CAR MC² committee completes marathon certification session

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2008 Archived News by Canadian Association of Rocketry MC2 Motor Certification Committee

Friday, April 18, 2008

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta CAN — The Canadian Association of Rocketry’s Motor Certification Committee kicked off the 2008 flying season in a marathon certification session that ran for 5 consecutive days in April. More than 150 HPR motors, totaling over 350,000 Newton seconds of impulse were fired.

This was the first joint Pro-X® and AMW certification session with 47 new motors certified from G to full O. "This is the single largest certification matrix we have ever undertaken in one session," according to CAR MC² Chair Max Baines. "Preparing, firing, reloading and reviewing the data from this many motors and types in one session required a significant amount of planning and effort," said Baines.

Screen capture of the initial Virtual Certification Program configuration being developed.

Motor firings were conducted at Cesaroni Technology’s Gormley, Ontario facility under CAR supervision, using state of the art equipment and NIST/NRC traceable calibration methods. The certification session was also a technology demonstration of the "Virtual Certification Program." The "Virtual Certification Program" is a computer and web-based system designed to improve the test certification process while providing better access for certification organization members to test data, video and reports.

The system consists of a primary DataCAD® data acquisition computer and range video cameras that are networked to an internal server. The server receives test data and video for recording and is connected to the local area network as well as the Internet. Internal and external users can login via LAN, VPN or their HTTP browsers to witness preparation, testing and data in real time. Dial-in conferencing calls are also supported.

CAR motor certification standards require two motor committee members be present for motor certification tests. Ontario currently has one active member and the MC² Committee Chair is in Alberta, almost 2000 miles away. "This presents considerable logistics, time, cost and personnel issues for both CAR and the manufacturers, especially with certification sessions of this scale," Baines said. By using this approach, the local CAR MC² representative can be on site for tests, while the committee can witness testing in real time at another location.

CAR MC² have been participating in the evaluation of the new system. Anthony Cesaroni, President and CEO of Cesaroni Technology stated, "When we first proposed the 'Virtual Certification Program' idea, it sparked a lot of interest. It’s basically taking advantage of current technology and provides a seamless and accessible test protocol, while improving accuracy, quality and efficiency that benefits the sport rocketry community as a whole. I actually watched the certification session from my Sarasota office in Florida while talking to CAR and CTI personnel in the firing room in Gormley, Ontario in real time."

"I’d like to thank everyone at CAR, CTI and AMW for all the effort that made this possible. We’re planning on demonstrating this to NAR and TRA for their consideration in the very near future," Cesaroni continued. "It could greatly simplify reciprocity for all three rocketry organizations and even make joint certification sessions possible."

Motors certified in this session will start to publish next week as they are released by CAR. More certification sessions are planned in the near future as the AMW/Pro-X line continues to expand. CSFM and international approvals are in process.

Note: Eventually, users will be able to download AVIs/MPEGs of the motors with the certification data as well. New higher resolution cameras are being installed this week to support this concept.

Website: http://www.canadianrocketry.org/

Pro-X® and DataCAD® are registered trademarks of Cesaroni Technology Incorporated in Canada.

Reader comments:

#1 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

All I can say is "WOW!".

jsdemar on 04-18-2008 06:00 PM

#2 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

Wow and double wow. Can't wait to see the list of motors. Great to see this type of new technology being used. It has potential to be a valuable tools for all 3 organizations. Thank you to Max, Anthony, the CAR MCC, CTI, AMW, and others involved. Keep up the good work.

Brad Wall
CAR Prairies and Northern Region Representative
S582 L3 RI3
SAROS #12 Club Secretary
TRA 10559 L2

BradWall on 04-18-2008 06:07 PM

#3 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

That is impressive. It might be just what the doctor ordered for getting certs done more timely in the states also.

Steve_Shannon on 04-18-2008 06:37 PM

#4 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

Chalk another one up for CAR and CTI!!
Thanks Max and Anthony!

vintagevinni on 04-18-2008 07:40 PM

#5 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

That graph is a 150MM-4G-White Thunder. Total Impulse 9243.30 lbs.
5.1 sec Average thrust 1804.97 lbs. Max. Thrust 2227.95 lbs A FULL "O" I want to be the first on my block to have one!

Lawndartman on 04-18-2008 10:53 PM

#6 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

I cant wati to fly the new G & H motors. I hope there is a skidmark G or H.

if any one knows anything let me know

Jordan

oddboy10 on 04-18-2008 10:55 PM

#7 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

The interesting aspect is the resources thrown at consumer motors that cannot justify the cost of sending a CEO home, and a cert authority across the country. Last I checked, those expenses were a fraction of ONE motor firing cost and 450 motors were fired.

Hmmm.

The technology is quite cool indeed.

Jerry

Just Jerry on 04-18-2008 11:06 PM

#8 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

Quote:

That's not the "interesting aspect". The cool technology and the unprecedented number of consumer motor certs is.

For a real business, costs include other things than just raw materials. Some people's time is worth far more than a few rocket motors (the typical session for which the technology was developed). We can also assume this will be used for CTI customers outside the hobby rocketry 'industry'.

Jerry, you'll have to work harder than that to dream up a conspiracy to deflect the attention back to you.

-John DeMar

jsdemar on 04-19-2008 09:53 AM

#9 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

Quote:

Sarasota is my primary home Jerry. We had meetings at SOCOM HQ here to attend and besides, it was too cold up there that week. The south has thinned my blood.

Anthony J. Cesaroni
President/CEO
Cesaroni Technology/Cesaroni Aerospace
http://www.cesaronitech.com/
(941) 360-3100 x101 Sarasota
(905) 887-2370 x222 Toronto

Anthony Cesaroni on 04-19-2008 10:07 AM

#10 Re: CAR motor committee completes marathon certification session

Quote:

-John DeMar

It seems I have you for that. Full time.

I am interested to see the tests occur at the vendor site. That is a wonderful improvement. It is really exciting to see so many certs. I hope he is able to increase the size of the market as well so more than a couple of copies of each type per year are burned.

I didn't see any mention of any other brands of motors certified at the same time at CTI facilities, but an example or two of that would go a long way to give it more a sense of CAR being in charge more than CTI.

Anthony is one guy who has technical advancement and the industry at heart as his motivation. He is generally not the cause of drama and pain. That is something our industry sorely needs to avoid now.

You don't need to try so hard to make it all about me, for me. The motor lineage is direct back to me. Just compare the "Kosdon" reloadable announcement in HPR to the version in the publication from San Diego from which they lifted it. That will seal the deal. Then forward to when/how those very motors were certified. So much drama.

It is refreshing to see motor certifications with little to no drama, leaving time and energy for something radical. Technology advancements and collaboration on a technical basis, and open testing data releases. I don't know if I can handle it! But let's see.

Just Jerry

Just Jerry on 04-19-2008 10:15 AM

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