Jonathan

4/9/12

Log Entry #1


 * Facts that We Need to Know in Order to Get a Rover to Mars**


 * What time of year to send the rover, the best time to send a rover is when Mars is right next to Earth
 * Aiming, Mars and Earth move at different speed so timing and aiming are both crucial. Mars also has two moons so the rover will need to dodge both of them
 * Must have flat surface to land on because Mars has many craters and mountains
 * Mars has a temperature of about -63 °C so the rover must be able to withstand different temperatures
 * The rover must have enough fuel to get past Earth’s gravitational pull
 * Landing is very crucial to getting to Mars so the rover must have good landing equipment
 * Mars has huge dust storms so need to make rover as dust-proof as possible

//Ms. Mc: Good facts about Mars and its conditions. Please be sure to make all additions that we discuss in class. (-2). If you can't get everything, let me know and I'l send it to you. 8/10//

4/9/12

Log Entry #2


 * Rocket History**

The rocket wasn’t invented until 100 B.C when a Greek inventor named Hero of Alexandria created the Hero Engine. The Hero Engine was an invention that made water into steam in such away causing the sphere to rotate. This sparked the idea of using that concept into weapons; the first weapon was made by the Chinese. They attached bamboo tubes to arrows and launched them to bows while adding gunpowder-filled tubes to propel the arrow forward. This was often used in wars. The first use of true rockets was in 1232, when the Chinese and Mongols were at war. During the battle of Kai-Keng, the Chinese used the fire arrows and adjusted them by adding a tube capped at one end containing gunpowder and the other end open with a tube attached to a long stick. After the stick was lighted the object flew forward with a powerful enough thrust to do massive damage.

That was only the beginning of the rocket; the idea of space exploration by rocket was proposed by a Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1898. He thought up the use of liquid propellants for rockets for greater distances. Tsiolkovsky was nicknamed the Father of Modern Astronautics for his clever idea. In the early 20th century, an American by the name of Robert H. Goddard also conducted many experiments with rockets. His earliest experiment was with a solid-propellant rocket instead of a liquid-propellant rocket. Eventually, Goddard figured out that rockets would fly easier with liquid fuel. Not a single liquid-propellant rocket had been successful yet. Goddard held the first successful flight with a liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1962.

//Ms. Mc: Good summary of early rocketry but you left out modern day rockertry (V2, Sputnik and NASA). (-2) You also were to draw a second diagram (-2). Please refer to your diagrams in your writing (i.e., "as seen in Fibure 1"). 6/10//

4/9/12

Log Entry #3


 * Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation**

media type="custom" key="14367444"

Instructions for How to Run Simulation

1. Click green flag 2. Turn up volume 3. Press the red stop sign to stop

Michael B Nothing wrong. There is nothing there. Good instruction.

Ryan J I liked the pictures. Needs two pictures and video. Good rocket history answers.

4/17/12

Log Entry #4


 * Rocket Part Labels**



Hypothesis:

__I think that mass will affect how the rocket flies more than if the rocket is light. I think this because when__

__a rocket is light then it is harder to fly past Earth’s gravitational pull so if it has enough force from__

__the launch pad then it will overcome gravity easier than if it was lighter. Though it can’t be too heavy__

__or else it will not fly very far then go straight into the ground. If it is a bit lighter than it can cut through the air easier.__

Definitions:

__Launch Lug- Slips onto the rocket launch pad to shoot it.__ __Nose Cone- The top of the rocket to cut through the air making it easier for a rocket to fly farther.__ __Rocket Motor- the main engine propelling the rocket forward.__ __Fins- To slice through the air, similar to the nose cone.__ __Recovery System- The string attached to the parachute to keep it from falling off.__ __Recovery Wadding- The parachute to catch the air when falling after apogee.__ __Motor Mount- The gun powder that is burned to propel the rocket to a higher apogee.__ __Body Tube- The tube that holds the recovery equipment.__

//Ms. Mc: Good labels (like the inside and outside views!) and definitions, however, they were to be in paragraph form (-1/2). Also the recovery system is the parachute and shock cord and the recovery wadding was the paper between the recover system and the motor that prevented the parachute from being burned (-1/2). Please include a figure # with your images and refer to them in your text. 9/10//

4/18/12

Log Entry #5


 * Atlas V**

The Atlas V has two stages total, the first state is made up of fuel and oxygen tanks that help the rocket ascend towards its destination. It powers the spacecraft into the Earth’s orbit. The second stage is the Centaur, which is a fuel and oxidizer state where the vehicle’s “brains” fires twice. The first time it fires is to propel the vehicle into low Earth’s orbit and the second one is to get past Earth’s orbit into space and on its way to Mars. There are also the rocket’s 4 motors which are used to increase the thrust of the engines. Then there is the Payload Fairing which is known as the nose cone which is protecting the spacecraft during the ascent going through the Earth’s atmosphere.

