Davis

Facts About Mars You Need to Know in Order to get a Rover There

 * A cold, deserted planet
 * Doesn’t have the same kind of magnetic field
 * No major lakes of rivers //(no liquid surface water of any kind)//
 * Dust storms are caused at wind speeds of 17-30 mph, primarily in the fall
 * 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 rovers to be able to withstand lots of dust
 * Mars has seasons due its tilt so need to point rover at sun in order to collect solar energy
 * Need to store energy for the winter
 * Mars is cold (-125 to 25 degrees C) so rover needs to withstand cold temperatures
 * Take 214 days or about 7 months to get to Mars
 * 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; able to move over rocky and sandy surface
 * Launch window occurs every 2 years
 * Launch to where Mars will be at the time the rocket would arrive at Mars.

//Ms. Mc: Good facts about Mars and its conditions, however, most came from our class discussion and not your original work (-2). 8/10//

History of Rocketry
The rocket is an innovation that has greatly improved over time. The first rocket was invented in China, and was first used in 1232. These rockets were used as anything from guided arrows in the Mongol- Chinese war to fireworks in religious festivals. The first invention involving the principles that rockets use was the Hero engine invented in 100 B.C. It used steam to spin an orb that was propped up on tubes. These simple uses for rockets evolved greatly over the next 600 years, though.

In 1898, a Russian named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky first thought up the idea of exploring space with rockets. He also came up with the idea of using liquid to propel rockets. He wanted to increase the gas coming out of the rockets to extend the range of rockets. Later, in 1915, Robert H. Goddard concluded that rockets could be propelled better with liquid-propellants than with solid-propellants. In 1926, Goddard had launched the very first liquid-propelled rocket in history. It which only went 12.5 meters high, and landed 56 meters away. This was a large milestone in rocketry.

In WW2, the German Society for Space travel developed the V-2 rocket. This rocket could destroy whole blocks in the great city of London, and burned exceptional amounts of liquid propellant every second. In 1957, Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviet Union, and this satellite orbited the Earth. The U.S. Army launched Explorer 1 a few months later, then later the U.S. arranged its space program called NASA. Tsiolkovsky's dream of space travel with rocketry had come true. Following these great innovations, astronauts went to the moon, and satellites were used for cell phone calls, or predicting the weather. Rockets are amazing inventions that have been improved greatly, and still will improve much more.

//Ms. Mc: Good overview of the science of rocketry! Like your diagrams too, however, please make separate files next time (-1/2) and refer to them in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1, . . .). Good work! 9.5/10//

Scratch Mission to Mars Video
media type="custom" key="14055548"

Instructions to Run Simulation: Turn on Sound First Click Green Flag to Start Click Red Stop Sign to Stop If simulation doesn't appear, click on the "Learn More about this Project" link above.

Tyler: Good job Davis, I thought your rocket moved smoothly. However, I think you had ejection go before apogee. I liked how your rover moved around on Mars.

Caleb: I thought that the rocket moved very smoothly and I liked the sound at liftoff. However, I noticed that ejection and apogee were in the wrong order. I liked the rockets on the lander, and I thought that the rover's movement on Mars was fantastic.

Meghan C: This was an awesome Scratch project! On improvements, you could have added in a couple of cool features to make it entertaining :) Also, as Caleb and Tyler said before, ejection and apogee were in the wrong order. The rover was really well drawn and it was very realistic! Job well done!

Labeled Rocket Photo


As seen in Figure 1, the nose cone on the top of the rocket is to reduce air resistance on the rocket. The body tube holds all of the internal parts in the rocket. These are the recovery system which contains a parachute and recovery cord that reduces the force when the rocket hits the ground. The wadding protects them from the gunpowder when it explodes. The rocket motor explodes in a sense, and sends the rocket shooting upwards. The motor mount keeps the motor in place, while the fins keep the rocket flying straight. Finally, the launch lug's purpose is to put the rocket on the launch pad so that it begins flight flying straight.

