Gary Rosenfield:
CLASS OF 1973
Valencia High SchoolClass of 1973
Placentia, CA
Gary's Story
Biography
Gary Rosenfield was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Fullerton, CA and has lived in various locations in CA, NJ, TX, CO, NV and UT before moving to his current residence in southern Utah in 2002.
Gary has been involved in various aspects of hobby and professional rocketry for 54 years. After launching his first rocket in 1969 and quickly advancing through the scope of the available consumer activity at the time, he manufactured and tested his first successful composite solid propellant rocket motors in 1973.
Gary built an experimental argon-ion laser in 1973 and won 2nd place in the Orange County, CA science fair as well as receiving several other awards including a number from notable professional organizations.
Gary founded Composite Dynamics (CD) in 1973. CD was one of the first companies to manufacture and sell composite propellant consumer rocket motors after the demise of Enerjet (the first composite propellant consumer rocket motor company), and one of the first to manufacture commercial rocket motors using Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB) binder.
Gary served in the U.S. Air Force from 1976-1980 as an Imagery Interpreter for the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas, NV. After leaving the military, he continued guiding CD to grow to a prominent position within the consumer rocket industry.
Gary joined the Bermite Division of Whittaker Corporation in Saugus, CA in 1980 as an R&D Engineer. He applied his experience with HTPB propellants to such diverse projects as the Hypervelocity Missile, oil well tool gas generators and the Reduced Smoke Sidewinder.
From 1982 to 1984 Gary worked for Aerojet Tactical Systems in Sacramento, CA, initially as a Process Control Engineer but was quickly promoted to a Manufacturing Engineering position within the "Line 1" manufacturing department. While at Aerojet, he was responsible for technical assistance and process improvement in all phases of propellant and liner manufacturing operations for a number of missile programs such as Minuteman, Peacekeeper, Harpoon, Polaris, Hawk, Standard Missile and...Expand for more
Sidewinder.
Gary founded AeroTech Consumer Aerospace in 1982 as a part-time endeavor, which by the early '90s had become the second largest consumer rocket company in the U.S. He also co-founded Industrial Solid Propulsion (ISP) in 1985, a manufacturer of rocket motors and propellants for military, industrial and commercial applications. He founded RCS Rocket Motor Components in 1995.
Gary founded Survival Laser, Inc. in 2010 as a part-time business to generate supplemental income and explore his interests in consumer high-power laser technology, marketing and sales.
In 2023 Gary became an Adjunct Professor at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, teaching a course titled “Introduction to Modern Solid Propellant Rocketry”.
Gary is the inventor or co-inventor on twelve granted and two pending U.S. patents covering technological advances and innovative designs in rocketry and lasers including single-use and reloadable solid propellant motors, propellants, hybrid rocket motors, electronics, igniters and fin mounting systems. He received the National Association of Rocketry's (NAR) Howard Galloway Spacemodeling Award in 1989 for the development of the modern composite propellant commercial rocket motor, and was granted the Tripoli Rocketry Association's (TRA) Lifetime Membership Award in 2001 for significant contributions to high power rocketry. He has served on the boards of both organizations, including simultaneously holding both board positions for three years, and is a current TRA board member. He has been a voting member of the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Pyrotechnics Committee since 1984 and NFPA’s Laser Fire Protection Committee since 2013, and has served two separate terms on the California Fireworks Advisory Committee. He was more recently awarded lifetime membership status in TRA’s Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific (AeroPAC) prefecture, and is a current board member.
In May 2023, RCS Rocket Motor Components, Inc. was awarded the “Veteran-Owned Business of the Year” for Utah by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
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