News : Well, yes, fireworks is, at times, rocket science

Making fireworks is indeed, as the members of the Iowa Pyrotechnic Association learned this weekend at Chuck Yedlik's farm, rocket science.
The special guest at the Bar-Y property on Sunday was Scott Dixon, an Iowa native who makes a variety of rockets for the U.S. military.
Dixon lives in Colorado Springs, where he is the owner of Vulcan Systems, a company that makes a variety of rockets for military use.

One of Dixon's rockets is used for ejection seats for aircraft.
He also works on classified projects; he told the IPA members that some of the people he works for were hoping he would stay in Colorado instead of coming to Iowa because the crisis in Korea may hasten the need for some of the items he is working on.

It's really shame that I can' tell people what I do," he said

Dixon spoke to the IPA members about the technical aspects of rocket making. He discussed particle size distribution and the principals behing the transfer of transferring the thermal energy -- the heat from the gasses used in rockets -- to mechanical energy, the movement powered by burning those fuels. Dixon, a Waterloo native, ended his presentation on the complicated chemistry and physics of rocket science with a simple conclusion: You can design a rocket motor." After the lesson, DIxon gave the IPA members the lesson they most wanted: A demonstration of a rocket engine. A small rocket, about the size of three pop cans stacked together, was fired for approximately one second. Dixon inverted the rocket, which was secured to heavy steel supports. The one-second demonstration cost $1,500, Dixon told IPA members, adding that producing rockets for military use requires thousands of tests, which adds much to the expense of the projects. Dixon's company is very small, with only a couple of employees, but he has worked on some major projects and occasionally goes to the Pentagon to discuss projects with Defense Department officials. Dixon described being a military contractor as "taking wheelbarrows of money from the bank, and then taking wheelbarrows of money to the bank." What that means is: Providing materials for the U.S military pays well, but it is also a very expensive investment that does not produce consistent returns. In order to find a more stable income, Dixon became involved in hobby rocket science applications. But recently, due to misuse of hobby rockets by some enthusiasts -- Dixon referred to people who "try to shoot a 20-pound bowling ball 2,000 feet in the air" -- he has limited his role in that business. "I was afraid I was going to get sued," he said.
Dixon is the brother of IPA member Jerry Dixon.
His parents, Jim and Betty Dixon of Waterloo, were at the IPA meeting to hear his presentation. Another very special guest was Justin Koenen, who was Dixon's metal shop teacher more than 40 years ago. "He was the smartest student I ever had," said Koenen. Dixon said he was also the most difficult student, and he credits Koenen for keeping him on track. Dixon grew up studying chemicals and how to use them in ways that most teenagers never consider. He fermented his own ethyl alcohol, and then was expelled for a year after classmates drank it and became ill. It was at that point that Koenen stepped in, and helped Dixon, who never formally attended college, on his path to success as a military contractor. "He was the only one who could reach my brother," said Jerry DIxon, an IPA member who participates in Boomtown each year and regularly attends the IPA meetings in Vinton.