William

Facts we need to know in Order to get a Rover to Mars

 * Distance from Mars and Earth at nearest point= 35 million miles
 * Time when Mars is closest to earth every two years.
 * Hard rocky surface with deep gorges and craters and mountains, choose a good landing site
 * Mars has polar caps made out of frozen carbon dioxide and water underneath.
 * Rover needs high traction wheels
 * 44 % of sunlight than compared to earth.
 * -125 degrees C, to 25 degrees C, rover would have to withstand these temperatures
 * 38% of the gravity on earth
 * Mars has large sand and dust storms that can block the sun so may be difficult to always use the solar panels for energy production
 * May knock out communications
 * As dust proof as possible
 * 7 to 8 months of travel
 * Two moons on mars that we do not want to hit

// Ms. Mc: Good facts about Mars and its conditions, however, they all came from our class discussion. Where is your original work? (-3). 7/10. //

History of Rocketry
Rockets were first conceived in the Greek ages by Hero of Alexandria. There was a sphere with L shaped spouts coming out. This sphere was placed on stilts over a bucket of water. The water was over a fire. There was steam produced in the sphere that was forced out of the L shaped spouts and turned the sphere.



The development of rockets exploded with the Chinese invention of gun powder. The Chinese used a piece of Bamboo with a nose cone and a nozzle at the other end. There was a thinner longer stick attached to the rocket to steer the rocket. These where used to launch fireworks in the nose cone for celebrations, or small explosive charges for combat.



In 1898 a Russian scientist started working on experiments to make a liquid powered rocket. This Russian scientist was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. For the work he did he is called the father of modern astronomic. An American scientist, Robert Goddard, also started working on liquid powered rockets. He is still very well respected for building the first liquid powered rocket. At the same time there were small German rocketry groups that were also working on liquid powered rockets. These groups were rounded together by Nazi Germany and their rockets were made into weapons that were fired at England. After the war these scientist were sent to Russia and the USA. This started the next phase of the rockets history. After German scientists were sent to Russia and the USA the two world powers started competing with one another in a space race. In this space race. This was a tense period were each country was trying to outdo one another. This time the Russians sent the first satellite into space. It's name, Spudnik. Shortly afterwards America launched it's first satellite Explorer 1. America then made a civilian branch with the purpose of making a non military space program, NASA. Rocketry then grew by leaps and bounds and soon got us too were we are today.

// Ms. Mc: Very good summary and diagrams! Please refer to your diagrams in your writing (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1"). 10/10 //

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Instructions to Run Simulation:

1. Click on the green flag to run the simulation. 2. Click on the red button to stop the simulation. 3. If the simulation is not working click on the "Learn more about this project" link.

Q Train- I liked the speed of your rocket. Make sure the speed of your rocket is almost the same throughout. I liked the color of your rocket.

Esra- Lift off was smooth and clean, the rocket was really cool. The turn was okay, but it was a bit rough. But the landing was really good, I though it was the best yet.

I liked the background that you used for your launch. I think that you could have spent more time making your rover costume because it had background from the old picture. I also liked the animation for your rocket flight. John P

Model Rocket Parts


The nose cone is a tip for the rocket to make it slide through the air better. The body tube is a cardboard tube that is the body of the rocket and houses the engine, recovery wading, recovery system, and supports the fins, launch lug and nose cone. The recovery system is the system that helps slow the rocket down on descent as to not harm the rocket. This system is ejected from the body tube from a small delayed explosion inside the body tube. Recovery wading is a couple sheets of paper that protect the recovery system from the small explosion inside the body tube. The launch lug is a small hollow cylinder that fits over a thin pole that helps guide the rocket straight upwards. The fins are a quadrilateral piece of wood that makes the rocket keep a straight upward direction while in powered flight. The rocket motor is an interchangeable tube filled with solid rocket propellant that makes the rocket fly into the air. The motor mount is the point to which the engine is attached to the body tube via this mount.

