Tyler

Facts You Need To Know About Mars to Send a Rover There
// Ms. Mc: Good facts about Mars and its conditions. Need to relate fact to either getting a rover to Mars or working on the surface (-1/2). Good additions from class discussion too! 9.5/10 //
 * It is 56-399 million km away (35-249 million miles)
 * Only 44% of sunlight as earth
 * Larger Craters than on Earth (Mars Crater 5,300 miles across; Earth Crater 186 Miles)
 * Larger Canyons than on Earth (Mars Canyon Valles Marines, 4000 km by 7 km; Earth Crater 400 km by 1.8 km
 * Polar Radius is .531 of Earth’s
 * The obliquity to orbit is 1.075 greater than Earth’s
 * Many dust storm because of high amounts of iron
 * Solid Rocky Crust and lots of Craters
 * 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) and large volcanic mountains so need to pick a smooth landing site
 * Need to know Mars' orbit in order to line up with it
 * Mars has huge dust storms that could damage rover
 * Mars has seasons due to 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 5o 25 degrees C) so rover needs to withstand cold temperatures
 * It takes about 214 days to get to Mars (7 Months)
 * Need to launch when planets are close so we don't need as much rocket fuel
 * Rover needs to be able to steer around the terrain; able to move over rocky and sandy surfaces
 * Launch window occurs every two years

History of Rocketry
The first uses of a rocket were by a man named Hero of Alexandria and it was known as the Hero Engine. The hero engine worked by having a sphere on top of a water kettle and fire under the kettle and this turned the water into steam. The steam went to the sphere and out through tubes in the sphere which gave the Hero Engine a thrust to move.

The next use of rockets was by the Chinese. First, the Chinese experimented with gun powered tubes and then attached bamboo tubes full of gun powder to arrows and shot with a bow. The Chinese then learned these tubes could launch themselves by the escaping gas. The Chinese then used rockets in war versus the Mongols where the rocket was a tube that was capped at one end and filled with gunpowder. The other end was open but a long stick attached to it which caused to thrust the when gun powder was ignited. A Frenchman by the name of Jean Froissart found that launching these rockets through open tubes was more accurate and is the now the idea of the bazooka.

Next, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s (A Russian School teacher) contribution to modern rocketry was that he proposed the idea of space exploration by rocketry. He suggested that liquid propellants because they could increase the rocket range. For his ideas, research, and great vision, Tsiolkovsky is known as the Father of Modern Astronautics. The next achievement in rocketry by an American named Robert Goddard. The significance of Goddard’s achievement on March 16, 1926 was that it was the first successful flight using a liquid-propellant rocket. Even though it only flew for 2.5 seconds and only went 12.5 meters in the air and 56 meters away it started something new. Another big achievement in rocketry was by the Germans, but this wasn’t for space exploration, but for warfare. The Germans developed the V-2 Rocket to use against London in World War II. This rocket was used to devastate city blocks in London. NASA was formed to become a civilian agency that would have a goal of peaceful exploration of space that could benefit all humankind. Earlier in the year the Soviet Union had successfully sent a satellite to orbit the Earth and then sent another satellite carrying a dog on board which survived seven days. So, the US sent a satellite in then formed the NASA program. They did this because it was during the Cold War and they didn’t want the Soviet Union to be able to spy on them. //Ms. Mc: Excellent summary and expansion on homework questions. Good drawings too. Please refer to your figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1"). 10/10//

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
media type="custom" key="14055540" Instructions to Run Simulation: Turn on Your Sound Click the Green Flag to Start Click the Red Sign if You Need To Stop At Any Time If simulation doesn't appear click on the "Learn More about this Project" link above Enjoy the Video

Abigail- This was great, Tyler! I really liked the rover at the end. You might want to work on the order of your backgrounds, though, because it zoomed out of Mars instead of zooming in. The animations were really good!

Christof- This was well done and professional. The only issue I noticed was, towards the beginning, when the rocket lifts off it seems to do so at an awkward angle, pointing towards the upper-left corner. Otherwise, I think it was rather well done. ==

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Rocket Parts Objectives
As seen in Figure #1 the nosecone is at the very top and is used to keep the recovery system in the rocket and allow air to flow around the rocket. The body tube is used as the structure of the rocket to keep it together. The recovery system is used to get rocket back in good shape, so it can be used again. The recovery wadding is used to protect the recovery system from catching fire. The launch lug is used to help the rocket off the launch in the right direction. The motor mount is used make sure the motor doesn’t come out of place. The rocket motor is used to provide the thrust to get the rocket into the air.

// Ms. Mc: great definitions and labels! Forget to describe the rold of the fins. 9.5/10 //

Atlas V 541 Rocket Description
The Atlas V 541 rocket is made up of payload fairing or a nose cone that is five meters long, four solid rocket boosters alongside the central core booster, and one engine Centaur upper stage. The payload fairing or nosecone protects the spacecraft through the ascent of the Earth’s atmosphere. The main rocket has fuel and oxygen tanks that help the engine power into the Earth orbit. The four solid rocket motors are used to provide extra engine thrust. The Centaur engine is the vehicles brain’s and is used to get the rocket into the low Earth orbit and then again get the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit. The Atlas V 541 rocket was chosen for this mission because it has the right capability for the heavy liftoff requirements. Rockets in the same family have successfully achieved NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and New Horizons missions. As seen in Figure #1, the height of the rocket is 191 feet or (58 meters) and the mass is 1.17 million pounds or about (531,000 kilograms).



