Natalie

Facts We Need to Know in Order to get a Rover to Mars
Fact Sheet on Mars - Strong seasons due to its tilt so need to be able to store energy for the winter. - Launch early from earth - Make sure the aim of your rover is correct - To get to mars could take up to 7 months - Your rover may need a few thrusts along the way so you don’t miss mars - Mars has large sand/ dust storms that can block the sun so may be difficult to always use the solar panels for energy production. May also block out communications. Rover needs to be as “dust-proof” as possible. - Need enough fuel to get enough thrust to leave Earth’s gravity. - At its closest, Mars is 35 million miles from Earth so we want to launch when they are closer so we get there quicker. Takes about 7-8 months (214 days) - Launch window occurs every 2 years - Mars gravity is about 1/3 of Earth’s so need to take this into consideration when landing. - Temperature is cold (- 125 to 25 degrees C) so rover would need to withstand these temperatures. - Make rover sturdy to minimize need for repairs. - Mars’ surface is rocky, hundreds of thousands of craters, large mountains, and the largest canyon in the solar system so need to choose a flat landing area. - Mars’ has polar caps made out of frozen carbon dioxide and water so need to land away from these. - Rover needs high traction wheels in order to move across the rocky, sandy terrain. - Mars has 2 moons so want to steer clear of them when landing.

//Ms. Mc: Good facts about Mars and its conditions but seems like all of them came from our class discussion. Where is your original work? (-3). 7/10//

History of Rocketry
Rocket History Summary The idea of rockets has changed overtime starting from the creation of the Hero to the United States launching the Explorer l. The hero was a device that turned water into steam and then the gas would then go through the 2 L shaped tubes and in doing so gave a thrust to the sphere which made the sphere turn. Then came the idea of “arrows of fire” this was invented by the Mongols. The “arrows of fire” were a tube which was capped at one end and contained gunpowder. Then the other end was left open and the tube was attached to a long stick. The “arrows of fire” were used as a weapon of war to fight against the Mongol’s. An important idea regarding rocket’s came from Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1998. The idea suggested the use of liquid propellant to achieve greater range. For this idea, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was named Father of Modern Astronautics. On March 16 1926, Robert H Goddard achieved the first successful flight with a liquid propellant rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline. The rocket climbed 12.5 meters and landed 56 meters away in a cabbage patch. Because of all of his achievements, Goddard has been called the Father of Modern Rocketry.

In the early 20th century, the German formation of Verein fur Raumschiffahrt led to the development of the V-2 rocket. This rocket was very useful when it was used against London during WW ll. This weapon could devaste a whole city block. This triggered the United States and the Soviet Union to realize that rockets could be used for military weapons. On October 4 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first successful entry in a race for space satellite and its name was Sputnik l which translates to satellite in Russian. The first successful satellite triggered the United States to make their own satellite which was launched by the U.S Army on January 31, 1958. The satellite was called the Explorer l. In October of that year, the United States created the NASA program. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The NASA program’s goal was to have peaceful exploration of space for the benefit of all humankind. After this program was started, space was suddenly opened up to exploration. All this exploration led to a better understanding of our universe.



//Ms. Mc: Great summary and drawings but your second drawing could have been a little more specific to something your discussed (-1/2). Please refer to your figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 2"). 9.5/10//

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Instructions to Run Simulation:

1. Turn on sound.

2. Click green flag to start flight simulation.

3. To stop the simulation click on the red circle.

4. If simulations does not appear, click on the " learn more about this project" link above.

Karoline- I like the sound effects a lot. To make this project a little better you could add a little bit more information. I really enjoyed this and it was very nice!

Charlotte- I liked your original background; Disney. It was really creative. But I felt like your apogee could have been smoother, and your bubble for the rover didn't have a parachute. Overall, though, this was a really good project and I liked it very much.