// Ms. Mc: Great diagram and definitions! 10/10 //

The Atlas V 541 Rocket
The Atlas V 541 is the rocket that will bring the rover curiosity to Mars. The Atlas rocket is made up of 4 different parts. The first part is the solid rocket booster. The solid rocket boosters are used to get the rocket off of the ground and into the atmosphere were the next part takes control, and the solid rocket boosters are jettisoned to lessen the rocket's mass. The next part of the rocket is the Atlas V rocket. The rocket uses liquid propellant to make the rocket fly high enough so it is caught in Earth's orbit. The rocket is then out of liquid propellant and is jettisoned to lessen the mass. The Centaur is the third stage in the rocket. The Centaur is used once the large Atlas V rocket is jettisoned. The purpose of the Centaur is to get the rocket into Earth's orbit, then at a predetermined time launch the rocket out of the orbit to Mars. The Centaur then jettisons. The Centaur is the last thing to leave the rocket. The fourth thing is the payload fairing or nose cone. The payload fairing protects the rover inside the rocket from the Earth's atmosphere. The payload fairing jettisons before the Centaur.



The Atlas V 541 rocket was chosen to be used for the Mars Science Laboratory because of the amount of thrust. The rover and payload is extremely heavy and large. The Atlas V 541 was chosen because it can lift this load fairly well. The Atlas V 541 is 58 meters tall, and has a mass of 531,000 kg. This is a basic introduction to the Atlas V 541 rocket.

// Ms. Mc: Very good overview and diagram of the parts of the MSL launch vehicle! There are only 2 stages though. The SRBs and the common core boster comprise stage 1 and the centaur engine and payload make up stage 2. Don't forget to specifically refer to your figure in your text (-1). 9/10 //

= 4/24/2012 = = = = Log Post #6 = = = = Rocket Height and Mass Lab =


 * HEIGHT OF APOGEE COMPARED TO MASS OF ROCKET **


 * INTRODUCTION **

The purpose of this experiment was to discover what the comparison was between the mass of a model rocket, and the height that the rocket traveled. The height the rocket traveled in also known as apogee. The forces action on the rocket was researched. On the launch pad there is gravity pulling down with the same amount of force as the launch pad is pushing up. Once at liftoff the rocket stays still for a short time for the motor to overcome the rocket’s inertia. inertia is Newton’s Law that an object at rest wants to stay at rest, and an object in motion wants to stay in motion. After the inertia is overcome, there is the beginning of lift off and powered flight. At liftoff gravity is pulling down on the rocket, and the rocket is thrusting upward with a slightly larger force. This makes the rocket go forward slowly. At powered flight, the next stage, the rocket is pushing forward with the thrust from the motor. Powered flight is when the rocket is moving and the engine is thrusting upwards. Gravity and air resistance are pushing the rocket down. Air resistance is the air that is in the way of the rocket. The thrust overcomes the other forces and the rocket goes forward. At cruising the rocket is moving forward because of its inertia. Cruising is when the rocket continues to move forward because of its inertia, but the engines are no longer thrusting upwards. The engines have now cut off. Gravity and air resistance are still pushing against the rocket, but the rocket moves forward. At apogee the rocket stops for a moment because its inertia has run out and gravity and air resistance have overcome the rocket. This is the highest flight height in the rockets flight. It was hypothesized that the mass of the rocket did not matter at any stage of the rocket’s stage of flight. While the rocket was on the launch pad, the rocket was not moving so it does not matter what the mass of the rocket is, Earth will pull down the same amount that the launch pad pushes up. On the lift off a heavier mass rocket takes longer to lift off because it must overcome its inertia, but once after there is no more powered flight the same inertia will propel the rocket forward. If there is a light rocket there is less time spent at liftoff to overcome the inertia, the rocket will continue during powered flight. But if the rocket has less mass the rocket will stop moving sooner. So, there is no difference in what mass your rocket is because the two different masses balance each other.


