Calgary Rocketry - About Us
The Calgary Rocketry club is a group of enthusiasts dedicated to the safe enjoyment and promotion of sport Rocketry, with an emphasis on high power.
Our club provides the rocketry community in Calgary and surrounding area with safe places to launch and fly rockets, as well as gaining experience in airframe construction, recovery and electronics.
Early History
Rocketry in Alberta traces its beginnings back to the 1960's during the Cold War space race, when rocket enthusiasts in and around the province began building and flying small model rockets.
Riding on this general enthusiasm across the country, a number of mostly American vendors began supplying model rocket kits and the necessary motors to fly them. These model kits were generally small rockets available in hobby shops that flew on solid fuel motors ranging from A - D class size.
In the 1970's E - G motors became available but were uncommon. These motors were small enough that rocket kits using them could be flown without restrictions.
However, although model rockets dominated the sport into the 1980's, this all changed in the 1990's when restrictions on motor sizes were lifted, and rocket motors from H - O class and even larger were now possible. Thus began the era of High Powered Rocketry which has since become a very popular sport among enthusiastic hobbyists.
With larger motors came necessary regulations and certifications for fliers before they could use motors in this category.
The NAR (National Association of Rocketry) and Tripoli oversee regulation and certification among fliers in the U.S. The Canadian Association of Rocketry (CAR) oversees the regulation of High Power Rocketry in Canada.
The Southern Alberta Meet (SAM) was formalized in 1994 to promote competitive model rocketry, and still holds annual meets every summer in Rosebud, Ab.
High-Power Rocketry in Alberta
The first High-Powered launch took place in Alberta at Sullivan Lake near Hanna in 1993.
Not long after another site started at Rock Lake near Wrentham, Ab in 1998. This site has proved very popular with its large recovery area, absence of trees and high altitude ceiling.
In early 2000's, the Sullivan Lake site near Hanna became unusable so that launch was moved to the Rock Lake site.
So launches now take place twice a year at the same site, "Rock Lake" in the early Summer and "Sullivan Lake" in the Fall.
In 2003, the Calgary club launched its largest rocket to date at Rock Lake V. This was the "Dauphin", a 300 lb (135 kg) rocket powered by three motors, a single O5100 and two L2100's and flew to an altitude of 5800 ft.
In 2005 the club hosted its first LDRS at the Rock Lake site.