Cate

Mars Fact Sheet
• Mars is covered by hundreds of thousands of craters so need to pick a smooth landing site • Mars has dust storms so need to construct rover so it is as resistant as possible to dust • Need to launch when Earth and Mars are aligned so the distance between the planet is as possible so we can use the least amount of rocker fuel • Needs to aim ahead of where Mars currently is in order to reach it • Mars has polar ice caps so may need to make rover able to roam on ice • Mars is about half the sixe of Earth so need to consider this for tour trajectory/flight path • Mars has seasons so in winter the rover won't be able to recharge • Mars only gets 44% sunlight so need a back-up generator • Takes about 8 months to travel to Mars • Mars is very cold • Temperature varies greatly within a few feet of the surface • Rover needs good traction as surface is rocky and has loose soil

// Ms. Mc: Good information from our class discussion but don't see any original work? (-3). 7/10 //

History of Rocketry[[image:cascience7-2012/ceo_hero's_engine.JPG width="199" height="281" align="right" caption="Figure #1- Hero's Engine"]]
In 100 BC, one of the first successful rocket-flight engines was created by a Greek inventor named Hero of Alexandria. He used steam power to create energy. The fire beneath the engine generates heat to turn the water into steam. The steam rises, and the tubes attached to a sphere allows the steam to travel into the sphere. The thrust from the steam causes the sphere to rotate, therefore creating energy. The next great contribution to rocket development was in China, 1232. The Chinese discovered that the fire created from the lighting of gunpowder could thrust an object forward. The Chinese used this method to shoot fireworks into the sky and in battle. They shot rockets in a battle with the Mongols using the gunpowder to fuel the rocket and a bamboo stick to keep the rocket from veering off course. In 1898, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky had introduced the idea of using rocketry for space exploration. Tsiolkovsky proposed the use of liquid fuel for the rockets.

In the early 20st century, Robert H. Goddard developed the first liquid propellant rocket. It flew only 12.5 meters for 2.5 seconds, but it was a huge achievement for rocketry. Goddard's achievements lead to further research in liquid fueled rockets. Several small rocket societies were created in the 20th century. Germany's formation was the Verien fur Faumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) and it created the V-2 rocket, which was used in World War II against London. When Germany was defeated, many unused V-2 rockets were confiscated by the Allies. The U.S. and the Soviet Union started experimental programs in rockets as a military weapon. As a result, the medium-and long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles were created. These were the start of the U.S. space program.

On October 4, 1957, an Earth-orbiting artificial satellite was launched by the Soviet Union. It was the start of the “race for space” between two superpower nations. A few months later, the U.S. launched a satellite. During that same year, the U.S. formed their official space program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Shortly after, people and other machines were launched into space. The satellites sent into space opened up the possibility for weather forecast, cell phone communications, and satellite television. Rockets have come far from simple fireworks to advanced space exploration, and rockets have created the ability to go afar. //Ms. Mc: Excellent general overview of the history of rocketry and great drawings! Please refer to your figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1, . . .). 10/10//

Scratch Rocket Fight Simulation
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Instructions for Running Simulation: Turn volume on Press the green flag to start simulation Press the red circle to stop simulation

Cate

R O S I E - Very cutez!!! I love the rocket! ;) Everything was really neat and there was definitely enough time to read everything. I'm not sure if there was anything bad about it, really! Great job! :)

Pauline: I love your rocket! Very nice :) The descriptions were well explained and stayed on long enough. The only thing is that maybe the rocket could have moved a bit faster, but besides that, you did great, nicely done Cate.

Jacob: Great animation and the scene changes were very smooth. I thought that there was not enough time to read the definitions, and I had to play the video over a couple of times to understand them. I also thought that you should have had the Apogee stage in the Mars background. Otherwise, very nice!

Rocket Parts
The parts of the rocket each have their own individual purpose. The Nose Cone works to guides airflow around the rocket. The Body Tube holds all the components of the rocket together and is also and airframe. The Recovery System helps land the rocket safely and usually includes a parachute. The Recovery Wadding protects the recovery system from the heat of the engine gases. The Launch Lug is the device that guides the rocket off the launch pad. The Fins' task is to keep the rocket traveling strait. The Motor Mount holds the rocket motor in place. The Rocket Motor is what supplies the thrust for the rocket to overcome gravity and travel.