 * DATA SUMMARY **

In the experiment the rockets were launched on the same day. The rockets had different masses. The independent variable was the weight of the rocket. The dependent variable was the apogee of the flight. The height of the rocket was measured using trigonometry, and angle guns to find the angle of the rockets flight. The constant variables were thrust form the engine, the materials, the fin placement and the type of rocket. Variables that could have changed the outcome of the rocket were wind, a change in location, wing shape, and the people who measured the height of the rocket. The first rocket weighed 44.1 grams, and traveled 62.5 meters into the air. The second rocket weighed 44.8 grams and traveled 78.1 meters into the air. The third rocket weighed 46.2 grams and traveled 62.5 meters. The fourth rocket weighed 44.8 grams and flew 38.4 meters. The fifth rocket 42.9 grams and flew 67.5 meters. The sixth rocket weighed 44.3 grams and flew 57.7 meters up. The seventh rocket weighed 43.6 grams and flew 67.5 meters. The eight rocket 44.6 grams and flew 62.5.



As seen graph #1 the data has a little pattern, but there is a slight inverse relationship. This means larger the mass or independent variable, the less the apogee, or dependent variable. Rocket five that weighed 42.9 grams and rocket six that weighed 44.3 grams clearly show this. The rocket with the less mass went further than the heavier rocket. According to this data, the hypothesis was incorrect. The data had an inverse relationship according to graph #1. The hypothesis said there would be no relationship. In the data the fourth rocket is an outlier. This was most likely because of some of the faults in this controlled experiment were not contained. Wind, fins, or incorrect angle measurement could have made the data faulty. Also, there should have been more rockets tested to prove this fact better. In conclusion, if mass of the rocket is larger, the lower the apogee of the rocket is.

Rocket Fin Redesign
It was thought with bigger fins the rocket would be more stable. The fins would also m ake a low pressure zone around the body tube because, as seen in figure #1, the fins protect the outside of the body, so the thrust would be better spent. The fins would add mass, that could add inertia at coasting. The fins would also stabilize the rocket more.



The first launch rocket had an apogee of 57.7 meters and the redesigned rocket had an apogee of 19.4 meters. The first rocket had a mass of 44.3 grams and the second rocket had a mass of 66.3 grams. The amount of mass that was added to the rocket had a dramatic amount of change in apogee. This was the most dramatic factor in the changed apogee of the rocket. Another important factor was the point of pressure and point of gravity. The center of gravity and center of pressure made the rocket fly straight in the first test. When the center of pressure is higher than the center of gravity the rocket will not fly straight. When the fins were placed on the nose cone the center of gravity and center of pressure were swapped and thus the rocket could not fly straight. The flight path stability was also changed when the fins on the nose cone were placed at unequal sides and placement on the diameter on the nosecone. This made the rocket not fly straight. The mass was the thing that most dramatically reduced the apogee of the rocket, but stability of the rocket forced the rocket to tumble on liftoff. These factors drastically reduced the apogee of the rocket in the second test when compared to the first test.

// Ms. Mc: Good initial thoughts, diagram, and conclusions. Don't forget to refer to your figure in your text. 5/5 //

For all of history people have wanted things other than people to do their work for them. People require food, water, shelter, and leadership. All these things are complex to do, even if you are a lord or prince. The first actual robot was built in 1595 by Leonardo DeVinci. It was a suit of armor with mechanics inside to make it appear there was a human in the armor as seen in figure #1. This was used to amuse kings. In 1770 a watch maker made three such things as DaVinci. They were three dolls, one could draw pictures, one can play music as seen in figure #2, and one can write.



In 1801, the first robot designed to do work was created. It was an automated loom that was made by Joseph Jaquard. It used punch cards to know what is was supposed to do. These punch card were almost the same as the punch cards used in the first computers. In 1926, a movie named Metropolis is released to the public. In the film, there is the first ever robot on television. Her name was Maria as seen in figure #3.



In 1961 the first robot is introduced to work on cars. It is called the Unimate, and was built to hand dangerous jobs at the General Motors production centers. It had an arm that could perform this job. In 1966 Shakey was created. Shakey was the first robot to know and react to it's own actions. Shakey was very large though, as seen in Figure #4. In 1967 MacHack is created. Machack is a program that plays chess and beat the world champion at the time, Gary Kasparov. In 1977 space traveler Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are launched. Both of these systems are robots that take pictures of planets as they go by at tremendous speeds.



