December

Saturday December 7th, 2024

Launch Summary

Regularly scheduled launch.  Dry conditions but high relative humidity and NO wind forecasted made for an exceptional December day on the prairie.  High, grey cloud cover slowly dissipated.  Thanks to Jim Hein and Jon Skuba for range set up. 

Members and Friends,
There was a scheduled Northern Colorado Rocketry launch event on Sat, 12/7 at the Atlas launch site. We were GO for Launch, subject to normal precautions. 

With no fire restrictions currently in place in Weld County or on the Pawnee National Grassland, Mother Nature cooperated.  There were partly cloudy skies, winds 4 to 10 mph and maybe temperatures reached into the fifties.   The waiver and range wase opened by10 AM and we lasted until 3 PM .We never ran out of motors, lost interest and the cold didn't chases us away,  This launch opportunity was for commercially approved motors only, up to and including K impulse, and all flights remained under the 12,000’ AGL ceiling.

An orientation briefing for participants was held and included a discussion of safety and emergency procedures, fire conditions and instruction, applicable rules and regulations, and what should be expected of participants with respect to the use of NFS lands under our special use permit.

Please note that all launch events are conducted using nationally approved/accepted range safety practices.  The launching of rockets on NFS land is normally prohibited under Forest Service regulations. The issuance of our permit allows launches to take place for approved launch events only.

As always, volunteers were needed to help with range set up, operation and clean up. Happy to see you out on the range.

Weather Conditions

Wow,  December weather without the cold and wind.  Warmed up quickly, maybe reaching the high fifties.  Cloud cover was hign and slowly dissolved over the hours, revealing blue bird Colorado skies.  Another awesome day on the Pawnee.