//Ms. Mc: Good labels and descriptions! Please check your spelling before posting. 10/10 //

MSL Launch Vehicle
For years NASA has been searching for life on Mars. Rovers have landed on Mars and studied the planet. In order for the rover to get to Mars, a lot of careful planning with a rocket is done. The Atlas V-541 vehicle was selected to carry the latest rover, Cu riosity to Mars. The Atlas V-541 vehicle was chosen for the Mars Science Laboratory(MSL) mission because it has the right liftoff capability for the heavy weight requirement. The Atlas V-541 rocket is made up of 4 major elements, the fuel and oxygen tanks that support an engine for the ascent; powers spacecraft into Earth orbit. The Solid Rocket Motors that are used to increase engine thrust. The Centaur is the fuel and oxidizer and the vehicle's "brains"; it fires twice, first to escape Earth's gravity and again to get out of Earth's atmosphere. The last component of the Atlas V-541 rocket is the Payload Fairing (as seen is Figure 1). It is a thin compound or nose cone to protect the spacecraft during the escape of Earth's atmosphere. The rocket's mass is about 1.17 million pounds and the height is 191 feet or 58 meters. With no doubt, this rocket is able to get Curiosity to the Red Planet.

//Ms. Mc: Great overview and picture for the launch vehicle. Didn't discuss the common core booster (-1/2). 9/10//

Rocket Launch Lab Analysis and Write-up
The purpose of this experiment was to see how the mass of the rocket will affect its maximum apogee height. The forces acting upon the rocket that was launched were the rocket's thrusters, gravity, and air resistance. The force of gravity depended on the mass of the rocket. The rocket lifted-off, and the thrusters were applying enough force to overcome the force of gravity acting on the rocket. While the thrusters were applying force, air resistance was acting against the thrust so it slowed the speed of the acceleration down, but not completely stopping it. Once the thrusters stopped applying force, the rocket was still accelerating upward due to inertia. At the rocket's apogee, gravity and air resistance overcame the inertia and the rocket started accelerating downward. At this point, air resistance was working against gravity and was slowing the speed of the acceleration down. When the recovery system was deployed, this caused air resistance to apply more force, thus slowing the speed of the rocket further. Once the rocket landed, the only two forces acting on it were gravity and the force of the ground, which were equal and opposite. The difference between the amounts of force gravity was applying and the amount of force the rocket thrusters were applying affected the apogee. If gravity was applying more force than the thrusters, than the rocket wouldn’t have moved, but the more force the rocket thrusters were applying, the higher the apogee would have been. It was hypothesized that a rocket with more mass will have a lower apogee height than a rocket with less mass because the more mass an object has, the more force gravity applies, and the thrust made by the rocket will be more easily overcome by gravity.

The hypothesis that a rocket with a high mass would have a low apogee height was proven right. When tested, the rocket with the lowest mass had the highest apogee (see Graph 1). The average weight of the rockets was 45.3 grams. The average rocket apogee height was 108.7 meters. The graph shows that the higher the mass of the rocket is, the lower the apogee is. There were some exceptions in the data, due to various reasons. The rocket with the lowest mass, which was 43.5 grams, had the highest apogee, which was 142.8 meters. The rocket with one of the highest masses, which was 46 grams, had the lowest apogee, which was 71.3 meters. This proves the hypothesis correct. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables was an inverse relationship because the higher the rocket mass, the lower the apogee height would be. It was the same case with a low rocket mass; it would have apogee height.

In other experiments, certain rockets had a noticeably lower apogee than the others, which was due to different variables not being controlled. A variable that could affect the rockets apogee would be weather. To be more specific, the intensity of the wind could affect the results of the experiment. The wind can veer the rocket off course, thus seizing the ability for the rocket to reach the maximum apogee. Assembly could also have an effect on the apogee. If the rocket is assembled different than planned, it will not have the predicted or expected apogee. For example, if a fin is not put on correctly, the rocket will not be as stable and can possibly veer off course. Another variable that could affect the apogee would be measurement errors. In this particular experiment, angle guns were used to measure the angle at which the apogee could be calculated. If something is wrong with the angle gun or the person using it, the apogee calculated would be affected.

