Esra

Facts We Need To Know To Get A Rover To Mars
Facts on Mars


 * It is important to make sure that you have enough thrust to leave Earth’s atmosphere because otherwise we would come crashing back down onto the surface of Earth.
 * The timing of when to send a rover has to be just right because Earth and mars are closest only every two years because Earth rotates much faster around the sun than mars does. It is similar to a football throw in the sense that the rover must land where mars is going to be as opposed to where Mars or earth currently is.
 * How we land the rover is also very important and lots of safety precaution must be taken to ensure the safe landing of the rover. If an orbiter is piloted it is also important to make sure that the orbiter is not sucked in by the gravity of Mars.
 * It is important to realize that if the rover is solar paneled (Usually the case for mars rovers) that there is not tons of sunlight due to the clouds kicked up from the rust that colors Mars red or other shades similar to red and orange. As well as realizing that during the winter sunlight is at a minimal and the temperatures can drop to -190 degrees.
 * There is also the issue of temperature and the metals used to make the rover. If the metal is too thin and the rover is on mars during its seasonal winter, the metal can snap or decay in some manner.
 * There are also a lot of dangers on the planet of mars itself. Since there are large clouds of rust (Iron Oxide) kicked up into the atmosphere, small or large tornados and strong winds occur that can cause damage to the rover.

History of Rocketry
The most complicated of modern day rocket technology all started at one moment in time in the year 100 B.C. by a Greek inventor; “Hero of Alexandria”. He made something that goes by the name of Hero engine named after the inventor which consists of a large dish filled with water that is above a fire, above the dish is a sphere with two L shaped tubes coming out the sides. The water is heated by the fire and pushes steam through tubes into the sphere, which then travels through the L shaped tubes and causes the sphere to rotate. This was the earliest record of the beginning of a rocket, though as time progressed more rockets emerge throughout the globe. The next resurface of the development of rockets occurred in China, the first century A.D.

The rocketry that occurred in China during this time was developed via gun powder that was very often used in fireworks for special occasions and festival. But the first real use of gunpowder as rockets, and weaponry as well, occurred during the battle of Kai-Keng during which the rockets were shot at the Mongols during battle. This led to the spread of rockets to the Mongols, as well as the spread of rockets in Europe. In France an inventor named Jean Froissart was able to find a way to achieve more accurate flight, which led to the creation of the bazooka.

In 1898, a school teacher by the name of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky started the idea of exploration of space via rockets. He also proposed the use of liquid propellants in rockets so that they would achieve a larger range of flight. He was known as the father of modern aeronautics due to his vision, ideas, and careful research. During the early 20th Century America joined the world of rocketry, or more specifically an American by the name of Robert H. Goddard who began to conduct some practical experiments, though his interest lay in achieving a higher altitude. After many experiments he was able to achieve rocket flight with liquid propellants, though the flight only lasted two and a half seconds and traveled a mere12.5 meters. Even though this was a rather unimpressive flight experience, it founded a few era of rocket flight. For his achievements he was awarded and regarded as the father of Modern Rocketry.

During the early 20th century Germany began a space society for the development and research of rocketry. This society led to the introduction of the V-2 rocket, which was used during World War II against London. But this was a dangerous development, because after the end of World War II plans were being made for the development of missiles that could be used to span the Atlantic Ocean and land in the USA. Soon the realization that Rockets and missiles could be used as weapons came to both the USA and Russia, and lead to the experimentation of Rockets and more and more societies for the research up.

October 4, of 1957 brought new ideas and new to the USA as they were notified that Russia had spent an Earth-Orbiting Satellite! The Space Race was officially on. Russia launched more and more Orbiters, including one that carried a dog named Liaka, who survived 7 days before being humanely put to sleep before the oxygen supply ran out. Then finally on January 31st 1958, Explorer 1 was launched! The October of that same year brought the beginning of an organization called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA. This was a civilian agency dedicated to the peaceful exploration of space. NASA has since brought many ideas and information to the USA about space as well as sending men to the moon. This is the history of rocketry //Ms. Mc: Excellent summary of the advancements of rocket science and good drawings too! Please refer to your drawings in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1"). 10/10//

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
media type="custom" key="14142682"

Instructions to Run Simulation:
 * 1) Turn on Sound To Your Computer
 * 2) Click On Green Flag To Start Simulation
 * 3) When Finished Press Red Button Next To Green Flag
 * 4) If simulation does not appear, click on "Learn more about this project" link to view simulation.

Rachel- I loved your Scratch Rocket! It was so cute! You never wrote in the landing thing though. Even so, your simulation was very neat and clean!

Matt- You had a great video and the stages were really smooth. you forgot to add the landing description. great job i enjoyed watching your video.

