Matthew

4/9/12

Mars Fact Sheet

 * Mars' atmosphere is made of 90% carbon dioxide
 * You need to wait for earth and mars to align
 * There are large carters on mars
 * Mars has dust storms
 * Mars has polar ice caps
 * Mars has seasons
 * Mars only gets 44% of normal sunlight
 * Takes 8 months to get to Mars
 * Mars is very cold (-250 degrees C) rover needs to be able to withstand cold temperatures
 * Rocky surface

//Ms. Mc: Good additions from our discussion but I don't see much original work (-2). You also were to relate the fact to what ramification it would have for getting a rover to Mars (-2). Please capitalize Mars as it's a proper noun. 6/10//

History Of Rocketry
1.

[[image:cascience7-2012/Matthew_G_Hero_Engine.PNG width="346" height="349" caption="Figure #1 - Hero's Engine"]]
2. The Chinese created rockets for celebratory reasons but then used them for arrows. 3. He suggested space exploration with rockets 4. He created the first working liquid propellant rocket 5. Germany as a weapon in WWII 6. To try and compete with Russia in the space race

//Ms. Mc: You were to take your answers to the questions and expand them into paragraph form. (-4) I reminded you about this but you didn't make any changes? Also needed to have a second picture (-2). Please refer to your figures in your writing. 4/10//

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
media type="custom" key="14075912" Instructions for how to run simulation: Click on learn more about this project

Michael C- Your simulation was accurate, but some of the sprites were not very realistic for space. Your definitions were up long enough to read and they were accurate.

Luke M: All of your definitions were correct presented, but even though they may be funny some of the sprites flying around in space probably aren't floating in space. Overall I thought your Flight Simulation was very well done.

Log Entry #4 4/15/2012 Launch Vehicle

The Atlas V-541 rocket weighs about 1.17 million pounds and is about 191 feet long. The Atlas V-541 was chosen for the mission to mars because it can carry the rover while still being able to escape Earth's atmosphere. The rocket has a nose cone, a core booster, a Centaur engine, and 4 solid rocket engines. The nose cone is on the top of the rocket and makes the rocket more aerodynamic. All four of the solid-rocket engines burn solid fuel and help the rocket escape earth's atmosphere. The core booster also powers the rocket into space. The Centaur engine is used to escape the earth's orbit.

//Ms. Mc: Good overview and diagram. You need to be a little more specific about the roles of the engines. For example, the SRBs and the common core booster help with liftoff and the Centaur engine puts the rocket into orbit around Earth and then sends the cruise vehicle on to Mars. (-1). You also were to refer to the figure # in your writing (-1/2). - 1 pt (10%) late = 7.5/10.//

Log Entry #5 4/15/2012 Labeled Rocket

This is our labeled rocket. The nose cone stabilizes the rocket and makes it more aerodynamic. The fins also stabilize the rocket. The launch lug is what is used to put the rocket on the pole for launch. The Recovery system is what recovers the rocket after apogee. The recovery wadding keeps the recovery system from burning up from the rocket. The body tube holds everything in the rocket. The motor mount holds the motor in and the motor is what thrusts and propels the rocket.

//Ms. Mc: Good description of the functions of the parts of a model rocket. The nose cone isn't really used for stability though (-1/2) and you don't want to describe a part as it's title (i.e., recovery system) (-1/2). 9/10 - 1 pt. (10% deduction late) = 8/10.//

Log Entry #6 4/15/2012 RLL Intro and Data Summary

Introduction

The purpose of the experiment was to find out the relationship between the mass of a rocket and the height of the apogee. The forces that acted on the rocket were, gravity, the motor's thrust, air resistance. When the rocket is resting on the launch pad the force of gravity is pulling down on it. When the rocket lifts of the thrust of the motor must be greater than the pull of gravity on the rocket. When the rocket is coasting it's inertia is propelling it through the air against the pull of gravity. When the rocket reaches it’s apogee then force of gravity pulls it down. When the rocket falls air resistance is pushing up against it while gravity pulls down. It was hypothesized that the smaller the mass of the rocket the higher the apogee.