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

Atlas V-541 Rocket Summary


The Atlas V-541 rocket is the rocket will be sending a rover to Mars. It is necessary for the vehicle to be able to carry the mass of the rover, as well as other necessities such as landing gear, and fuel tanks. The rocket is quite large, standing at a height of 58 meters, and having a mass of 531,000 kilograms when fully prepped. The rocket was chosen for this mission because it has the capability to lift itself, as well as the requirements inside of it to lift, into space. It has also gone through other missions, and is a very reliable rocket. The Atlas V-541 is made up of many parts. The main part of the rocket is called the common core booster. This is basically just a very large engine. Half of this part is fuel tanks, that are loaded with liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel. It will be the part of the rocket that launches it upwards for the most part. Strapped to this is four rocket boosters that also propel the rocket upwards. This is the bottom part of the rocket. The top part of the rocket is called the Centaur. This is the part that holds the things such as the rover and landing gear. It had it's own computer to navigate itself, and a rocket booster to propel it through space, as seen in Figure 1. It's purpose is to get the rover to Mars safely and efficiently. This makes up the Atlas V-541 rocket.

// Ms. Mc: Good overview! The Centaur engine actually puts the rocket into Earth's orbit and launches the cruise vehicle with the rover to Mars; it floats off into space. (-1/2). 9.5/10 //

Rocket Data Summary
The purpose of this experiment was to compare how much the mass of a rocket affected the apogee of a rocket. The force of air resistance was always acting upon the rocket, and so was gravity. When on the launch pad, the rocket was experiencing no acceleration, so the force of the launch pad and the force of gravity was the same. At lift-off the force of gravity and the force of thrust was the same, but during the powered flight, thrust overcame gravity. While coasting upwards, inertia was causing the rocket to go up, but the only force acting upon the rocket was gravity. At apogee, all forces were the same, and there was no acceleration upon the rocket. During descent, the force of gravity overcame any other force, including air resistance, and the rocket fell. Finally, when landing on the ground, the rocket was still because the force of the ground and the force of gravity were the same. It was hypothesized that if the rocket is lighter then it will fly higher because less force is used to launch it, so the extra force will take it higher. Also, the powered flight, and lift-off will give the rocket more inertia to coast with. The powered flight and lift-off would create force which, when the force stops being released, will cause the rocket to keep going longer. This is called inertia, and it is necessary to coasting to have lots of inertia. Coasting is when nothing is exerting force, but an object keeps moving.

Mass data points ranged from 42.8 g - 45.9 g. Not much varied on the data having to do with the mass. The data having to do with the apogee of the rocket varied greatly, though. This was mainly because of a large outlier. This data ranged from 18.5 m - 107.24 m. There is an indirect relationship in this graph. The main outlier was probably made an outlier because of an angle gun error. Other points that didn’t quite meet up with this statement are the possibility of rocket construction errors, weather, or launch errors. The hypothesis was correct because a 42.8 g rocket went 107.24 m in the air. As seen in Graph #1, a 45.9 g rocket went 53.2 m in the air. Error could have entered this experiment because of the sample size of the rockets. We had a very small sample size, so it was hard to detect patterns. Another example is the fact that masses didn’t vary much, leaving another hole for error to enter. Angle gun measurements weren’t completely accurate, and construction of the rockets wasn’t the complete same.



Graph #1: Rocket Data Scatterplot

Fin Re-Construction


The new fins are small in order for small mass addition, and are curved for a more aerodynamic flight. They are at the top of the rocket to stabilize the top of the rocket in addition to the bottom, and there are three of them in order to stabilize all sides of the body tube, as seen in Figure #1. It achieved a lower apogee than my original rocket. The apogee in launch #1 was 107.24 m while the apogee in launch #2 was 105.4. This is probably because the new fins on the top of the rocket made the rocket unstable, and made air stream around it in a manner that caused it to spiral. The placement of the fins, I thought was stable, and the CG and CP were fine. The mass may have been too much mass due to glue. The mass in launch #1 was 42.8 g while the mass in launch #2 was 44.5 g. I also thought that the shape of the fins was unstable.