Rocket Fin Re-Design
On the rocket, there were three fins on the rocket helping to stabilize it. On the rocket with the new fins, there are four fins, placed in a cross pattern, directly across from one another (as shown in Figure 1). The even number of fins and symmetrical placement of them will help balance the rocket to avoid veering off course after lift-off, which will help achieve a higher apogee.  Because it was proven that the more mass a rocket has, the lower the apogee will be, there was the problem of the fourth fin adding some extra mass. To decrease the total mass of the rocket, all four fins were thinned. Additionally, the edges of the fins were rounded to make a smoother flight, and decreasing the amount of air resistance. the rounding and thinning of the fins helped decrease the amount of air resistance by making the fins less rigid and bulky. All of these changes should have resulted in a higher apogee than previous.

The rocket did not fly as high as the previous launch. The rocket lifted-off and flew reasonably strait, but the apogee was not as high. Gravity seemed to overcome the inertia faster once the rocket was coasting. The apogee from the first launch was 113 meters and the apogee from the second launch was 88.5 meters, resulting in a 24.5 meter decrease. The lower apogee may have been due to mass increase. Although the thinning of the rocket fins was meant to eliminate the added weight from the extra fin, the rocket still had more mass than previous. The rocket had a total of 5.2 grams in mass increase, with the first mass being 43.8 grams and the new mass being 49.0 grams. The rounded edges of the fins did not have much effect on the rocket, though it did not work against achieving a higher apogee. The rocket's center of gravity was higher than the center of pressure, which is required in order to have stable flight.

//Ms. Mc: Excellent work, Cate! 5/5 //

<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">History of Robotics
<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Robotics was introduce in 270BC when an ancient Greek engineer named Ctesibus made organs and water clocks with movable figures(shown in Figure 1). Ctesibus' invention started the study of robots and they have come a long way since. As many people may know this book, in 1818, Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" which was about a frightening artificial lifeform created by Dr. Frankenstein. The word "robots" started being used in 1921 when The term "robot" was first used in a play called "R.U.R." or "Rossum's Universal Robots" by the Czech writer Karel Capek. The plot was simple: man makes robot then robot kills man! Then robotics was officially known in 1941. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov first used the word "robotics" to describe the technology of robots and predicted the rise of a powerful robot industry. Robotics again surfaced in 1942 when Isaac Asimov wrote "Runaround", a story about robots which contained the "Three Laws of Robotics": <span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Another book was released in 1948; "Cybernetics", an influence on artificial intelligence research was published by Norbert Wiener. The next big achievement in robotics was when George Devol and Joseph Engelberger formed the world's first robot company in 1956. Then in 1959, computer-assisted manufacturing was demonstrated at the Servomechanisms Lab at MIT. The first industrial robot was online in a General Motors automobile factory in 1961. It was called UNIMATE. The first artificial robotic arm to be controlled by a computer was designed in 1963. It was called the Rancho Arm. The Rancho Arm was designed as a tool for the handicapped and it's six joints gave it the flexibility of a human arm. After, in 1965, DENDRAL was the first expert system or program designed to execute the accumulated knowledge of subject experts. A more advanced robot arm than the Rancho Arm was made in 1969. The Stanford Arm was the first electrically powered, computer-controlled robot arm. In 1970, Shakey was introduced as the first mobile robot controlled by artificial intelligence. It was produced by SRI International. It was quite an achievement. Another robot arm was made in 1974. The Silver Arm performed small-parts assembly using feedback from touch and pressure sensors. Then in 1979, The Standford Cart (shown in Figure 2) crossed a chair-filled room without human assistance. The cart had a TV camera mounted on a rail which took pictures from multiple angles and relayed them to a computer. The computer analyzed the distance between the cart and the obstacles. That was one of the biggest accomplishment in robotics. <span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">There have been recent robots designed and made in the 21st Century, including the rovers sent out into space. All these achievements in robotics, big and small, made the technology to build the modern-day robots.
 * 1) <span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">A robot may not injure a human, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
 * 2) <span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">A robot must obey the orders it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
 * 3) <span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: middle;">A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict withe the First or Second Law.