Parts Of Our Rocket And Their Purpose
On the very top of the rocket there is a piece called the nose cone (as seen in figure 3). The nose cones purpose is to direct the air around the rocket for a smoother launch and it allows for the air to flow around it because the surface area is less than that of a flat or round nose cone. The main part of the rocket is called the body tube and contains: the engine, motor mount, rocket motor, recovery wadding, and recovery system. The recovery system is composed of a parachute and shock cord which absorbs the shock of the rocket. The recovery wadding is made of soft and decomposable wadding which blocks the flames from the motor from burning the recovery system. The launch lug is a small plastic tube that helps to line up the rocket to a 90 degree angle for takeoff and it helps to guide the rocket off the launch pad as straight as possible. The motor mount is a piece that keeps the motor in place so that it does not fall out or get stuck in a bad position. The fins help to keep the rocket moving straight during flight so that it does not wobble or twist off course. And finally we come to the rocket motor located at the very bottom of the rocket. The motor is non-reusable and will need to be replacing after use of the rocket. The motor propels the rocket up into the air and is where the thrust comes from in the rocket. //Ms. Mc: Great labels and definitions. 10/10 (Please make your pictures small enough so the whole image is seen on a single screen.)//

Atlas V 541 Rocket
(as seen in figure 3) The Atlas V 541 rocket (as seen in figure 4) was used to carry the Mars rover curiosity to mars on the most recent mission to mars. It is 58 meters tall and weighs a total of 531,000 kilograms including the fuel that the rocket uses. The rocket consists of three parts: the payload faring or nose cone, four solid rocket boosters, and a one engine centaur upper stage. The payload or nose cone is a thin composite used to protect the space craft during its ascent through Earth’s atmosphere. The four solid-rocket boosters are used to increase the thrust of the engine. And finally the one engine centaur upper stage is fuel and oxidizer, along with being the rockets brains and fire twice. The reason that the Atlas V 451 rocket was chosen to carry curiosity to mars is because it had the right lift-off capabilities for the heavy weight requirement of curiosity, since it is the heaviest rover sent to mars so far.



//Ms. Mc: Very good overview and photo of the launch vehicle. There is another engine in the first stage as well called the common core booster, which along with the 4 SRBs is responsible for liftoff and getting the rocket near the edge of Earth's atmosphere (-1). Please capitalize Mars, Earth, and Curiosity as they all are proper nouns. 9/10//

[[image:cascience7-2012/EB_scatterplot.JPG width="800" height="473" caption="Graph #1- apogee based on mass of rockets"]]
The purpose of this experiment was to find the height that a self-constructed rocket would be able to travel using trigonometry to calculate the distance that it traveled upwards and to find the relation of mass to the achieved apogee of the rocket to see the effect of the mass on the distance traveled. The rocket on the launch pad had only two forces acting upon it; gravity, which pulled the rocket down, and the launch pad itself, which was pushing the rocket upwards. Once the rocket was ignited, more forces began acting upon it; the thrust from the engine was pushing it upwards, there was a small amount of air resistance, and gravity was pulling the rocket downwards. During the powdered flight, the rocket was accelerating upwards; again the force of gravity along with air resistance was pulling the rocket downwards, while the engine thrust it upwards. During the coasting period that the rocket experienced, it traveled upwards due to its inertia while gravity and air resistance pulled it downwards again. After the coasting period, the rocket reached apogee, it stopped movement for a very short period of time, gravity still trying to pull it downwards, though this time without air resistance. Then the rocket began its decent, gravity pulling it faster and faster towards the ground, while the air resistance tried to push it upwards (Newton’s third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). It was hypothesized that a lighter rocket would be able to travel a higher distance than that of a heavier rocket because of the balance of mass to thrust power. It was hypothesized that the lighter rocket would travel higher because the thrust for the entire rocket are the same; therefore a lighter rocket would achieve higher distance because the thrust would be able to propel it farther that a heavier rocket, who descent would be faster. This was hypothesized because the engine would have to thrust the lighter rocket less and achieve more distance than that of a heavier rocket, therefore the lighter rocket would travel farther than a heaver rocket.