The rockets height is 191 feet or 58 meters including the payload. The mass, including fuel, is roughly 1.17 million pounds or 531,000 kilograms. The reason that everyone picked the Atlas V was because it was the right size to get past Earth’s gravitational pull.



//Ms. Mc - good overview and photo of the launch vehicle. This vehicle also was chosen because it had enough lift off capacity for the heavier rover. You were to include a figure # and specifically refer to it in your text (-1). 9/10//

4/25/12

Log Entry #6


 * Launching Rockets**

The purpose of this experiment was to construct a rocket than launch it into the air to see whose rocket flew the highest depending on weight and design. The forces acting on the rocket when it was on the launcher was gravity acting down on the rocket and the launcher acting up the rocket keeping it equal. After it was launched there was air resistance acting on it, and gravity but gravity was less than the thrust of the rocket. It was hypothesized that if the rocket was lighter it would slice through the air quicker causing it to fly higher than if it were heavier. It would still have to be some-what heavier to overcome the air resistance. It was thought to do it because the nose cone and fins would slice through the air causing it to fly higher.

Group #1 had a rocket mass of 47.1 grams with an apogee of 63.7. Then there is group 2 with a rocket mass of 44.7 with an apogee of 47.7. Group 3 had a mass of 44.1 and an apogee of 90. Group 4 had a mass of exactly 44 and an apogee of 107.2. Group 5 with a mass of 43.5 and apogee of 71.3. Then finally there is group 6 with a mass of 43.9 and apogee of 83.9.


 * Graph #1: Rocket Launch with the Mass and the Apogee **

The mass of the rocket was 44.1 grams and the apogee was exactly 90 meters. The whole classes launch was thought to be an inverse relationship because the lighter ones flew higher than the heavier ones. Graph #1 shows that the rocket that is some-what lighter flew a lot higher than the heavier one did, proving the hypothesis that lighter rockets fly farther up than heavier ones. An error was made in our rocket, it wasn’t as light as the other rocket that flew higher and the wings weren’t in the best position to slice through the air. This resulted in the rocket flying high but not as high as other rockets.

4/30/12

Log Entry #7


 * Rocket Fin Design**

It will concentrate the wind more and slice the air making it go up faster and farther. The rocket had smaller fins so it isn't as heavy and the rocket would have an equal amount of weight on the top and bottom of the rocket. Figure #1 shows that the rocket has smaller fins on the top near the nose cone aside from the original fins on the bottom which are larger.

The mass of the rocket before the redesign was 44.1, then after adding the additional fins, the rockets mass was 46.3. The apogee was lower the second launch, the first launch was 90.0 and the second launch it was 31.5. The fin design defiantly affected the flight path. Unlike the first launch where the rocket flew straight up then glided down with ease, the second launch it went in the air a few meters then immediately went down to the ground. The fins changed the center of gravity, making one side heavier than the other, causing the rocket to fall to the ground faster. The flight path was very shaky the second time also, the shape of the fins didn't affect that though.

//Ms. Mc: the CG wasn't moved lef to right but lowered below the CP so it wasn't stable. Please include units. Also, you need figure #s and refer to them. 4/5//

5/3/12

Log Entry #8


 * History of Robotics**

Robotics has been around since the 20th century, though humans have been inventing automation a lot longer than that. Although they were first created in the 20th or 21st century, it has rapidly increased since then, we have many things that are automated now. One of the purposes for Robotics are they make our lives easier, making things more convenient. The word //robotics// was created by an author who writes science fiction novels. This authors name was Isaac Asimov and he created this title in 1941. The first use of the word “robot” was used by a Karel Capek in 1920. He, like Isaac Asimov, wrote a play called R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) and meant “monotonous or forced labor.”

Although the book used the word “robot” was used in a play in the 1920’s that was thirty years before the first robot actually went to work. In the 1950’s, George Devol designed the Unimate which was a robotic arm that transported die castings in a General Motors plant in New Jersey. In figure #1 there is a picture of a bunch of robotic arms working in a factory transporting items from one place to another more efficiently.





