Mac

Log Entry #1
Fact Sheet on Mars
 * There are signs of ancient floods on Mars, but evidence for water now exists mainly in icy soil and this clouds.
 * Mars boasts general features that are some of the biggest, widest, and deepest. One of its standouts is the immense Olympus Mons, a volcano of such size and scale that its own peak reaches above most of the Martian atmosphere.
 * Mars does not have the same kind of magnetic field as Earth.
 * Both the northern and southern Martian ice saps vary in size as its seasons change.
 * Mars is a cold desert world.
 * 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) so need to pick a smooth landing site.
 * Needs to know mars’ orbit in order to line up with it.
 * Mars has huge dust storms that could damage the rover so need rover 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.
 * Takes 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 need to be able to steer around terrain; able to move over rocky and sandy surfaces
 * Launch window occurs every 2 years

// Ms. Mc: good facts about Mars and its conditions. Needed to relate fact to concerns about either getting a rover to Mars or having it work there. (-1) Good additions from class discussion. 9/10 //

History of Rocketry
One of the first rocket flights essential was called an Aeolipile. A Greek inventor named hero of the Alexandria used steam as a propulsive gas. Alexandria mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle and a fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. It started to work when the tubes opposite sides from each other made the gas escape, and it gave the thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate. The first two rockets were accidents. In the first century, the Chinese reported that they had a form of gunpowder that was made from saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust. This created an explosion during the religious festivals, and they filled bamboo tubes with the mixture and threw them into the fires. Soon the Chinese discovered that the gunpowder tubes could launch themselves just from the power that was produced from the escaping gas. The real rocket was then made.

The first real rocket was made in 1232. The Chinese and the Mongols were in war with each other. In the battle of Kai-Keng, the Chinese repelled the Mongol. A tube, at one end contained gunpowder. The other end was open and the tube attached to a long stick. As soon as the long stick was attached the powder was ignited, the rapid burning of the powder produced fire, and with simple guidance. It may not be clear now but their psychological effects on the Mongols must have been formidable.



[[image:cascience7-2012/mkh_rocket.JPG caption="Figure #2 Rocket"]]
//Ms. Mc: Good summary of the early history of rocketry but you left out modern rocketry altogether (i.e, liquid propellant rockets, V2s, Sputnik, NASA, etc.) (-5). Also, your second drawing is a little vague and doesn't add much to your summary (-1/2). Please refer to your figures in your writing (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1, . . .). 4.5/10 (P.S., please put a horizontal rule between your entries.)//

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
media type="custom" key="14078070"

Instructions to Run Simulation: Turn up your sound, press green flag to start and press the red button if you want to stop it.

Ben-awesome theme and great movement. at some parts it seemed like it stopped because it was waiting for to long, but in the end it was really cool.

Remi- I really enjoyed your theme, it was super cute! Make sure your writing is kept up for a certain amount of time but not for too long! Otherwise I thought your presentation was really good!

Evie- Hey mac awesome, awesome job! you did really great :) I agree that the writing was up for just a bit too long! Over great job though :) I liked your sratch

Rocket Parts


The nose cone is a piece that guides the airflow through the rocket. Then the body tube is the main tube that is usually a plastic tube //(Ms Mc - actually cardboard)// that everything is stored in. Inside the tube is a recovery system that the function is to get the rocket safely down. The recovery wadding is around the recovery system protecting it from the hot ejection of the gas. The launch lug helps launch it straight off the launch pad and into the air. The fins keep the rocket lined up and straight in the air. The motor mount holds the motor in place, and the rocket motor is a new motor for each flight.

// Ms. Mc: great definitions and labels! Don't forget to add a caption to your figure when you upload and refer to the figure # in you text (-1). 9/10 //

Atlas V-541
There are many steps to find out about rockets and mars. The NASA program helps make and send rockets to mars to see if there is life on mars. There are two stages for the Atlas V-541 launch vehicle. The vehicle is provided by United Launch Alliance, which is a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. This type of rocket can only be lifted off once. The Atlas V rocket provides fuel and oxygen tanks that feed an engine for the ascent; power spacecraft into Earth orbit. The Solid Rocket Motors are used to increase the engine thrust and has 4 rocket motors in total. The Centaur provides fuel and oxidizer and the vehicle's "brains"; fires twice. The first time it inserts the vehicle- spacecraft stack into low Earth orbit. Then again to accelerate the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and on its way towards Mars. The Payload Fairing provides a thin composite or nose cone that protects the spacecraft during the ascent through Earth's atmosphere.

