Brett

Facts about Mars You Need to Know in Order to Get a Rover There

 * Needs to be rust-proof as Mars' atmosphere contains trace amounts of oxygen which will oxidize iron.
 * Mars' surface is covered in craters (hundreds of thousands) and large volcanic mountains so need to pick a smooth landing site.
 * Need to know Mars' orbit in order to line up with it.
 * Mars has huge dust storms that could damage the rover so need rover to be able to withstand lots of dust.
 *  Mars has seasons due to its tilt to point rover at sun in order to collect solar energy.Mars is cold (-125 to 25 degrees C) so rover needs to withstand cold temperatures. Takes 214 days or about 7 months to get to Mars.
 * Need to store energy for the winter
 * Need to launch when planets are close so we don't need as much rocket fuel.
 * Mars has 2 moons so need to steer clear of them.
 * Rover needs to be able to steer around the terrain.
 * The two planets only align around every two years.
 * It ranges from 35 to 249 million miles away.
 * It has larger craters and canyons than Earth.
 * The rover must be protected from Mars' extreme weather conditions.
 * The rover must be protected from Mars' extreme weather conditions.

// Ms. Mc: good facts about Mars and its condition, however, all of these points came from our class discussion. Where is your original work? 6/10 //

[[image:cascience7-2012/BLF_Hero_Engine.JPG caption="Figure 1: Hero Engine"]]
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Chinese filled a tube with gun powder and attached it to an arrow. Then, they lit the rocket and it launched along with the arrow. Konstantin’s contribution was he proposed using rockets to get to space. Goddard’s achievement on March 16, 1926 was making the first fuel-powered rocket. Germany used V-2 rockets for military purposes like bombs. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">NASA was formed so America could go into space. Soon after the forming, many people and machines were sent in to space. People landed on the moon and space robots were sent to the other planets. It enable scientists to look around the world better, forecast the world and talk to other people around the world quicker.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Ms. Mc: The assignment was to write 2-3 paragraphs expanding upon your answers to the review questions for the reading. You haven't done this (-5) and your second drawing does not add to your piece (-1). Please include the figure # in your caption (-1/2) and refer to your figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1, . . .). 3.5/10.//

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">media type="custom" key="14055562"

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Instruction to Run Simulation:

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Click Green Flag to Start

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Turn on Sound

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Click Red Stop Sign to Stop

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">If simulation doesn't appear, click on the "Learn More about this Project" link above.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Andrew- I liked the hockey theme you used, your video could have been a little bit smother, I also liked your landing.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Davis-I liked your rocket and costumes, you're landing could have been more realistic, I liked the movement

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Labeling Rocket Parts
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The nose cone is used to reduce air resistance and make the rocket more aerodynamic. The cone shape makes this happen. It makes the rocket fly easier and faster. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The body tube is exactly as it sounds; the body of the rocket in the shape of a tube. Everything is attached to it or put inside of it. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The recovery system is a way to recover your rocket without it falling to fast and breaking. It is a small, plastic parachute. It is attached to the nose cone and is placed inside the body tube. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The launch lug is where you attach the rocket to the launch pad. The metal pole is put inside of the hole in the launch lug and that is how we make sure the rocket goes straight. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The recovery wadding is to make sure the recovery system doesn't get burnt by the motor. It is basically like a fire blanket for the recovery system. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The motor mount keeps the motor where it belongs. The motor wouldn't be very helpful if it started to shoot sideways, so the motor mount plays an important part. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The fins help to keep the rocket going straight. The three of them together is very helpful and it makes the rocket work a lot like a bow & arrow. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The rocket motor is, just like it sounds, the motor of the rocket. You light this part of the rocket to provide thrust and after the thrust runs out you just have to count on the other parts of the rocket.

// Ms. Mc: great definitions and labels! 10/10 //

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Atlas V 541
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Atlas V 541 Rocket is made up of the Atlas V rocket, Solid Rocket Motors, Centaur, and Payload Fairing. The Atlas V Rocket is the fuel and oxygen tanks that help with the descent //(Ms. Mc - ascent)//, and they power the spacecraft into orbit. The solid rocket motors make the engine thrust harder. The centaur is the brains of the operation; it thrusts twice (the first time to get into Earth’s orbit which is the second part of the diagram, and the second to get out of Earth’s orbit and on its way to Mars which is the fourth part of the diagram). The payload fairing is the nosecone to protect the rocket from its landing. //(Ms. Mc - from Earth's atmosphere).// This rocket was chosen because it has the right weight requirement and the right liftoff capability. The rocket is 191 feet high and 1.17 million pounds.