Rocket Parts


The nosecone of a rocket will guide the airflow in the sky to go around it creating a path. The body tube of a rocket is the main part of the rocket and will house the recovery system, recovery wadding, and motor mount. Then there is the recovery system which a device that helps the rocket safely land where it needs to land. The launch lug will help guide the rocket after being launched off the launch pad. Then there are the fins of a rocket which keeps the rocket traveling in a straight direction. The motor mount of a rocket will keep the motor in place and stable. Then there Is the motor of a rocket which keeps the rocket moving during flight. //Ms. Mc - great diagram and definitions, however, you left out definition for the recovery wadding (-1/2). Please include a caption when you upload your files and refer to the # in your text. 9.5/10//

Atlas V-541
The Atlas V 541 is made up of the solid rocket motors, the Centaur, the payload, the payload fairing, the common core booster, and the RD 180 main engine as seen in the picture below. The solid rocket motors give an extra thrust at liftoff so the rocket can get off the launch pad and start the flight. Next is the Centaur which gets the rocket into Mars orbit and then pushes out the spacecraft. Now there comes the payload which are adapters capable of meeting space mission requirements. The payload fairing is the thing that surrounds the space craft protecting it. Then there comes the common core booster which is the main propelling source. The common core booster gives the rocket some extra thrust while lifting off because the rocket can be very massive and need that extra thrust. Then there is the RD 180 main engine which burns the liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellant. Not only that but the RD 180 can produce more than 800,000 pounds of thrust during lift off. The Atlas V-451 has been chosen for this mission because it can control the orientation precisely which can be very important for managing and controlling the direction of thrust while the engine is still firing. Not only that, but the Atlas V-541 already has a flight control computer. Last but not least, the Atlas V-541 can release the payload at a certain altitude and spin rate. The Atlas V- 541 has a total height of 58 meters and has a mass of 1.17 million pounds. //Ms. Mc - very good overview and diagram of the lauch vehicle parts. The payload fairing only houses the cruise vehicle with the rover inside and not the whole rocket. The Centaur engine doesn't cruise to Mars but rather pushes the cruise vehicle/rover out from Earth's orbit (-1/2). Please include a figure # in your caption and refer to it in your text (-1). 8.5/10//

Summary of Rocket Launch
The purpose of the experiment just conducted was to determine if the mass of a rocket affects a rocket’s apogee. First the rocket lifts off the launch pad and the force of gravity is acting downward on the rocket. Next, there is the force of the Launchpad and the force of gravity and launch pad are equal to each other. Then there is liftoff and the forces acting upon the rocket are the force of gravity acting downward and the force of thrust. When the force of thrust overrules the force of gravity, the rocket lifts off. . After that there is powered flight which is when the rocket is using its engines thrust to get itself off the launch pad. During powered flight, there is the force of gravity acting downward on the rocket and force of air acting downward and there is the force of thrust acting on the rocket and the force of thrust overrules the force of air and gravity. Then there is coasting which is when powered flight ends and the rocket’s engine has been turned off. During coasting, there is the force of air and the force of gravity acting downward upon the rocket. Last but not least, there is apogee which is when the rocket reaches the peak of its flight. The forces acting on the rocket at this point is the force of gravity acting downward on the rocket. It was hypothesized that the mass does affect the rocket’s apogee because the lighter rockets will fly higher because they are not as heavy so they can reach apogee with a ton of thrust and go higher. The force of gravity relates to apogee because to have apogee you need to have gravity or else you would have no control over your rocket it would just be floating around the solar system. Thrust relates to apogee because the rocket needs thrust to get off the launch pad and escape the universe’s gravity so it can get to apogee. Then there is air resistance which resists air and relates to apogee because it slows down the rocket so they can get a more precise spot for apogee. Last but not least, there is inertia which helps apogee because inertia is an object’s resistance to change its motion so if it is at rest it wants to stay at rest and then if an object is in motion it wants to stay in motion. So during coasting, the engines are turned off to reach apogee and the rocket keeps moving because of inertia. The mass data of this experiment had ranged from 42.9 to 46.2 as seen in graph # 1. Then there is the apogee data that had ranged from 38.4 to 78.1. The relationship that occurred throughout the data has no relationship. Evidence for this relationship is 78.1 and 38.4. The hypothesis conducted was not confirmed because the more massive the rocket the higher it flew. For example, a rocket that weighed 44.8 had an apogee of 44.8, but a rocket that weighed 42.9 only had an apogee of 67.5. The experiment wasn’t perfect though and did have some flaws. Some of the flaws were the fin placement’s on the rocket, the angle gun measurement because the angle measure’s always switched, the wind, and there were only 8 sample rockets when there needs to be a minimum of 100. Not only that but the mass varied for the rockets, so it was difficult to say that mass affected apogee.

