Anna

Facts About Mars

 * perihelion (when Mars is closest to Earth to get there) – 206,655,215 km; 128,409,598 miles
 * surface area – 144,371,391 km2; 55,742,106 square miles
 * surface gravity – 3.71 m/s2; 12.2 ft/s2 (100 to 38 ratio)
 * one mars day = 1.026 earth days
 * one mars year = 686.98 earth days
 * -63°C to -5°C; -125°F to 23° F
 * thin atmosphere contains 95.32% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.13% oxygen, 0.08% carbon monoxide
 * contains high levels of iron which rusts and results in the red tint on the surface and in the air – huge dust storms
 * fourth planet from the sun
 * has no current global magnetic field – parts found highly magnetized and a magnetic field was thought to have existed some 4 billion years ago
 * has two moons: Phobos and Deimos – steer clear!
 * polar ice caps grow and recede with the changing seasons
 * has seasons – store energy for winter or recharge during winter
 * surface pressure is 1/100th of Earth’s
 * solid rocky crust
 * proper trajectory and launch window
 * launch window opens about every two years

//Ms. Mc: Good general facts about Mars and its conditions. Needed to relate facts to concerns of either getting a rover to Mars or having it work on its surface (-1). Good additions from class discussion. 9/10//

History of Rocketry Summary and Drawings
The earliest man made rocket was developed in 100 BC Greece by Hero of Alexandria. It was a steam powered engine that rotated on stand (for diagram see below). A bunch of other stories about rockets randomly appear throughout history, the first true rockets perhaps being developed by the Chinese. They were hollow bamboo tubes with gunpowder inside that were used for ceremonial purposes and later for weapons. In later centuries, many people experimented with rockets. Roger Bacon came up with a better formula for gunpowder, Jean Froissart developed a more accurate flight method, and Joanes de Fontana designed a rocket-powered torpedo. All of the previous rockets had used solid propellants, most commonly gunpowder. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, however, had an idea for liquid propelled rockets. Robert H. Goddard took that idea and developed it. With much struggle and difficulty, he had the first successful liquid propellant rocket launch. His 12.5 meter flight, powered by liquid oxygen and gasoline, was a dawn for a new era of rocketry. Goddard continued to develop his rocket even further, adding a gyroscope system for flight control, payload space, and recovery instruments. Little rocket “societies” sprung up all around the world, including the Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (the German //Society for Space Travel//). They developed the V-2 rocket which the Germans used against the Allies in WWII. It was propelled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol, delivering about one ton of force per second. It had an armed warhead and could leave entire city blocks in ruins. Although the V-2 did not greatly affect the outcome of the war, it laid the basis for modern day missiles and rockets. On October 4, 1957, the US got news that the Soviets had successfully launched a satellite into space, called Sputnik I. This was the start of the space race. A couple weeks later they launched a dog named Laika into space. A few months later, the US launched a satellite called Explorer I. The //National Aeronautics and Space Administration//, or NASA, was created in October of that same year. Nations continued to launch satellites, rovers, and people into space. To this day we have a bunch of satellites that can forecast weather, map out earth, triangulate locations and other things. We have landed rovers on Mars, and people on the Moon. NASA will continue to develop a variety of rockets for assorted mission types for the, “peaceful exploration of space for the benefit of all humankind.”

//Ms. Mc: Great summary and diagrams! Please refer to your figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1"). 10/10//

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
media type="custom" key="14079956"

Instructions for How to Run Simulation: Turn sound on Press GREEN FLAG to start Watch and enjoy Press RED BUTTON to stop If you cannot view this simulation, click LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT link above.

Jonathan K It was really good, I liked this different backgrounds and how the movement was smooth.

Labeled Rocket Picture and Description


The following parts of a model rocket are diagramed in Figure 1 (above). The nose cone provides good aerodynamics so the rocket will have less air resistance. The body tube is simply a housing for the rocket's power source, recovery system, and payload (if there is one). The recovery system is a parachute attached to the rocket by a shock cord to absorb the stress of deployment. The recovery wadding paper put between the recovery system and the motor and its housing to protect the parachute form being damaged. The motor mount is a housing that the motor goes into. The rocket motor is a fuel housed in a paper tube. The fins guide the rocket so it doesn't veer off course or tip over.