//Ms. Ms - great overview and figures! How are robots primarily used today? (-1/2) 9.5/10//

<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">On the Edge Video
<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">For the On the Edge challenge, the robot had to be programmed using LEGO Mindstorms to start moving on the activation of sound. Then, at the edge of the counter, the robot would stop. The robot could not fall off the counter, and nothing else could start or stop it.

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Caption? -1/2

<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Block 1- tells robot when a sound greater than a 55 volume is made, to activate block 2. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">What type of block (what for wound block) and what port? -1/2

<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Block 2- tells robot to accelerate forward with 75% power until another block tells it to stop. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ports activated? -1/2

<span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Block 3- tells robot when a distance greater than 16 centimeters is detected from the ultrasonic sensor to activate block 4. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Port?

<span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Block 4- tells robot to apply brake. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">What port and stop by braking or coasting? -1/2

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Missing the sound block that tells the robot to say, "Watch out!" -2. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">+1 for the extra snips of all of the control panels which wasn't required but a nice touch!

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ms. Mc - good job overall but you left out a couple of things. 17/20

<span style="color: #ff004a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Search for Life on Mars
<span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">The Viking spacecraft sent out in 1972 was programmed to detect metabolism and organic molecules on Mars, however it came up with negative results. At the time, it seemed like there isn't, and never was, life on Mars. This is not the case according to the new technology and results that prove that their could have been life on Mars. Rovers roaming Mars have discovered a few places were an environment were microbes could have survived took place. The simplest form of life is a microbe, which is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell (unicellular), cell clusters, or multicellular relatively complex organisms. What scientists are currently looking for on Mars is evidence of life-friendly environments once existing or currently existing on Mars, fossils of microbes (or other life), and actual microbes. Water is essential for life, so if there was fairly neutral, liquid water, than life could have started and sustained on Mars. Rovers have found bedrocks on Mars, channels were water once flowed, and rocks that could only be formed in flowing water. Those discoveries prove that life could have been on Mars. When the small planets of our solar system were first formed and settled, there was heavy bombardment and Mars was relentlessly hit by meteorites. Earth was just starting to form life at that time, and Mars might have too, but the bombardment stripped the planet of its atmosphere and the water became poisonously salty and the planet was eventually a barren desert. Pieces of Earth came off and hit Mars (also the other way around) at the time of the bombardment, so it is possible for Mars to have received life from Earth at one point too. In 1996, a group of scientists announced that they had found evidence of life in a Martian meteorite. There were bacteria-like objects (as seen in Figure 1) in electron microscope imagery, detection of hydrocarbons, mineral assemblages that were produced in a state of chemical unbalance, and magnetic particles similar to those produced by some Earthly bacteria. This bacteria-like object would be classified as either alive or dead. What determines if something is alive or non-living is if it possesses the 8 characteristic s of life. It is made of cells, all cells can multiply so the organism can reproduce and grow. If it needed materials to grow than it would respond to the extraction of those materials and it would also take in energy from those materials. If the meteorite came from Mars, and the organisms in the meteorite shortly adapted to the different conditions of Earth as appose to Mars, than it would be able to adapt. The organism is considered alive if those characteristics are present and functioning. <span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">Not all the evidence of Martian life was discovered by rovers though, the exploration of Mars was when Mariners 4, 6, and 7 flew by Mars and placed lander modules on Mars. Mariner 9 sent back a wide variety of spectroscopic, radio-propagation, and photographic data. <span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;"> In the "Race for Space", a battle between the Soviets and NASA to see who could more successfully explore space. It took a lot of time and failed missions to perfect the technique of getting data. The Soviets landed two probes on Mars to investigate the possibility of life. All of the spacecraft successfully sent by Mars sent back data that was huge for space exploration. 7,330 pictures confirmed a history of volcanoes, ancient erosion of water, and reshaping of widespread areas of the surface. Mars Global Surveyor systematically mapped different properties of the planet, including Mars’s gravity and magnetic fields, surface topography, and surface mineralogy (as seen in Figure 2). Other properties were found and recorded by other landers. The huge step in the search for life on Mars was when the first rovers, Spirit and Opportunity set ground on Mars and started exploring in 2004. They both found great evidence that there could have been life on Mars, but the question still hasn't been answered, Is there life on Mars?

//<span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">Ms. Mc - very well written and supported with good evidence! 10/10 //