Club Meetings

MASA holds a club meeting each month.  Currently, the meetings are being held on the first Thursday of the month from 7:00pm until about 8:45pm.


Meetings are typically held at various metro area public libraries OR at the Jackson Middle School Observatory in Champlin.  All MASA members are encouraged to attend the meetings whenever possible.  Visitors and prospective members are always welcome, too!   


See the Events page for the latest schedule and meeting locations.


Each meeting typically starts with a brief discussion of club business, then rocket news & gossip, a technical or informational presentation or a group building session, and member show-and-tell.  We are always looking for ideas and topics to make the meetings fun and interesting.  If you have an idea, please let us know!


In July, we hold a club picnic instead of having a meeting.  


In December, we hold a club holiday party instead of a meeting. 


Occasionally, a meeting may be held in a special location for a tour or unique event.In the past, MASA meetings have included such events as:

  • Presentations about member's trips to such rocket places as the Kennedy Space Center or events like NARAM.
  • "kit bash" rocket building sessions, streamer duration rocket building sessions, boost glider building sessions, egglofter building sessions, and a launch pad building session
  • Talks about parachutes, altitude measurement, computer simulations, aviation and airspace, building tips & techniques, reloadable rocket motors, high power rocket motors, motor selection, etc.
  • A tour of a local wind tunnel testing laboratory
  • A tour of Ky "The Rocketman" Michaelson's home & workshop

Club Launches

 

MASA strives to hold one official club launch per month, year-round, typically on the 4th Saturday.   Additional launches may be held during the summer months.  (No launch is held in December.)  The official launch schedule is published on the web site.   Launch reminders are sent to MASA members via email and schedules are sent by regular mail (in the Planet newsletter) to those without email.  Launch dates are subject to change due to weather and other factors, so it's always a good idea to check the web site for the latest updates.


MASA launches may be held at any one of several different locations: currently a park in White Bear Lake, a park in St. Paul, or an athletic field near Elk River.  We're always looking for additional launch sites.  If you know of a possible site, please let us know about it!  We're especially looking for a new high-power-capable launch site.


The locations of the various MASA launch sites may be viewed on Google maps.