// Ms. Mc: great definitions and labels! You don't need to put "picture" in the caption title since it already includes "figure." 10/10 //

Atlas V-541 Rocket
Atlas V-541 is the rocket that launched the Mars Science Labratory, or MSL. With its payload and fuel, the Atlas rocket is 191 feet (58 meters) tall, and weighs 1,170,000 pounds (531,000 kilograms). The Atlas type rockets are expendable launch vehicles, or ELVs. That means that most if not all of the parts of the rocket can and are only used once. The '541' part of the title is representative of different measurements; it is 5 meters in diameter, has 4 solid rocket boosters, and has one Centuar engine. There are two main stages in which the rocket is launched. The first uses the four solid rocket boosters and the single core engine to get high enough in Earth's atmosphere. The second stage is just the MSL and its housing; the SRBs, core engine, and Centaur engine have all been disposed of. See Figure 1 for details. The Atlas rocket was chosen because it is light enough to escape Earth's gravitational pull but is large enough to hold Curiosity and all the fuel needed to get the MSL to Mars. The MSL is scheduled to land on Mars somtime in August.



//Ms. Mc - great overview and pictures of the launch vehicle. If you are going to use additional uploaded files, you need to refer to them in your text as well. The second stage of the rocket includes the Centaur engine and the payload fairing (-1/2). 9.5/10//

Model Rocket Launch Write Up
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the relationship, or lack of, between model rocket masses and their apogee (peak in flight altitude). During the different stages of flight, the rockets experienced different forces and amounts of them. When the rocket was at rest on the launch pad, gravity and the force of the launch pad were acting on it with equal amounts of force. As soon as liftoff occurred, the force from the launch pad went away and was replaced by thrust from the rocket’s motor. Thrust is force that acts in the opposite direction of that intended, then uses Newton’s third law (equal and opposite reaction) to move it. More thrust was needed for the heavier rockets during liftoff, which means there was less fuel for powered flight which would have affected apogee. A little bit of air resistance, air pushing in the opposite direction the rocket was traveling, also acted on the rocket, which would have slowed it down possibly decreasing the apogee. During powered flight, the forces were the same as during liftoff but with more air resistance. When the rocket is coasting, gravity and air resistance were acting on it but there was no thrust. Inertia (the law that says objects will keep moving at the speed they are if there is no opposing force) kept the rocket moving up. When the rocket hit its apogee, it momentarily stopped moving so gravity was the only force acting on it. During descent, gravity and air resistance (in the opposite direction than powered flight) acted on it. It was hypothesized that in some circumstances heavier rockets will fly lower, and in others, heavier rockets will go the same height. This was thought because heavier rockets would have more gravity acting on them and therefore be pulled to earth with a greater amount of force, which wouldn’t allow them to go as high. However, heavier rockets also have more inertia so, in theory, they would go the same height as a lighter rocket, possibly higher. As seen in Graph 1, the rocket masses averaged at 44.6 g, with the lightest rocket at 43.5 g and the heaviest at 47.1 g. The apogees (the rockets’ peak in altitude) ranged from 47.7 to 107.2 m. There was an inverse relationship between the six data points, meaning that the heavier the rocket, the higher the apogee. The first part of the hypothesis, saying that heavier rockets will have lower apogees, was confirmed. That was proven by rockets #1 and #4. Rocket #1 was 44.7 g, with an apogee of 47.7 m, whereas rocket #4 was 40.0 g and its apogee was 107.2 m. That showed that the lighter the rocket, the higher the apogee. The second part of the hypothesis was disproven; the heaviest rocket, at 47.1 g did not have the same apogee as any of the lighter rockets. In this experiment, all variables were attempted to be controlled, however, there were still some faults that might have affected the data. Firstly, the launch angle was not the exact same for every rocket launched and each rocket was made differently. Another thing was that the experiment consisted of only six rockets, which was a miniature sample size. There weren’t enough rockets to definitively state a relationship. Additionally, each rocket was only launched once, so there was so assurance that the only launch was “average” for that rocket. Furthermore, the rockets (inevitably) spun which might have tilted them one way or the other. That might have decreased the apogee.

Rocket Fin Re-Design
Our fin re-designs will be in the same place and will be approximately the same size, but will have a different shape. They will taper from top to bottom, a cross section of which can be seen in Figure #1. This will improve aerodynamics because there will be less air resistance at the top because there will be less surface area. We will also curve the edge of the fin so the air can slide off it more easily instead of catching on the corner. We will still use three fins, simply because in worked the for the previous launch.



NOTE: The first rocket could not be retrieved for a second launch so another one was used. The masses of the rockets were almost the same for the launches; the first one was 44.0 g and the second was 44.1 g. The second apogee was 8.9 m lower than the first apogee, which was 107.2 m. However, we could not tell whether the difference in masses and apogees were due to fin re-design or the fact that the rockets were different. Because we didn't change the fins that much, the apogees were not very different. The center of gravity was likely the same for both. The curved edges and taper might have decreased the stability but the other factors, such as mass, the number of fins, the center of gravity and center of pressure, were about the same, if not totally consistent.

