LUNAR Field Procedures

LUNAR provides all the ground equipment. You need to bring all your own consumables (engines, ignitors, wadding, glue for repairs, food, drinks, sunblock, film, etc.), hobby tools and your rockets. The following are general field procedures. The procedures may differ slightly at different launch sites. Flights at NASA's Moffitt Field require special procedures to get on and off the base with rocket engines in your car. The LUNAR home page will have links to these procedures in the area where the launch is announced.

When you first arrive, stake out your setup area. You may need to bring your own work surface and chairs. The fliers in your group will need to sign up at the registration table. If you want to fly and are not a current member (our membership period follows the calendar year) you will need to either join the club, renew your old membership, or pay a walk-on fee.
Prep your rockets for flight. Club members should be able to answer any questions you may have about how to do this properly.
You must fill out a flight card for each flight of each rocket and take it to the appropriate RSO table. We have two RSOs: one for regular model rockets (up through E motors) and one for large and high-power rockets (F thru H motors). Both kinds can be purchased at the check-in table. Your flight card tells the Range Safety Officer (RSO) what type of engine is in your rocket and what type of recovery method is employed. The flight cards are also used in pad assignments and to tell the Launch Control Officer(LCO) whose name to announce when it's time to fire a particular pad. It's a good idea to bring a pen or pencil to use in filling these out. After the flight, you do not get the flight card back to reuse; it becomes part of our archives.
After your rocket is prepped and your flight card is filled out, take both to the appropriate RSO table and have the rocket inspected for safety. Loose or excessively crooked fins or launch lugs, and improperly installed motors or recovery systems are a few of the things that will cause a rocket to be rejected for flight. We will also reject motors that are not NAR or Tripoli certified. The RSO procedure for large and high-power rockets is more extensive than for smaller model rockets. If your rocket checks out O.K., the RSO will take your launch card and assign your rocket to a pad. We have four groups of pads (called racks): Rack 1 (pads 1-through-6) and Rack 2 (pads 7-through-12) are for model rockets, Rack 3 (pads 13-through 18) is for mid power rockets, and Rack 4 (pads 19 through 24) is for High Power Rockets. They are arranged so that we can be loading one rack while launching from the others. The RSO will tell you whether you have the next turn on your assigned pad, or must wait for previously assigned flights to finish using the pad first. When your turn comes, you must still wait until the LCO announces that your rack of pads is open for loading before you enter the pad area.
When it is O.K. to do so, carry your rocket to its assigned pad and install it. We support many different sizes of rockets, so it may be necessary to change the launch rod on a pad before the rocket can be installed. It is secured by a thumbscrew under the blast deflector plate; we'll have someone show you how to change it, if necessary. Make sure that the new launch rod is fully seated in its socket before tightening the thumbscrew. When you finish changing a rod, pull up gently to make sure it is firmly attached to the pad. We also support a variety of ignitor clips, so you will need to select the correct type and plug it into the cable at the pad. If the ignitor clips have a used ignitor in them (from the previous flight from the pad), please put it in the trash receptacles provided next to the pads. Try to keep the grounds clean. Please make sure that the adjustable launch rod standoff does not position the rocket too far up the launch rod and that the ignitor clip leads are not going to get toasted by the engine when it fires.
Emphasize eye safety around the ends of the launch rods!
When it is time for your rocket to be fired, your name and a description of your rocket will be announced over the PA system. You may go to the launch control table to launch it, or you may let the LCO do it for you. You may then go on to recover it, but if it lands in the cordoned-off safety zone, you must wait until the LCO gives permission to cross the barrier before retrieving your rocket (Also: please make all the children in your party aware that the string that forms the barrier is breakable and should not be handled). When you are chasing your rocket as it drifts down (you shouldn't be chasing other people's rockets), please be careful about watching where you are going, to avoid tripping or running into things. At Moffitt Field there are airplane tiedowns that can be especially bad on feet and ankles if you step in them.

While at the launch site, you must pay attention to the announcements made over the P.A. system, and if the LCO calls a "HEADS UP" you must to stop what you're doing, identify the hazard, and do whatever is necessary to protect yourself and others from it. Not every recovery system works as planned.

If the weather is at all questionable (rain, wind or whatever) on launch day, call the LUNAR hotline after 7:00 A.M. to verify that the launch will still be held as scheduled.

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