They chose Atlas V-541 because it has the right liftoff capability for the heavy weight requirements and most of the rockets in the same family have successfully lifted NASA's new Horizons missions. The rocket is about 5 meters (16.4 feet) in diameter. //Ms. Mc: Good overview and picture! Please write in your own words. You were to give the height and mass of the vehicle (-1) and your caption should include a figure # that you refer to in your text (-1/2). Please capitalize Mars as it is a name (proper noun). 8.5/10//

Introduction and Summary
The purpose of this experiment was to figure out how the rocket's mass effected its apogee and the peek of flight. The forces that are acting on the rocket are inertia, which is a force that keeps doing what it was already doing, and the rocket using a thrust force that comes out of the bottom of the rocket that starts to increase the speed of the rocket. Lift off is the force that push down on gravity that pushed the rocket into the air. This all relates to apogee because all of those forces are being used to become a peak of flight, where the rocket arcs over in a position. It was hypothesized that the rocket was going to be about 42.5 grams and go about 98 meters high. In the scatter plot, it was noticed that the rockets all flew around 60-100 meters. The rocket that went 18.5 meters high was only about 44 grams. The rocket that went the highest went about 107.24 meters high and weighed about 43 meters. This is hypothesized that the lighted the rocket the higher it goes because it didn’t have to hold down as much weight. The majority of the graph is direct but the outlier spreads it out. The range of the data is shown in Graph #1, which was about 88.74 meters and 3.1 grams. There is a direct relationship, but since the outlier is away from the other data, it effects how direct the data it. The fins were placed correctly, but the wind caught the rocket off guard. Overall the rocket did what was planned.



Experimenting with the Fins


For the experiment with the new fin placements, we are going to cut some slits into two of the fins on the lower right and left of the rocket. We are going to cut some slits into the fins so that it helps the rocket glide in the air. My partner and I are also going to put a triangular shaped fin in the center top of the rocket above the other two, as seen in Figure #1. Putting the slits in the fins would also make the rocket reach a higher apogee.

The first time the rocket was launch it's mass was about 45.8 grams. Adding new and more fins to the rocket the second time made the rocket weigh about 46 grams. The first time the rocket was launched, the apogee of the rocket was about 71.3 meters high. The second time the rocket was launched, the apogee of the rocket didn't go quite as high. I believe this is because since, my partner and I added a fin, the rocket weighed more, so in that case it didn’t go as high because its mass was weighing it down. The second time the rocket was more centered with gravity, and didn't veer backwards. I think this is because since we added the fin and the slits, it was easier for the rocket to be controlled by the wind.

The history of robotics goes as far back as ancient myths and legends. Robotics started to develop when the Industrial Revolution were allowed to use and make more complex mechanics and power machines with motors. The first robot was developed from envisage human sized robots with the capacity for the human thoughts and movements. They built it in factories as industrial robots then simply fixed machines capable of a manufacturing task. This allowed production without the need of human assistance. As I mentioned before, the first robot was life size. In ancient China people were staring at this magnificent robot. It walked with rapid strides, it would move its head up and down so that the people watching it would have thought about it as a human. If a human were to touch the robot's chin, it would start to sing in a perfect tune. If you were to touch its hand, it would began to posture. As this robot does what is told, this shows how robotics have changed since the ancient times and now.

As long ago as the 4th century BC, postulated a mechanical bird called "The pigeon" which it was powered by steam. Another robotic machine was the water- powered mechanism. It featured a clepsydra tank, waterwheel, escapement mechanism, and chain drive to power an armillary sphere. It also had 113 striking clock jacks that sounded the hours and to display informative plaques. This water-powered robot can be seen in Figure #1. More and more new and improved robotics have been invented now to help with technologies and electricity. Rover that travel to Mars or anywhere in space are a form of robot and are great inventions. One of the rovers that go to Mars can be seen in figure #2 below.

[[image:cascience7-2012/Curiosity_mars_rover-_robot.jpg width="486" height="269" caption="Figure #2"]]
==// Ms. Mc - good summary and figures, Mac. Please include titles with your captions (-1/2) Be careful about what you read. There is no real scientific evidence that the ancient Chinese created life-sized robots. 9.5/10 //==