//Ms. Mc - good general overview. It helps to disucss historical events in the order in which they happened. I don't think the robotic arms in Fig. 1 aren't moving items but rather are assembling machinery. Althouogh you included a second figure, you didn't discuss it in your text and didn't give it a figure # in its caption (8/10)//

5/14/12

Log Entry #9


 * Rover History**

The rover Curiosity was sent to analyze numerous different samples that were drilled from rocks or scooped up from the ground. It is also sent to explore the regions of Mars that haven’t been explored yet from any of the previous rovers. Curiosity will carry more than 10 times the load of any of the other rovers and its main mission is to see if there are any clues about if Mars had a past life. It is also to see if the weather conditions are capable of holding life. The current rover is about twice as long and five times as heavy as NASA’s twin Mars Explorations Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity that were launched in 2003. The rover’s power will be supplied by a U.S Department of Energy, there is a power generator there giving it the energy to move around. It will give the rover about 110 watts of electrical power to operate the main instruments like the wheels, computers, radio, and arms. The rover is communicated to Earth by a radio relay via Mars orbiters.Figure #2 is a picture of curiosity on Mars with a picture of a man standing next to the rover to show how big it is. (The power is going to be produced by radioactive decay -1/2)

The CheMin, which is an instrument on the rover, is used to examine some samples that were gathered by the robotic arm on Curiosity. Connected to the arm of the rover is the Mars Hand Lens Imager which is used to take extreme close-up pictures of substances on Mars, such as soil and ice. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer is also on the arm and is used to determine the different elements in the rocks and soils. Then there is the Mast Camera which is mounted at about the height of a humans-eye, it is used to show the rover’s surroundings. Something called the ChemCam uses laser pulses to vaporize thin layers of materials such as rocks or soil that are up to 7 meters away or 23 feet away. The Radiation Assessment Detector will categorize any radiation environment at the surface of Mars. Then there is the Sample Analysis which is used to analyze samples that were collected like the CheMin, but the Sample Analysis also picks up atmospheric samples. Figure #1 is a picture of the many different parts of the rover making them different colors to see them better.





Figure #2? Put the first figure discussed in your text first and number it, #1 (-1/2).

Ms. Mc - good overview. 9/10

5/17/12

Log Entry #10


 * Explanation of the Challenge "On the Edge"**

For this experiment, our robot was programmed to move forward infinitely then was told to stop at a blue line using the light sensor. The light senor was programmed to find a color source that is less than 26 because the color percent of the blue line was about 25- 20. After the robot stopped at the blue line it was programmed to say “Watch out!” then the program ended. How did the robot start? -1/2

media type="file" key="Jxk_Mindstorm.AVI" width="300" height="300"

Caption? -1/2

Block 1- The wait for s ound block, it tells the robot to start moving when it hears a sound. The robot would start moving if the sound percent was above 50. The sound sensor was in port 2. Block 2- The waiting block told the robot to wait for one second after it hears the sound. Block 3- The moving block, after it waited for 1 second it would move infinitely with ports C and B at 75% power. What direction? -1/2 Block 4- The light block was there to tell the robot to stop moving when it hit a certain light percent. This light block would make the robot stop if it hit a light percent of less than 26. The wait for light sensor was in port 3. Block 5- The moving block, it was programmed to stop after the light sensor hit a percent less than 26. Ports? -1/2 Block 6- The sound block was used to play a sound with a volume of 75. After the block waited it would play “Watch Out!” out loud without repetition. Block 7- Sound block, it told the sound to stop playing.

//Ms. Mc - great job! I like how you did individual snips for the blocks. 19/20//

6/5/12

Log Entry #11


 * Microorganisms**

There have been many attempts to find life on mars using rovers from NASA. One of the rovers, Viking, had conducted many different experiments to detect metabolism and organic molecules. (Did it find anything?) In 1996, announced that they had found evidence of life in Mars through a meteorite. Here was a list of what they found: Bacteria-like objects in electron microscope, Hydrocarbons, minerals, and magnetic particles similar to ones produced by certain bacteria. (This is disputed now though.) There is also some evidence of water flowing in certain places from time to time. (What evidence?) In figure #1 there is a picture of Curiosity the rover who was sent to search for life. A microscopic organism is either a single cell (unicellular), cell clusters, or multicellular. Bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa are all examples of diverse microorganisms. Microorganisms can also live in water, including soil, hot springs, on the floor of the ocean, or even high in the atmosphere and inside the rocks within the Earth’s crust. Figure #2 is a picture of microorganisms.



//Ms. Mc - need to give specific findings that help support NASA claims of water and potential past life on Mars (-1). You also were to describe the 8 characteristics of life and how you would classify a specimen from Mars as either living, dead, dormant, or non-living (-1). You need to give your figures captions (Fig # and title) and your second image is off (-1/2). -10% late = -1 pt. 6.5/10//