The masses of the rocket that were launched ranged from 42.9 grams to 46.3 grams. The masses were as follows in order from least amount of weight to greatest amount of weight: 42.9, 43.6, 44.1, 44.3, 44.6, 44.8, 44.8, and 46.2 (as seen in graph #1). The apogees of the rockets were as follows going from lowest to highest apogee: 57.7, 62.5, 62.5, 62.5, 67.5, and 67.5 (as seen in graph #1). This excludes the outliers (data points that are either wrong or out of the range of the experiment due to a false collection of data) which were 38.4 and 78.1. The points of data that were collected as the apogees were in a clear no relationship trend, going neither up nor down. This excluded the outliers. The hypothesis for this experiment was not confirmed, as the apogees of the rockets based on the mass did not go in an inverse trend, going in a downward fashion. The rocket’s apogees did not seem to be based on the mass, though the masses of the rockets were very similar. Though the more massive rockets did not go higher, for example one of the lighter rockets of a mass of 44.8 flew a mere 38.4, while a rocket of the same mass reached an apogee of 78.1. This shows that the mass does not hinder or help the apogee reached by the rocket, thus not confirming the hypothesis. This experiment was far from perfect though, and had many errors in the experiment including: a variety of people who measured the angle degree with angle guns, there were different angle guns used in a random fashion, and the fin placement was not the same for all the rockets. Other errors that occurred were the uncontrolled things like the wind and the weather during launch, which varied for the rockets launch time, the masses were not purposefully varied and were fairly similar in mass, as well as the experiment did not have a large amount of data, since only eight rockets were launch which was a sample size and was not able to collect enough data for a complete survey.

[[image:cascience7-2012/EB_finre-design.JPG caption="Figure #5- second fin design"]]
It was hypothesized that a new design for the rocket using four fins instead of three (as seen in figure #5) would increase the stability of the rocket during launch and flight. The fins would be replaced into a symmetrical position so that the maximum stability can be achieved. It was thought that four fins would add stability because rocket would have more flight control and would wobble less during it's flight. Since the rocket will not wobble as much, it will go straight up, thus achieving maximum apogee. The mass when the rocket was first launched was 44.1 grams and the mass during the rocket's second launch was 47.1 grams. During the first launch, the rocket reached an apogee 62.5 meters. During the second launch the rocket had been adjusted with another fin, having a total of 4 fins. It reached a lower apogee of only 57.7 meters. The mass of the rocket during it's second launch was greater because of the addition of the fourth fin and more glue used to keep that fin in place. The rocket during it's second launch reached its apogee without fault and flew straight up without major turbulence. The hypothesis was that the mass affected the apogee on the second launch of the rocket, since the rocket was 3 grams, thus affects the apogee. The stability was most likely better though, allowing for a more smooth flight then the first launch of the rocket. The center of gravity on the rocket was correct as tested before the launch of the rocket. The center of pressure was also correct and this gave the rocket a better stability during flight.

// Ms. Mc: great diagram, initial thoughts and conclusions. "It's" stands for // // it is" -- you want "its.." 5/5 //

[[image:cascience7-2012/EB_chinese_robotics.JPG caption="Figure #6- Chinese robot"]][[image:cascience7-2012/EB_industrialrobot.jpg caption="Figure #7- Industrial robots"]]
The very first form of robot’s was found in the form of something called a water clock and are known as the beginnings of robotics in China. Another large occurrence was presented again in China in1088 by a mechanical mannequin that chimed the hours with goings or bells designed and built by Su song in Kaifeng. Between the years of 1500 and 1800 a lot of automatons were built which included one that was able to act, draw, fly, as well as play music. Also, several mechanical calculators were built during this time period. In 1533 an inventor named Johannes Muller von Konigsberg created an automaton eagle and fly which both could fly and were made of iron. A Japanese craftsman by the name of Hisashige Tanaka, whom was also known as the “Japanese Edison” was able to make a variety of very complex mechanical toys that were able to do things like serve tea, fire arrows (with quiver) and paint Japanese characters. By 1800 all of the cloth production was completely automated. The idea of automated machinery being used to replace labor was a major idea during the industrial revolution so that they could save time and money. 1837 a new humanoid became famous; Golem of Prague who had artificial intelligence which was activated by writing Hebrew letters on its forehead. In 1898 a person by the name of Nikola Tesla publicly demonstrated a radio-controlled boat. This lead to his ideas for making a wireless torpedo designed for the US navy. Ib 1936, a paper written about robotics displayed a way for robots to be able to do simple equations on their own; this created the basis for what is now called computer science. A lot of robots were made before computer-controlled systems were used. Many were built for movies and were capable of performing a few stunts. In the UK a new robot (Robinson) was designed for cracking enigma codes, but was soon replaced by another named Colossus, built in 1943 by someone by the name of Tommy Flowers. The first American programmable robot was the ENIAC, built in 1946. It was created by John Presper and John W. Mauchly and was constructed over a 3 year period. In 1951 William Shockely invented the bipolar junction transistor. In 1958 John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky started the MIT artificial intelligence lab. In 1954, George Devol created a machine called the Unimate, which started working the assembly line in 1961. In 1968 Marvin Minsky created the robotic arm, which used hydraulics. The later, another arm was created called the Stanford arm which was known as the first computer controlled arm. The 4004, created by Ted Hoff was the first microprocessor. In 1981 the first direct drive arm was created by Takeo Kanade. In 1993 a robot called Dante II was used successfully collected grass from the inside of an active volcano, whereas Dante I failed to do so because of a broken fiber optic in one of the limbs. In October of 2000 an estimated of 742,500 robots were used industrially. In April 2001 Canadarm2 was launched into orbit which was attached to the International Space Station. In 2004 the Cornell University revealed a robot that was able to self-replicate. On the 3rd and the 24rd of January 2003 the two robots Spirit and Curiosity which were launched to Mars. The Robonaut 2 is the latest generation of astronaut helpers, was aboard the Space Shuttle discovery. Ms. Mc - very good overview and figures. Don't forget to specifically refer to (i.e, "see Fig.1 below) and disucss your figures in your text (-1). Also, reduce the size of your uploaded files so they can be viewed on your computer screen without having to scroll.