Data Summary

The rockets used in this experiment had masses that ranged from 43.5 grams to 47.2 grams. As shown in Graph 1, the ranges of the apogees were from 71.3 meters to 142.8 meters. The average apogee was 109.5 meters. As the data shows, as the masses got lighter the rocket flew higher and as it got heavier it flew lower.

The hypothesis was correct because the rocket with the lightest mass flew the highest and the rocket with the heaviest flew the second lowest. Other factors could have affected this though, such as, wind, weather, and fin placement and shape also rocket shape. y



Loge Entry #7 Rocket Fin Redesign



It will take off some bottom weight while stabilizing the top. As figure #1 shows we will add 3 small fins at the top and make the bottom fins smaller.

In the our second rocket's launch our rocket weighed one gram more than our first rocket.It flew much lower than our first rocket. I think the mass, and different fin design contributed to this. The center of gravity/the center of pressure were different also.

Log Entry #8 History of Robotics 5/3/2012

The first robot was said to be invented in 270 BC. A Greek Engineer named Ctesibus first made a robot with moveable parts and a water clock. The term robot first came to be when it was used in a play in 1921.

The idea of human like robots came to be later and a robot company was founded in 1956. The computerized robot was first introduced at MIT. In 1963 robots started to help people. Robotic arms were invented and the first walking robots created in 1974. Robotics have come a long way since 270 BC and continue to help people in many fields to date.

//Ms. Mc - Matthew, you need to be more detailed with your entries. (-1). You also were to include 2 figures and discuss them in your text (-4). Please be sure you check your work against the prompt requirements or come to me to help you with this. 5/10//

Walk The Line Challenge (Acutally, "On the Edge." -1/2)
media type="file" key="pws_ontheedge.AVI" width="300" height="300"

Caption? -1/2



Title?

The challenge was to make the rover begin moving when we said “GO” and to make it stop when it sensed the edge of the table. On the edge of the table there was a piece of Black tape and when the rover sensed the black tape it would have to stop. (and then say? -1/2)

As seen in Figure #1, the following will be a description of the blocks in the code. Good!

BLOCK 1 – the wait for (-1/2) sound block (port and amount of sound? -1) would trigger the servomotors A & B causing the rover to move forward when a sound was picked up. (unlimited times and at power 75%)

BLOCK 2 – the 2nd block is just telling the servomotors to move forward, unlimited times, and at power 75%.

BLOCK 3 – the 3rd block tell the rover to not stop moving until it reaches a certain reflection of light. (What sensor, port, and how much light? -1)

BLOCK 4 – the 4th block tells the robot to stop its servomotors A & B (by braking or coasting? -1/2)

BLOCK 5 – the 5th (and last) block tells the robot to say “GOOD JOB!” once all of the other blocks have been executed. (It was supposed to say, "Watch out!" -1/2 Volume? -1/2)

Ms. Mc -- good but missing some details, 15/20.

Life on Mars?
The search for life on Mars has been going on for the past 50 years. Orbiters, fly byes, landers, and rovers have been used to try and find this life. The two leading countries in this mission are the United States and the Russia. The rovers study the rocks and dirt to try and find any life that could be there or could have been there. Curiosity, the US' newest rover is on its way to Mars today to try and answer the questions about Mars. The first lander on Mars was the Viking 1 lander shown in figure 1. It found that Mars could have organic molecules that are essential to life. On one Mars rover's journey, salts were accidentally found that can only be deposited from salt water meaning that there could have been water and life on Mars.

It has been concluded by scientists that no life is currently living on mars but there could be organic microbes there. Microbes are single celled organisms that have all 8 characteristics of life (reproduce, respond to stimuli, cells, homeostatic, materials, respiration, adaptation, grow) so they do count as living. Figure 2 shows microbes.





Ms. Mc - good general summary of the findings about life on Mars, the characteristics of life, and figures. -1 pt late = 9/10.