Curiosity
The mission is to set down a large, mobile rover called the Curiosity and send it to Mars. Curiosity will be sent to Mars to analyze dozens of samples drilled from the rocks or scooped from the ground to explore if there is life on Mars. Curiosity holds lots of science gear that will be used on Mars' surface that is 10 times as heavy as any other Mars rovers. What is different about Curiosity and the other rovers is that it investigates whether conditions that have been favorable for microbial life and that preserving clues in the rocks about life in the past. Curiosity is also different from other rovers because it is about 3 meters or 10 feet and five times as big and heavy as the other twin Mars Exploration rovers, like Spirit and Opportunity which were launched in 2003. Also, Curiosity carries the equipment to gather samples of rocks and soil to process them to other test chambers inside the rover. The power to the rover will be supplied by a U.S Department of Energy radioisotope power generator that will produce electricity from the heat of plutonium-238's radioactive decay. It has been designed to use radio relays via Mars orbiters for the principal that means to communicate between Curiosity and the Deep Space Network of antennas on the Earth. The Sample Analysis at Mars will find samples of material collected and delivered from the rover's arm, and atmospheric samples. The CheMin also examines the samples gathered by the robotic arm. The CheMin identifies and quantifies the minerals in the rocks and soils to measure bulk composition. On the arm of the rover was the Mars Hand Lens Imager is an extreme close-up pictures of rocks, soil and, if present, ice, revealing details that are smaller than the width of a human hair. This instrument is able to focus on hard-to-reach objects. The Radiation Assessment Detector instrument will characterize the radiation environment at the surface of Mars. The Mars Descent Imager captures the color, high-definition video of the landing region so that it provides geological context for the investigations on the ground and to air precise determination of the landing site. The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons is an instrument that measures subsurface hydrogen up to one meter below the surface.

//Ms. Mc - very good overview but you needed 2 figures. I appreciate your extra effort though! 8/10//

On the Edge Challenge
The Challenge called “On the Edge” is a robotic challenge that identifies the seeing view of the robot and the hearing. Once you tell the robot to go it will keep going until the seeing/light sensor senses the blue line on the table. The sound sensor works from your voice, once you tell the robot to move/go forward it will go, that’s when the light sensor takes role and identifies the table and stops at the blue line. (and then says what? -1/2) media type="file" key="MKH_video.AVI" width="300" height="300"

Video #1, On the Edge Challenge



The first block acts as a microphone, once you tell the robot to go; this is what makes it listen and start to move. (What port and how loud of sound? -1). The second block is what makes the robot move, which in this case the robot moves forward. (How much power and which ports? -1) The third block is what senses the light; we had to measure the amount of light for the table and tape. This block would help the robot by detecting where the table is and when the blue duct tape was so that the robot could stop moving. (How much light and what port? -1/2). The fourth block means that once the light sensor reaches the blue duct tape, this block allows the robot to know when to stop. (How will it stop? Brake or coast? -1/2) The ports for the fourth block would be on port B and C. The fifth block is a noise (sound) block, so once the robot stops on the blue duct tape, the robot knows to say “Watch Out” at the end of its task. (volume? -1/2)

Ms. Mc - good overall -- you just left out some details. 16/20

Life on Mars
Is there life on Mars? Many investigations have been made about whether there is life on Mars or not and what Mars would be like if there was life on it. Many people from NASA have sent rovers to Mars to detect life and surface changes. The rovers also detect metabolism and organic molecules. It was noticed that life can survive in a largerer variety of conditions than was thought possible. It was found that 30 pieces of Mars have been found on Earth despite the difficulty of observing Mars rocks from Earth's rocks. They also found that some conditions on Mars were much like the conditions that are found on Earth. The rover imagery, detected bacteria-like objects in electron microscope imagery, hydrocarbons, mineral assemblages that were not produced in chemical equilibrium and magnetic particles similar to terrestrial bacteria all found on Mars. As shown in figure #1 there is some evidence that liquid water sometimes flows on the surface in few places on Mars. (Doesn't currently flow but millions of years ago before Mars was thought to have been struck by a large asteroid.) The best strategy is to look for fossil remains from the early life period in Mars's history when the conditions were more like Earth's conditions. A micro-organism is either a single cell, cell clusters, or multicellular relatively complex organisms. Micro-organism's are very diverse, they include bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa. A microbe is also a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell, cell clusters, or multicellular relatively complex organisms. The 8 characteristics of life or signs of life are, Cells, Reproduction, Homeostatic, Respiration, Grow/Develop, Adapt/evolve, use materials and respond to stimuli. See figure 2 for a picture or a living thing that has all 8 characteristics. (Aaaww!!!)

// Ms. Mc - good general overview but a few more pieces of evidence about water on Mars or the possibility of life on Mars based on the spacecraft exploration of Mars would have helped (-1/2). You also were to describe how you would classify a specimen from Mars as living, dead, dormant, or nonliving (-1). 8.5/10 //