AeroTech Inc. Rockets By Art Nadler AeroTech Inc. has a skyrocketing thrill for you. The Las Vegas-based company makes model rockets ranging in size from 56 inches to 7 feet in height. Its commercial side also manufactures rocket motors for the Army and various private high-tech industries around the world. Gary Rosenfield,44, formed the company in 1982 in Sacramento, Calif. He had been flying model rockets as a hobby since age 14 and always had a goal of one day starting his own company.

Rosenfield began experimenting with rocketry in 1973. At the time, the Internet didn't exist to research the mechanics of rockets, so the enthusiastic novice scoured college libraries in search of scientific textbooks. "I figured if I was going to learn about this, I would have to learn on my own," Rosenfield remembers thinking at the time. ``I was actually experimenting with stuff that the government hadn't put into production yet. That's probably why they hired me." A government contractor hired Rosenfield in the 1980s, and shortly thereafter he ended up working for the solid propellant laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in Lancaster, Calif. During this time, Rosenfield set up his own laboratory in his garage, which was the beginning of AeroTech. In 1984, he decided to quite his job and devote his time and energy to his own company.=20 "I had to take a 50 percent pay cut to do this," Rosenfield says. "But that's what you got to do when you start your own company." The young entrepreneur surmised that in order to make it in the model rocket business, he would have to create a motor more powerful than the traditional black-powder engines. He turned to solid propellant - the same fuel used in the United States space program. The results were awesome. The propellant delivered three times the power of black-powder motors and enabled him to fly bigger and heavier rockets at higher altitudes. In 1985, he decided to move his company to Las Vegas. To date, Rosenfield says his is the only company in Nevada that makes model rocket motors that use solid propellant. Rosenfield also co-founded a company with Daniel Meyer in 1985 called Industrial Solid Propulsion to manufacture rockets for the military and private commercial and research companies. Some of ISP's products include a rocket that deploys a parachute from ultralight aircrafts and another used by the Army to launch netting over mine fields to detonate landmines. "We could make space shuttle propellants here if we had the room," Rosenfield says. "The synthetic rubber used in the space shuttle propellant is older technology than ours. But NASA has had good results with it, and that's why they won't change." Overall, Rosenfield finds that the hobby business is the most profitable and predicable. He points out that model rocketry has been around since 1957, and there have been no fatalities. The smaller black-powder rockets can go 300 to 600 mph, he says, and some of the high-power models can go twice the speed of sound. All that's needed is a remote place to launch small rockets, he says, and to let the airport traffic control tower know when a launch will occur. Air traffic control can't stop a launch, Rosenfield says. But if you want to launch a high-power rocket that goes several thousand feet in the air, then the Federal Aviation Administration must be notified. The FAA, he says, will tell you when to fly and how high. The federal agency can also stop the launch of a high-power rocket. Besides providing rockets for public and commercial use, AeroTech's products have been featured in several Hollywood films that include "October Skies," the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Mission to Mars." Rosenfield says AeroTech was also developing a rocket for the Star Wars Defense System before the military dropped the program in the early 1980s. For more information, contact: AeroTech Inc., 1955 S. Palm St., Suite 15, Las Vegas, NV 89104. Phone (702) 641-2301. Fax (702) 641-1883. Web site: www.areotech-rocketry.com