Challenge programming- on the edge
Our robot was used to complete a challenge called on the edge. During this challenge it had to go forward upon hearing a sound command, then using either an ultrasonic sensor or a light sensor it had to stop before falling off a table and say the words “Watch out”. We programmed this challenge using the light sensor and the sound sensor.

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

Video #1- robot completing challenge; on the edge



Block 1- Wait for sound block that tells the robot to wait for a noise before performing the next block's action. This is how the robot waits for a noise to command it to move. //What port and how much sound? (-1/2)// Block 2- Action block that is hooked up to the c and b motors. This block tells the robot to move forward on unlimited rotations at 50% speed. Block 3- Wait for light sensor block to read greater than 38% light. This block tells the robot to wait for that specific amount of light before performing the next block's action. Block 4- A movement block hooked up to the c and b motors that tell the robot to stop all movement in any direction. Block 5- Sound block that tells the robot to say “Watch out!” at 75% volume.

//Ms. Mc - Nice work! 19.5/20 //

6/4/2012 Log Entry #11 Search For Evidence of Life On Mars

The possibility of life on mars is still under intense research. But it has developed majorly; from mars being described as a barren waste land, to a place that once could have thrived with life and water. But the perspectives differed as well, before it was a search for intelligent life, something that would be comparable to earth life. Now, it is a search for any life even microbes or the building blocks that could have once been able to create or sustain life. Spaceships like the Mariner 9 attempted to orbit mars. The Viking mission (as seen in figure #9) was to search for extraterrestrial life on mars. In the 1990’s, the mars pathfinder was able to successfully land on the surface of mars (as seen in figure #10). In the September of 1997 mars global surveyor mapped various properties of mars. The conditions for life on mars have been looked at over and over again, but one of the biggest breakthroughs was in 1996 when evidence of life was found on a Martian meteorite; they found bacteria-like objects using an electron microscope, hydrocarbons, minerals assemblages (not made in labs), and magnetic particles similar to that produced by some terrestrial bacteria. Currently they are searching for conditions that are or have been warm enough for liquid water to occur since this is the ideal conditions for life. There is evidence that liquid water could have once flowed on mars, therefore allowing the possibility of life once being able to be sustained on mars. Various forms of minerals and salt have occurred on mission to mars that are only made with the presence of water, the question is, was the water too salty for life? These questions are still being explored.

A microbe is a microscopic organism that is either made of one cell, which is unicellular, or multi-cellar, which is comprised of multiple cells. Microbes are alive, what defines whether something is living is made up of 8 characteristics that apply to all living things in order for them to be classified as living. These characteristics are: being made of cells, it needs materials, responds to stimuli, reproduce, has respiration, grows, adapts, and has homeostasis. In case you don’t know what some of these things are:


 * Being made of cells: it is composed of cells
 * Needs materials: Needs raw materials (food) to survive.
 * Responds to stimuli: responds to reacts to changes: noises, actions, and images by a physical or mental response.
 * Reproduce: The ability to reproduce either asexually or sexually.
 * Respiration: releasing chemical bonds that are stored in sugars, or for humans; eating and digesting food.
 * Grows: developing from something simpler to something more complex, for a human that is growing older, going through the stages of child and growing into an adult.
 * Adapts: modifications that allow an organism to survive and evolve.
 * Homeostasis: the ability of an organism to keep its internal structure the same while things on the outside change.

If a sample of microbes came were to come back from Mars it would have to be checked to see if any or all of these characteristics were present to find out if the microbe was alive, dead, non-living, or dormant. The difference between these is: alive means it has all 8 characteristics (and all 8 are fully functioning), dead means that it came from a living thing and once had all the characteristics but does not any more, non-living meant that it never had all the characteristics and never will, and dormant means that it some of the 8 characteristics are slowed or not functioning until it is able to go back to having all 8 characteristics.





Ms. Mc - excellent summary and discussion of how you would classify a Mars specimen. Nice photos too! 10/10