Title- scatter plot of rockets apogees



Rocket fin design
I think the rocket will have more stability because it will now have 4 fins as seen in figure 1. This will ensure that the rocket will not tip over at launch. Now the rocket will have more control during its flight so the apogee would be more controlled. The apogee will be higher because is more stable and can go straight up instead of wobbling around. The shape of the fins will be the same because the less surface area the wind hits the better so the wind only has to hit the edge which means that we don’t need much resistance letting the rocket reach a higher apogee. We are keeping the placement of the fins in the same space so that the center of gravity is in the middle so the rocket is balanced. A more balanced rocket means a higher apogee because the balanced rocket makes sure the rocket goes straight in the air and does not veer left or right.

The rocket actually flew higher in the first launch because the rocket had an apogee of 62.5 in the first flight but had an apogee of 57.7 in the second flight. Next there is the mass of the rocket and in the first launch the rocket had a mass of 44.1 and the second launch had a mass of 47.2. For this launch, my group had to use a different rocket because our other rocket got stuck on the roof. So, this new rocket had a lot of paint on it which made the mass of the rocket larger. I think that since we added an extra fin that could have contributed to the mass of the rocket as well. With a larger mass it was probably hard to go high because the heavier the rocket the more vulnerable the rocket is to gravity. I think the fourth fin made the rocket have a straighter path because the fourth fin made the rocket more stable. Not only that, but the center of gravity was in the middle keeping the rocket stable. The center of gravity was affected by the placement of the fins so to keep the center of gravity stable we decided to keep the fins at the end of the rocket so the rocket would still be balanced. We also kept the same shape of the fins so the air surface is less so that means not as much resistance making the apogee higher.

Title - Picture of redesigned rocket



Ms. Mc - good drawing and di scussion. Please label your figures as figures in their captions instead of "drawing." 5/5

History of Robotics
Robotics History Robots or robotics have been improved over the many years. The earliest known robots started out in 270 BC when the Greek engineer Ctesibus made organs and water clocks with moveable figures. In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a robot called Knight that would sit up, wave its arms, and move its head and jaw. It is not confirmed t hat the Knight was actually constructed from the design. In 1772, Swiss inventors Pierre and Henri Jacquet – Droz built the first robotic child named L’Ecrivain as seen in figure # 2. This robot could write messages with up to 40 characters and the brain of the robot was a mechanical computer. In 1921, the term robot was used in a play called Rossum’s Universal Robots (R. U.R) where the plot was a man makes a robot and the robot kills the man. After that, the first true robot toy was produced in Japan. This toy’s name was Lilliput and was made of tinplate and stood 15 cm tall. Also, Lilliput was a windup toy which walked. In 1942, science fiction author Issac Asimov published a story called //Runaround// which introduced the three laws of robotics which every robot must obey. The first law is that a robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. The second law which is a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law. Last but not least, there is the third law which is that a robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the first and second laws. You can see the progression that scientists are making with robots.

The progression continued and in 1954, the industrial rockets pioneer George Devel files a patent or picture for the first programmable rocket. In 1956, George Devel and Joseph Engelbeger made the world’s first robot called ULTIMATE. In 1961, the company was online in the General Motors automobile factory in New Jersey. In 1970, Shakey as seen in figure # 1 was produced by SRI international and then was introduced and it was the first mobile robot that was controlled by artificial intelligence. Also in 1970, the scientists at Edinburgh University created Freddy the robot which takes steps and uses hand-eye coordination. Also, the first assembly robot created a toy boat and a toy car from a heap of mixed parts. In 1977, the ASEA European robot company offered two sizes of electric industrial robots which were controlled by a microcomputer controller for programming and questions. In 1980, the robot industry started growing rapidly with a new robot or a new robot company entering each month. Then in 1993, the eight legged robot named Dante attempted to explore Antarctica’s Mount Erebus volcano. The robot collected small amounts of data before mechanical difficulties. The landmark efforts of Dante have ushered in a new era of robotic exploration of hazardous environments. Finally, in 2004 Epsom releases the smallest known robot helicopter which was 7 cm high we

ighing 10 grams and used as a “flying camera” during natural disasters. All these examples come to a conclusion that robots and robotics have evolved and changed over the years.



