very nature, this *will* cause the insurance to increase. Even if they continue TRA's excellent track record with the Mavericks' flights, the insurance will still go up because there is a higher risk based on the size, impulse and altitude of these flights. The only way to guarantee that the Tripoli insurance will not go up is for the BoD to deny 100% of their flight requests. And that's ain't gonna happen. Why risk the insurance of the entire membership so such a small minority of elite people can kick sand at each other? They can afford their own insurance and should be pointed in that direction. If you want to put a satellite in orbit, or even yourself, that's fine, but don't expect everyone to help pay for you to do it. Not when the collective net worth of those individuals would support many third world nations.

02-10-2007 05:22 PM  #9
Steve_Shannon Will fly beer for rockets   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1657	One reason I have faith in the TRA BOD is because of the competitive presence of NAR, an extremely good rocketry organization (I'm proud to belong to it also), that has equally priced membership fees (which include a magazine - Sport Rocketry), similar levels of insurance protection, but does not risk insurance with research or esoteric high power rocketry activities. If what you fear were to happen, TRA membership rates would raise higher than NAR's. Some people would probably jump from TRA to NAR. I don't believe the TRA BOD wants that to happen. Yes, I do have faith in the BOD. I've met some and traded email with others. I believe they are sincere in their efforts and knowledgable in their decisions. I don't agree with every decision they make, but I don't condemn them for a decision they have not yet made. If you really want to prevent this you should write to them about this issue. As I said before, I am willing to wait and see what happens. Personally I support the creation of such a group as the Rocket Mavericks. I think that an organized path for people to learn about ever more powerful motors and technology helps all of us grow.

02-10-2007 06:09 PM  #10
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	I don't disagree with you, the TRA BoD are some of the brightest minds in the field. I think they truly do have the best interests at heart for the hobby, more so than NAR does at the present time with regard to continuing to push the envelope. But all of the good intentions in the world can't stop the necessity of a membership rate increase if the primary need is motivated by an outside force. In this case, the outside force would be an insurance carrier raising rates. There is only so much of a rate increase the organization could absorb without having to push it off into higher membership dues. You mention the similar dues structure between NAR and TRA and the fact that NAR membership comes with a magazine. Could the difference in the cost to offer a magazine have been the difference in the price of insurance premiums for TRA to offer Research (EX) when NAR doesn't? Something to think about. I am all for the creation of such a group as the Rocket Mavericks as well, as I think that an organized path for people to learn about ever more powerful motors and technology helps all of us grow too. But that organized path isn't going to come for free if it is an integral part of Tripoli, and it would have been a topic the membership should have had some say in before this elite group goes off willy-nilly on its own. The formation of Tripoli did wonders for the advancement of high power rocketry. Perhaps its time for the Rocket Mavericks to become the next Tripoli, and found a new organization to advance amateur/experimental rocketry.

02-10-2007 07:54 PM  #11
Steve_Shannon Will fly beer for rockets   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 1657	I suspect the ability of NAR to include a magazine is probably caused more by the greater number of NAR members that share the cost. Research could have a role in it though. I just don't know. Also, even though the Rocket Mavericks have started trying to build momentum for their activities, I don't think any part of it is a done-deal. They have not yet had in-depth discussions with the BOD, so the BOD could not possibly report any details to the members and ask for our feedback. In a couple weeks we'll all know more.

02-11-2007 12:12 AM  #12
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	Quote: I suspect the ability of NAR to include a magazine is probably caused more by the greater number of NAR members that share the cost. Research could have a role in it though. I just don't know. The numbers aren't that far apart any more. At NARAM 48, the total NAR membership was reported as 4560. According to Mark Bundick in his affidavit filed in the ATF lawsuit, "the two organizations have about 7,500 members." That means about 3,000 are in Tripoli. That's over $125,000 using the standard subscription rate for ROCKETS magazine, which ironically is about the same amount paid out for insurance. Interesting.

02-14-2007 12:00 AM  #13
3FNC New Member   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 3	Quote: Doesn't it strike you as odd that the one group of rocketeers that can very well afford their own launch coverage is instead using the Tripoli coverage, an action that could cause the premiums to go up for everyone else, the very group of people who can not afford their own launch coverage? One of the things that the Mavericks group is doing is to expand the ARLISS program, and to do that, at least from all appearances, they benefit substantially from the association with a national organization. Many of the students that are attending these launches come from across the globe, and insurance is not otherwise available to them (they have a hard time paying for the plane flights just to get here). The desire of the supported universities is to expand the program currently supported by Aero-PAC. But since Aero-PAC is a much more main-stream TRA prefecture, it really isn't practical (or logistical) to support the types of higher flights these groups (the universities and their students) are seeking. Mavericks is attempting to fill the gap. You also have to understand the nature of the Black Rock desert as a launch site. In terms of safety, there isn't anything other than the (at last count) 8 or 9 Mavericks fliers for a 15 mile radius (further in some directions). It's empty out there. So the risk of an insurance claim could actually be smaller than at a typical TRA research launch day of a three day scheduled launch in a more populated area. Granted, there will be more than 8 or 9 fliers soon now that they are advertising contests with real money attached to them, but really, I don't see there being 200 - 300 fliers like the typical Aero-PAC XPRS launch. -Steve

02-15-2007 07:29 AM  #14
DumasBro2 I Felta Thi Frat Boy   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 200	Instead of assuming and speculating maybe it would be better to wait until a few more facts are in. The board will not approve a specialized Ex...er...research prefecture. I think their statement may be a little premature, but we’ll see.