Mackenzie

Facts that we need to know to get a rover to mars
** How to get there **
 * Need enough fuel to escape earth ’ s gravity
 * When it would be landing
 * Need to launch so the distance traveled is the least possible distance so we don ’ t waste fuel
 * Where to aim the rover when launching
 * Where on mars it would land
 * What the rover needs
 * What the rover is looking for
 * How far to send it
 * When it would need a boost to keep it on the right track.
 * How much force to give the rover
 * If it is solar powered you would need to know where the sun is.
 * Fact **
 * Mars has 2 moons
 * Mars has huge dust storms
 * Mars is fourth planet from the sun
 * Mars has polar caps made of frozen Carbn dioxide and water
 * Thin atmosphere
 * Mars has seasons
 * Mars is cold
 * Mars has craters, mountains, volcanos and huge canons
 * No water on the surface
 * Average air tempter is -63 degrees C
 * Pressure is 1/100th of earth's

// Ms. Mc: good thoughts about Mars and facts about it and its conditions. You were to try to find answers about your concerns from the provided websites (-1). Also, needed to relate each fact to how it might impact either getting a rover to Mars or having it operate on Mars (-1). Good overall, though. 8/10 //

Rocket History


The invention would turn a big bowl of water and turned it into steam. The Chinese used rockets to do fireworks and made them explode. Konstantin Tsiolky's contributed the idea of space exploration by rockets which is the reason we have all the people landing on the moon and all of the rovers going up. In March 16, 1926 there was the first successful flight with a liquid-propellant rocket. Verein fur Raumschiffahrt made the V-2 and it was used in WWII. When NASA was formed it was because Russia put up a satellite but the Americans wanted to do exploration of space but peacefully so they made NASA.

//Ms. Mc: You were to turn your answers to the review questions into paragraphs and expand upon them (-3). Also, you were to draw a second diagram (-2). Please be sure to refer to the log prompt instructions so you don't miss anything. Also, please mention your figures in your writing (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1"). 5/10//

4/9/12 Log Entry #3 Rocket Flight Simulation media type="custom" key="14043486" press green button to start press red button to stop if it does not work press link above.

Ellie J- The movements were smooth, but the apogee was a little not smooth. Your text bubbles could be read though so good job!

Cat- I loved your project! It's apparent you spent a vast amount of time developing and perfecting your rocket simulation. I agree with Ellie, though, your apogee was a little rough, but other than that little detail I thought your project was great! You allowed adequate time for your information bubbles, which was helpful during the presentation.

All these pieces of the rocket are labeled on the rocket below. The nose cone helps with aerod ynamics and helps glide up through the sky. The body tubes hold all of the landing gear. The recovering system help with landing so your rocket does not crash. The launch lug helps with liftoff. The recovery wading helps not catch the landing gear on fire. The motor mount holds the engine together. The rocket motor makes the rocket move with thrust.

// Ms. Mc: good definitions and labels but you didn't define what the fins do. (-1/2) How does the launch lug help with liftoff? (-1/2) 9/10 //

The rocket is made up of motor which lets the rocket move through the atmosphere and gives it thrust. It also has the rover package inside of it which is how they will explore mars. The Centaur holds the motor and part of the rocket together. The payload Fairings hold the rover in place during the flight until it ejects. The atlas V541 was chosen for this mission because had worked in the past and they wanted a rocket that was sure to make it to mars, or with the best chance of making it. The height of the rocket is 191 feet and the mass is about 531,000 kilograms. Look at figure 3 below. //Ms. Mc - good general overview of the launch vehicle but more details about the function of each piece was needed. What do the SRBs and the common core booster do? (-2). Don't forget to refer to your figure in your text (-1/2). 7.5/10//

