Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems: Difference between revisions

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===Model rocket kits===

[[File:MITS Rocket Light Flasher.jpg|thumb|right| Transistorized tracking light for model rockets. The product that launched MITS]]

MannedCrewed space flight and the race to the moon in the 1960s made model rocketry a popular hobby. Roberts, Mims, Cagle and another Air Force officer from the Lab, Bob Zaller, decided they could design and sell electronics kits to model rocket hobbyists.<ref name="Albuquerque Tribune Jan 1970">{{cite news | last = Carlin | first = Margie | title = Want to Fly a Rocket? Albq Academy Is the Pad | work = Albuquerque Tribune | page = B10 | date = January 30, 1970}} Summary: Feature story on Albuquerque Model Rocketry Club. The club was organized by Air Force Captain Forrest Mims. Mims and three other Albuquerque engineers, Ed Roberts, Dan Cagle and Robert Zaller, have formed a new company, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems.</ref> Roberts wanted to call the new company Reliance Engineering, Mims wanted to form an acronym similar to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's MIT. Cagle came up with Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, MITS.{{sfnp|Mims|1986|page=29}} The December 1969 issue of ''Model Rocketry'' (circulation 15,000) carried a press release that began:

<blockquote>Reliance Engineering in Albuquerque, New Mexico has announced the formation of a subsidiary company for the manufacture of miniaturized electronic and telemetry systems designed for model rockets. The company is called Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Reliance Engineering president Henry Roberts announced that "MITS is presently conducting an intensive research program involving high quality miniature telemetry systems."</blockquote>

<blockquote> The first commercially available model rocket telemetry transmitter is among the first items to be offered by MITS. Accessory modules including a tone beacon, temperature sensor, and a roll rate sensor, as well as tracking lights, ground systems for data reduction, and light weight, water activated batteries will soon be available.<ref name = "Press Release 1969">{{cite journal | title = New Product Notes | journal = Model Rocketry | volume = 2 | issue = 3 | page =37 | publisher = Model Rocketry, Inc | ___location = Cambridge, MA | date = December 1969 | url = http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/ModelRocketry/ModelRocketry.html}}</ref> </blockquote>