In 1986 Lego in collaboration with MIT release their first robot Lego based kits. In 1992 cyberknife is created. Cyberknife is used to look for tumors and give the tumor a predetermined dose of radiationto when the tumor is located. In 1993 the robot Dante completed. Dante was designed to go into Mt. Erebrus in Antarctica, to simulate the conditions similar to that as on a different planet. However Dante is dropped on decent into the crater and Dante 2 is created in 1994. Dante 2 successfully goes into the Mt. and the mission is considered a success. As seen in figure #5, Dante 1 and 2 both had 8 legs.



In 1994 the first robot wars are created. In the robot wars, robots fight with a opponent to win a match. The winner of all the matches is awarded. As seen in Figure #6, the robots in robot wars are well equipped with weaponry of every shape and size. In 1997 the first Mars mission robot hits the mars planet. The rover Sojourner is launched from it's robotic housing and rolled along Mars for 2 months. As seen in figure #7, Pathfinder was small, but from it's crucial data NASA was able to launch a second rover in 2003. in 1998 Lego released the Mindstorm robot kit to the public. In 1999 Sony released it's first robot. It was called AIBO and it was a robot pet. In June and July NASA launched the rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The history of robots has been one of low beginnings to doing things people cannot. The initial job that robots should help people do things has been well achieved with car building technology to places were people cannot even get to. When people think of robots, the bumbling C-3P0, but robots are much more than "protocol droid" but Robots have shaped the way that people live, survive, and how people play with robot pets.

// Ms. Mc - excellent summary and figures! I particularly like how you included the mindstorm robots and the rovers. 10/10 //

Rover Programming
The robot was programmed to stop before it falls of the table. A loud sound had to be made for the robot to go forward. When the robot sensed a dark line at the edge of the table it had to stop. The final part of the program was the robot said watch out.

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 * 1) Command 1 tells robot to wait for a sound above 50 with the sound sensor in port 4.
 * 2) Command 2 tells the robot to continue to move using motors C and B for infinity.
 * 3) Command 3 tells the robot to wait 1 second.
 * 4) Command 4 tells the robot to use the light sensor in port 1 to sense for a light darker than 10
 * 5) Command 5 tells the robot to Stop once the light sensor has detected a light darker than 10.
 * 6) Command 6 tells the robot to wait 1 second before doing anything.
 * 7) Command 7 tells the robot to say "watch out".

// Ms. Mc - good job! -1/2 for no caption for your video. 19.5/20 //

Signs of Life on Mars
Mars has been teasing the people of Earth for centuries, it is within sight, but out of reach, until the 20th century. A multitude of human objects have been sent to the red planet, fly-bys, orbiters, landers, even rovers. The data that has been sent back from the machines has improved our understanding of this planet. Multiple tests performed by the manmade objects point towards no life. However, many scientists have found other evidence that there could have been life on Mars, a long time ago. This change was due to the fact that humans have learned that on Earth, life can survive in very difficult conditions. Another factor, in the search for life, is that solid water has been found in the north and south poles of mars. It once was determined that bacteria had been found on a meteorite from mars that had landed on Earth. This was met with stiff resistance from other scientists, and the information is now considered false.



The mission flying to mars now is the Mars Science Laboratory, as seen in figure #1, with the rover Curiosity, as seen in figure #2. The mission of Curiosity is to find micro-organisms and traces of micro organisms. In other words, curiosity is looking for life. Life has eight characteristics. The characteristics are that it is made of cells, it reacts to things, three is that it tries to remain constant, four is that the organism must need raw materials. The other things is that living things adapt, breath (not breathe but respiration - uses energy and produces waste) reproduce, and grow. Micro-organisms are microscopic organisms that can have one cell, many cells, or a group of cells, called a cell cluster. This includes bacteria, as seen in Figure #3. An alive micro organism has all eight things (and all are fully functioning), a dormant micro organism will have all eight things, but they will be slowed to an unusual rate. A dead micro-organism had all 8 things and a nonliving thing does not have all eight.



// Ms. Mc - very good overview of the spacecraft exploration findings and how you would classify a specimen from Mars. 9.5/10 //