log 6 4/24 Rocket flight This experiment was conducted to see if heavier rockets fly higher or lower then lighter rockets, so that scientist can know whether to try to make the rockets lighter or heavier. The hypothesis that was conducted for this experiment is that the lighter rocket will fly higher because that thrust will push the lighter rockets higher because that gravity will not be pulling on it as hard as a rocket with more mass. Since all the rockets being used have the same engine they would have the same thrust, which will make the lighter rocket go higher. During the experiment the different forces that will be acting on the rockets are gravity, air resistance, thrust and the launch pad. All these forces will affect the rocket in some way or another. Gravity and air resistance will try to keep the rocket down. The launch pad and thrust will push the rocket up but after a little bit the thrust will stop and the rocket will come back down. When the data was shown it was easy to tell that the masses of the rockets were not that different so the height would not be affected that much by the mass of the rockets. Even though the lighter rockets flew higher we only have 6 rockets which are not that many to give a positive answer. The hypothesis that was conducted turned out to be right. Since all the rockets that were lighter went higher. Although there are only 6 rockets to look at for data the hypothesis with this experiment was concluded to be correct. The data might have been off because the angles guns might of not of got the right measurement which would have thrown off the height and the launch lug might have been clogged with paint. The relationships between all the data was that mainly all the rockets that flew the highest has the least amount of mass. Here is the graph to show the difference in rocket mass and height and to show the data that was collected.

This graph shows all the measurements taken and averaged. To find how high the rocket went the angle was measured with angle guns and then the equation tan was used to find the height. This graph over all shows that the lighter the rocket was the higher it would go. In the experiment conducted was depending on apogee and mass because the mass of the rockets affected the apogee of the rockets.

Log 7 4/29 Rocket Fins = Before- This design improves aerodynamics (ideas shown in figure 1 above). This adds three more wings that were cut off from the bottom fins because it was thought that the wind should be cut though before it gets to the bottom instead of waiting for the bottom and the body tube is getting pelted with air. = =After- The new fins were too close to the nose cone and the center of gravity was off which made the rocket go off course and turn around. After it turned around it fly right into the ground. This did not let the rocket go straight up and it did not end up well.=

log 8 5/3 History of Robots Robotics is the branch of technology. It reaches out and helps make technology. The early robotics started out as water clocks back in 200 B.C. this was really advanced stuff but now we have robots making cars and not just telling us the time. Robotics used to be really advanced stuff and it still is but now they sell it in kits a while ago you had to find different parts to use to make a small thing instead of finding a kit. Modern robotics are used to build cars (seen in figure 1) or trying to build a jet pack but a while ago a blender (seen in figure2) was the latest and greatest. The machinery that was used a while ago was not as high-tech and the technology that we use to make computers. That is robotic history.

//Ms. Mc - some good points, however, when discussing history, you need to include specific dates (-1/2). How are robots primarily used today? (automation, space exploration, medicine, military) (-1). 8.5/10//

Log 10 Period 3 Title?

The first box is to make the robot start when you make a noise. What port? What volume of sound? -1 The second box is a movement box and it will let the robot keep moving. Ports? -1/2 The third box makes the robot detect light. What port? What amount of light? -1/2 The fourth box makes the robot stop after it detects light. What port? The last box makes the robot make a sound. What sound? How loud? -1

media type="file" key="mcg_robot.AVI" width="300" height="300" Video 1- Robot doing on the edge

//Ms. Mc - generally good but you needed more details about the programming blocks. You also were to include a few sentences describing what the challenge was about (-1). 16/20//

6/4/12 Log 11

Life on Mars is believed to used to exist but we are still trying to find it now. They have sent rovers (as seen in figure 1) and orbiters up to Mars hoping to find something. Right now a new rover is going up to Mars and they are hoping to find life with it. So far on Mars they have found trenches where they think that water may have been before and they have found salt which could mean that there was water and they are still trying to find more evidence that there is life on Mars. One of the rovers had a hurt wheel and had to drag it and that is one way they made a discovery. The new rover Curiosity is going to be looking for any kind of life on Mars especially water (as seen in figure 2). It is also looking for th existence of water and to make sure that water was actually there. Right now Curiosity is on his way to Mars but will soon land and start there mission.

Ms. Mc - good general overview of the findings of the rovers. Curiosity actually is going to be looking for evidence in the rock history of microbes as NASA has been able to show that water once flowed on Mars. (-1/2). You also were to discuss the characteristics of life and how you would classify a specimen from Mars as either living, dead, dormant or alive (-2). 7.5/10