// Ms. Mc: 5/5 Good initial thoughts, conclusions, and diagram! //

The History of Robotics
The idea of robots started all the way back in Greek mythology with stories of mechanical people made by the Greek god Hephaestus. The first robot invented was by a Greek mathematician named Archytas in 350 B.C. He invented a mechanical bird named "the Pigeon" that ran on steam. In addition to the first robot, it was also one of the first studies into flight. The first clock that was not a hourglass was invented in 200 B.C. by a Greek inventor and physicist named Ctesibus. It was called the "water clock" because it used water to tell the time, as seen in Figure 1. Finally, the last ancient invention of robots was invented in 1495 by Leonardo DaVinci. It was a robot that looked like a knight, as seen in Figure 2. These were copied to amuse the royalty. Robotics really shot off in the 1700s with robot ducks, looms, people, and boats. They were all invented in less than 200 years. Algorithms and other types of things to help the progression of robots were invented in the 1800's. The 1900's was full of breakthroughs in robotics, though. Robots started to go commercial with robots being shot in movies, and the word robot actually being invented. Stories about robots were written in 1940 by Issac Asimov. Robotics associations, and studies in medical robotics, as well as robot body parts started in universities and the government. On January 4, 2004 the rover "Spirit" lands on Mars, and days later the rover "Opportunity". This opened up many new possibilities in the world of robotics. Obviously, robots have influenced mankind greatly throughout history, but more is still to be discovered. Figure 1: Water Clock Figure 2: Leonardo's Knight Robot

//Ms. Mc: Good overall summary and figures, Davis. I especially like the first sentence of the second paragraph :). 10/10//

"On the Edge" Challenge
The “On the Edge” challenge was a challenge that involved a robot driving to the edge of a table when “go” was said. It detected this sound with a sound sensor. Once at the edge, the robot would stop because of a black strip of tape that the robot had sensed with a light sensor. Finally, when the robot stopped it said “watch out”. media type="file" key="DBB on the edge.AVI" width="300" height="300"

Video #1: Video of "On the Edge" Challenge



Figure #1: Code for “On the Edge” Challenge

Block 1: detect a sound at 50 decimals or more. Port? Type of sensor? -1 Block 2: servomotors B and C activated, drive forward with 75% power. For how long? -1/2 Block 3: detect light at 31% or less. What sensor and port? -1 Block 4: stop servomotors B and C. By coasting or braking? -1/2 Block 5: play sound file “Watch Out” at 75% volume

//Ms. Mc - good overall, just missing a couple of details. 17/20//

Life on Mars/Microorganisms
Signs of possible life on Mars began in 1971 when the orbiter Mariner 9 took pictures of Mars that showed possible erosion of water. Missions to Mars continued to discover new information about the geology and atmosphere of Mars. In 1996, a meteorite from Mars showed bacteria-like objects, hydrocarbons (which may be used in forming life), mineral assemblages, and magnetic particles that could be produced by bacteria. (This is disputed now thought). In 2003, the first rovers went to Mars, called Spirit and Opportunity. Both of these rovers found evidence on water on Mars. (such as?) Finally, in 2008, the probe Phoenix found water ice on Mars. Microbes and microorganisms are microscopic organisms that are made of very few cells. Examples of microbes or microorganisms may be bacteria such as E-coli bacteria. These are living things, and living things are classified as dead, alive, non-living, or dormant. Something that is alive is made of cells, needs materials, is homeostatic, responds to stimuli, can reproduce, grows, is adapted, and respires. Something that is dead had all 8 of these characteristics, and something that is dormant has most of these, but doesn't grow, and can't reproduce. Finally, something that is non-living never was alive, and never will be alive. Living things must be made of cells, which are necessary units to every living thing. They need materials like water, minerals, air, etc., and they are homeostatic. This means that the thing stays the same internally, despite environmental changes. They respond to stimuli, which means that they react to stimulus (anything that causes a living thing to react). All living things reproduce and grow. This means that they develop and become more complex. Reproducing is when they produce offspring. When a living thing is adapted it is modified to fit its way of life. Finally, when a living thing respires, it releases energy stored in food.

// Ms. Mc - good general overview but you left out your figures (-1). 9/10 //