//Ms. Mc - great diagrams and discussion! 5/5//

History of Robotics
The first robot ever reported in history was made in 270 BC. Greek engineer Ctesibus invented a water clock, and organs (the piano kind) with moving mechanical parts. Ancient China also has a report of a life size, human figure that moved on its own. In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci invented a mechanical arm, called an anthrobot. Fast-forward a couple hundred years, Isaac Asimov uses the term ‘robotics’ to describe the technology of robots and predicts that they will be significant in the future. In 1956, George Devol and Joseph Engelberger founded Unimation, the first robotics company. They manufactured the first industrial robot, called Unimate, which can be seen in Figure 1. It was used in a GM factory in NJ. The Japanese picked up on the potential of robotics and invested heavily in them for replacing people in factories. In 1969, Victor Schienman’s Stanford Arm becomes the first computer controlled electrical robot arm. Soon, it was able to put together a Ford Model T’s water pump, using touch and optical sensors. Just a year later, Shakey, made by SRI International, becomes the first mobile robot to be controlled by artificial intelligence (a computer for a brain). By utilizing bump sensors, a laser that could detect distances, and a TV screen, Shakey navigated its way through SRI’s halls. In 1997, Deep Blue (see Figure 2), a robot, defeated world chess champion in chess. Manufactured by IBM, it used specific algorithms programmed in it to win. It could process more than 1 billion possible positions in one second. It also had an opening game database, compiled from one million games from the past 100 years, and also had an endgame database (activated when only five chess pieces remained) which held billions of possible scenarios. Nowadays, we have robots that make our cell phones, manufacture our medicines, clean our floors, and explore other planets. Between Wall-E and Terminator, who knows what the robots of the future will be like!

//Ms. Mc - excellent overview and figures! 10/10//

Lego Robot Challenge - On The Edge
Using the programming code seen in Figure 1, the Lego Mindstorms robot would accelerate forward using servomotors B and C when a sound over75 decibels. Then, when the ultrasonic sensor detected a distance greater than 10 cm, the robot stopped moving and said, “Watch out!”

media type="file" key="AEG_On The Edge.AVI" width="300" height="300" Video #1. Robot Performing //On the Edge// Challenge Block 1 (Wait for Sound) – This block tells the rover to wait until it hears a sound over 75 decibels. What port? -1/2 Block 2 (Motion) - Block 2 tells the robot to use servomotors B and C to accelerate forward at 50% speed. Block 3 (Wait for Distance) - This block programs to rover so that when it detects a distance over 7 centimeters, it will do the following action. (What sensor and what port? -1/2) Block 4 (Motion) - After detecting a distance over 7 centimeters, this programs the robot to stop. What ports? Block 5 (Play Sound) - This block plays the preprogrammed sound, in this case, "Watch out!" What volume? -1/2

Ms. Mc - good job. 18.5/20

Life on Mars
At first it was believed that Mars was a hospitable planet for life, but missions to Mars, such as Mariner 9, proved this to not be true. However, many things have led to the belief that life can exist and flourish on Mars. One of the first discoveries to support this theory was that life can live in a far greater range of conditions than originally thought such as much hotter, saltier, and acidic places. The deep sea vents (see Figure 1), which are very hot and recieve little to no sunlight, are a living place for life on Earth. Another factor is the likelihood that life on Earth started very quickly so if the right circumstances on Mars presented themselves, it wouldn’t take long for life to develop. Additionally, early Mars probably had the same conditions that Earth has. A fourth reason that life might exist on Mars is that Earth and Mars exchange parts of themselves. We have a couple pieces of Mars on Earth so if a life sustaining piece of earth ended up on Mars, it could have developed and flourished. A microbe (the same thing as a microorganism) is a microscopic (cannot be seen by the naked eye), though sometimes not, organism that is either made up of a single cell, or a bunch of cells. Bacteria, such as the ones seen in Figure 2, fungi, algae, and protozoa are all microbes; viruses have yet to be determined as living or not. Microbes live in places where there is liquid water and are important to ecosystems; they usually act as decomposers (things that break stuff down into other substances that can be used). If microbes were found on Mars, I would classify them as living. They are made of cells, they need materials (liquid water), grow by creating more cells), respond to stimuli (growth slows if they are in a cold environment), reproduce (both asexually and sexually), have respiration (take in a material and produce waste), are homeostatic (maintain their internal conditions) and adapt (change so they can survive the environmental conditions.).

Ms. Mc - good overview of the research of life on Mars and how you would classify a Mars' specimen. If order to be living, an organism must possess all 8 characteristics of life and all of them must be fully functioning. (-1/2) Good work! 9.5/10