//Ms. Mc - good general overview and figures. Put your figures in the order in which they are discussed. (-1/2) For example, you discussed fig. 2 first. You didn't discuss or refer to fig. 1 in your text at all (-1). 8.5/10//

- Rovers Assignment?

To investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.

- Similarities/dissimilarities to past Mars rovers?

Some dissimilarities between Curiosity and the Past Mars Rovers is that Curiosity will carry a payload 10 times as massive as the earlier Mars rovers. Also, the new Curiosity rover will be able to explore with a greater range than any previous Mars rover. Last but not least, unlike other rovers Curiosity will carry equipment to gather samples of rocks and soil, process them and distribute them to an onboard test chambers inside analytical instruments. Some similarities coming from Spirit, and Opportunity are a six-wheel drive, a rocker-bogie suspension system and cameras mounted on a mast to help the mission’s team on Earth select exploration targets and driving routes.

- How power will be provided to the rover (not solar panels this time)?

Electrical power by U.S Department of energy radioisotope power generator- produces electricity from the heat of Plutonium 238's radioactive decay.

- How the scientists will communicate with the rover? Radio relay's via mars orbiters as principal means of communication between mars and the deep space network of antennas on earth.

- Give a general overview of the instruments on board the rover and what they will do:

•Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)

This will help analyze samples that have been collected on mars that have also been delivered by a robotic arm, not only can they analyze samples from mars but also atmospheric samples. One major thing that can help identify if there was ever life on mars is the tunable laser spectrometer. This has combined capabilities to identify organic or carbon containing compounds, also to determine the ratios of different isotopes of the key elements. To figure out the ratio of isotopes will help give clues to understand Mars atmosphere and water. The principal investigator is Paul Mahaffy from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Md.

•CheMin

This instrument found on the arm will also examine samples that have been collected by the robotic arm. CheMin is also designed to identify and quantify the minerals in rocks and soils. Not only that, but CheMin can also measure bulk composition and the principal investigator is David Blake of NASA's Ames Research Center Moffett Field, Calif.

•Mars Hand Lens Imager

This imager found on the arm is capable of taking extreme close up pictures of rocks, soil and, if present, ice. The imager will reveal details smaller than the width of a human hair. Not only that, but the rover can focus on hard to reach object's more than an arm's length away. The principal investigator is Kenneth Edgett of Maline Space Science Systems, San Diego.

•Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer

Found on the arm the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer will determine the relative abundances of different elements in rocks and soils. The principal investigator is Dr. Ralf Gellert from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and this will be provided by the Canadian space agency.

•Mast Camera

This piece of technology which is mounted about human eye height can image the rover's surroundings in high resolution stereo and color. Not only that, but this piece of technology can be even more advanced by having the capability to take and store high definition video sequences, and can view materials collected or treated by the arm. The prinicipal investigator of this piece of technology is Michael Malin at Space Science Systems.

•ChemCam

This device will use laser pulses to vaporize thin layers of material from Martian rocks or soil targets up to 7 meters away. The instrument will include both a spectrometer to identify the types of atoms excited by the beam, and will also include a telescope to capture detailed images of the area illuminated by the beam. Both these instruments will sit on the rover's mast and share the role of informing researchers’ choices about which objects in the area make the best targets for approaching to examine with other instruments. The ChemCam will share this role with the Mast Camera.

•Radiation Assessment Detector

The radiation Assessment Detector will characterize the radiation environment at the surface of the planet Mars. This capability is necessary for planning human exploration of Mars and is relevant to determining the planet's ability to harbor life. The principal inventor of this piece of technology is Donald Hassler from Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo.

•Rover Environment Monitoring System

This device will measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds, and last but not least, ultraviolet radiation levels. The principal investigator of the Rover Environment Monitoring System is Javier Gómez-Elvira from the Center for Astrobiology located in Madrid. Not only that, but they are an international partner of the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

•Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)

This instrument is to be used to measure subsurface hydrogen up to one meter below the surface. Pieces of evidence that would indicate the presence of water in the form of ice or bound in minerals would be detections of hydrogen. The principal investigator would be Igor Mitrofanav of the Space Research Institute in Moscow.

•Sample Acquisition/Sample Preparation and Handling System

The Sample Acquisition/ Sample Preparation and Handling System include tools to remove dust from rock surfaces, scoop up soil, drill into rocks and collect powdered samples from rocks’ interiors, sort samples by particle size with sieves, and deliver samples to laboratory instruments.