//<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Ms. Mc: good overview of the launch vehicle; 9/10. //

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Introduction for Apogee Experiment
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">An experiment was performed by launching rockets. The purpose of the experiment was to see how mass affected the apogee of the rocket. The forces of gravity acted on the rockets to bring them down, yet the thrust overpowered gravity during the launch. It was hypothesized that the more massive the rocket the lower the apogee would be. The thrust wouldn’t be as strong, so the rocket would go less far. The hypothesis was confirmed; the more massive rockets did not go as high as the lighter ones.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">As you can see in graph 1, the more massive the rocket is, the lower the apogee. So, the second lightest went the highest. The first lightest did not have a good launch, so it went lower than the most of them. The rocket that had the 18.5 apogee had an angle gun error. The less massive the rockets were, the less gravity pulled the rockets down. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">It was decided that the relationship of the graph was an inverse relationship. This is because the higher number that the x axis became, the lower the y axis was. If there were no outliers, such as the 18.5 rocket, then everything would probably have gone in a straight line. The hypothesis was confirmed by this graph, saying that more massive rockets would not have gone as high.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Data Analysis for the Re-Designed Rocket
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It achieved a higher apogee than the other rocket, but the other rocket had an angle gun mistake. The fins were made about twice as long as they were before; this was done so it had a higher start. It was, not surprisingly, heavier than the other rocket, yet not too much heavier seeing as these fins weren't painted. There was the same number of fins and they were in the same place, so that wasn't effected. The center of gravity was closer to the fins this time, and the center of pressure was not effected very much because no fins were placed at the top. The rocket also flew straight up as it had done before.

History of Robotics
From 350 BCE to now, robotics has been improving. It all started with mechanical bird powered on steam; it was made by Greek mathematician Archytas and is noted as one of the earliest stages of flight and as the first model rocket. Then, in 1495 when Leonardo Da Vinci made "Leonardo's robot." It was supposed to be like a soldier without anyone inside, but it was only used to entertain royalty.



Nowadays, rockets got people on the moon and are attempting to get people on Mars. In 1969, Americans were on the moon. Then 8 years later, Star Wars was released with two of the main characters being robots. In 1986, Honda starts a robot research program so that robots and humans can live together peacefully. During 1998-1999, LEGO released new software and toys that introduced better robotics to the public. Now, people are sending robots to Mars to see if Mars is habitable.

// Ms. Mc - good general overview and figures. Don't forget to specifically refer to the figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1 below") (-1). What do we primarily use robots for now? (-1/2). 8.5/10 //

Robot "On the Edge" Challenge Video
In this challenge you had to get a robot to stop on a blue piece of tape, but the tape was on the edge of the table. So, if you fail the challenge you will probably have to rebuild your robot. This was a very intense challenge, yet as you see in the video the challenge went perfect. (How did the robot start and what did it say after it stopped? -1).

media type="file" key="On_The_Edge.AVI" width="300" height="300" Video 1: Mindstorm doing "On the Edge" Challenge This shows that it when you make a loud noise, (What sensor, what port, and how loud of sound is needed? -1.5) it moves forward (What ports? How much power and for how long? -1.5) Then, when it senses a change in distance from the edge of the table, it will stop. (What sensor, what port and what distance? -1.5). The two points at the end say it should make a noise (What sound, how loudly, and for how long? -1.5) and display a smiley face.

//Ms. Mc - You needed to give the specific instructions each program block provided to the robot. 13/20 - 10% (2 pts. late) = 11/20.//

Life on Mars?
In the past 50 years, many attempts have been made to find life on Mars. Most of the time, the rockets don't even make it to Mars. Yet, with the few that have made it, we got enough information to figure out that Mars had water at some point in time. It is discovered that at one point a long time ago Mars had liquid water that was salty enough to be like an ocean.

On NASA's new mission, they are looking for microorganisms. A microorganism is a microscopic organism; they are very diverse. The different types range from algae to fungi to protozoa. Some scientists think of these as viruses, but others classify it as nonliving. These things are crucial to intelligent life, so it would be important if there was life on Mars.

//Ms. Mc - need more specific evidence from the reading summarizing the missions (-1). What are the characteristics of life? (-1). How would you classify a specimen from Mars as living, dead, dormant or non-living? (-1). Needed to specifically refer to your figures in your text (-1/2). 6.5/10//