// Ms. Mc: Nice work! 10/10 Please capitalize Mars as it is a proper noun :). //

"On the Edge" Robot Challenge
Robot and the "on the edge" course

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Video # 2 Caption- Video of our robot completing the "on the edge" course.

The challenge “on the edge” was meant to challenge the robots ability to detect a certain amount of light. Once the robot would detect the light the robot would stop and say “watch out” 5 cm before falling off the edge of the table. // (Robot was supposed to start with a "go" command. -1/2) //



(from left to right)

Block 1 - A block that waits for a sound at a 50% volume to start the next action. // What port? -1/2 // Block 2 - A block that is a movement block and the servomotors activated are B and C. The movement of the block is forwards at a 75% power and moves unlimited. Block 3- A block that waits for a 35% of light // What port and which sensor? -1 // Block 4- A block that is a movement block and the servomotors activated are B and C. The movement of the block is for the robot to come to a complete stop or brake. Block 5- A block that tells the robot to let out a sound. In this case it is telling the robot to say watch out at a 75% volume.

// Ms. Mc: good job overall but you needed to say what kind of block each block was (i.e., wait for sound, movement, etc.) (-1). 17/20 //

Summary of Life on Mars
There is tons of evidence proving that Mars was once occupied by life. Some evidence found in previous missions have been ancient erosion by water as well as neutron measurements that suggest the polar regions above 60 degrees latitude contain huge subsurface reservoirs of water ice. Also, there has been detection of vast fields that contain water ice and carbon dioxide at the South Pole. Not only that, but there has been confirmation that the southern remnant cap like the northern one contains permanently frozen water. In addition, there has also been more evidence such as they have found rocks that appeared to have been laid down at the shoreline of an ancient body of salty water. Also, there has been evidence that liquid water sometimes flows on the surface in a few places. There has also been recognition that Earth and Mars exchange materials. More than 30 pieces of Mars have been found on earth as seen in figure 1. Then there was evidence of dark streaks that appeared downhill after melting during the Martian spring. Last but not least, it has been discovered that possible life can survive in far wider range conditions than was formerly thought, like near deep sea vents at temperatures well over 1,000 degrees Celsius and in basaltic rocks below the surface, also in very saline and acid environment. The definition of a microorganism is an organism that can comprise different types of cells for example single cells. A microorganism seen in figure 2 is very diverse and can include many different types of things for example bacteria or fungi. Microorganisms can live in mostly any part of the world where there is liquid water. Not only that, but microorganisms are very critical to have when it comes to nutrient recycling in ecosystems because the microorganisms act as decomposers. Also, they are a vital part of the nitrogen cycle as well. The first forms of life on earth were told to be single celled microorganisms. Most of the microorganisms can reproduce, but when they are in a cold environment the reproduction might be slow. Also, certain types of microorganisms for example bacteria can exchange genes by certain things being done in a transformation and other ways of exchanging genes. This and a high mutation rate and many other ways of genetic variation can allow microorganisms to swiftly evolve to survive in new environments and also allow the microorganisms to respond to environmental stress. If a sample from Mars containing microbes was alive it would be able to
 * reproduce- make more of their own kind
 * produce energy- the production of energy that every living organism needs to survive
 * grow and develop - every living organism needs to be able to experience the process of maturing in life as an organism
 * respond to stimuli - the way an organism responds to something happening to the organism a negative reaction will make the stimuli back away and a positive one will make it go closer
 * have cells - cells is what an living organism Is made up of
 * need materials- every living organism needs materials to survive life
 * homeostatic- every living organism that has homeostatic can balance the amount of water lost with the amounts of water taken in
 * Respiration- which is having the capability to breath which an organism needs to live. Something that was dead would have used all of the 8 characteristics but does not anymore because it’s dead. Something that is nonliving would have never existed so it would have never had any of the 8 characteristics. Last but not least, something that is dormant is when something is sleeping and if things would be done to it than it would become alive again. For example if you had apple seeds they would be dormant but if you actually plant the apple seeds they would become alive.



Ms. Mc - great overview of the spacecraft exploration of Mars and the characteristics of life. Your captions for the figures don't match what you wrote in your text (-1/2). 9.5/10