Ms. Mc: great overview and photo! 10/10

Rocket Launch Lab Introduction and Analysis
The purpose of this experiment was to figure out whether the apogee of the rocket depends on the mass of the rocket. It was tried to figure out if the heavier the mass would cause the rocket to fly higher or if the lower mass would cause the rocket to fly higher. When the rocket was on the launch pad the forces acting on it were gravity pushing down and the force of the launch pad pushing up and these forces were equal. At lift off, the forces acting on the rocket are the thrust of the engines pushing up and gravity pushing down and the thrust is stronger to get the rocket in the air. During powered flight, the thrust acting up was stronger than gravity and air resistance which was acting down. During coasting, gravity and air resistance are acting down, but the rocket moves due to inertia. Inertia: A property in which an object will maintain its state of rest or velocity unless acted upon by an external force. At apogee the only force acting on the rocket was gravity which was pushing down. During descent, air resistance was acting up and gravity was acting down and was stronger. It was hypothesized that the higher the mass the lower the height of the rocket so lower mass rockets will fly higher than higher mass rockets. This will happen because the extra mass will take more thrust to get off the launch pad and therefore will have less power during powered flight which will cause and have a lower apogee. Therefore, the lighter mass rockets had more fuel left for powered flight which would cause it to have a higher apogee.
 * INTRODUCTION**



The range of the mass of the rocket was 42.8 grams to 45.9 grams. The apogee data ranged from 18.5 meters to 107.2 meters. The average apogee not including the outlier was 82.6 meters. The relationship of the data was an inverse relationship because for the most part the higher the mass the lower the apogee and the lower the mass the higher the apogee. The outlier had a mass of 43.4 grams and had an apogee of 18.5 meters. This was disregarded when drawing the best fit line since something went wrong with the apogee of this rocket. It was believed that there was most likely an angle gun measurement error. Also, this relationship might not be entirely correct because the sample size was only nine rockets where a good sample size would have had at least 20 rockets. The mass of these rockets also didn’t vary that much which could have led to poor relationships. It was hypothesized that the higher the mass the lower the apogee would be and the lower the mass the higher the apogee would be and that was true. As seen in Graph 1, the best fit line showed that this was the case, and the rocket with the tied for the lowest mass at 42.8 grams also had the highest apogee at 107.2 meters and the rocket with the highest mass at 45.9 grams had the second lowest 53.2eters, but this wasn’t the case for all of the rockets. For example, the third heaviest rocket with a mass of 45.0 grams had the third highest apogee at 91.6 meters and the rocket that was tied for the lowest mass at 42.8 grams had the third lowest apogee at 70.0 meters. So, the best fit line showed that the hypothesis statement was true, but this statement wasn’t true for all of the rockets. There was some room for error during this experiment and this could’ve affected the data in the sense of an angle measurement which we had for one rocket. There could’ve also been errors due to a gust of wind that would cause the rocket not to go as high. The fins of the rocket could’ve been on backwards which would’ve also caused the rocket to not go as high. The rocket not flying straight up could’ve also caused a bad measurement for the angle gun.

Rocket Fin Redesign


As seen in Figure #1, t he extra fin will allow the rocket to have more stability which would allow it to have a higher apogee. The shape of the fins will remain the same because it provides good aerodynamics. The placement of the fins will be a square form which will keep the rocket on its course. The first rocket launched had a mass of 45.0 grams and the second launch had a mass of 46.1 grams. The apogee for the first launch was 91.6 grams and the second launch had an apogee of 52.1 grams. The lower mass probably helped the first rocket have a higher apogee than the second rocket. Also the placement of the fins on the second launch wasn’t perfect which probably helped cause the rocket to fly lower. The center of gravity was higher than the center of pressure in the first launch which caused the rocket to have a stable flight path, but in the second launch the rocket probably didn’t have this which caused an unstable flight path and a lower apogee.

History of Robotics
The very first robot was made in 350 BC and was powered by steam and it was a mechanical bird. As seen in Figure 1, the first signs of a true robot were by Leonardo DaVinci when he made a robot that looked like a knight and moved around as if it was real. The concept of robots was developed during the Industrial Revolution to make complex machines to do these tasks. These robots were first used in factories and they were simple machines that could do work instead of humans. Jacques de Vaucanson made robots in the 1738 that could play music. Then, Nikola Tesla made a robot controlled boat to provide another achievement for robotics. During the Industrial Revolution more focus was put on mathematics and science and this added more focus toward robotics. However, no significant achievements were made. This was the early stage of robotics.



During the 20th century, more money was invested into robotics. The study of robotics went into Japan, South Korea, and parts of Europe. Over that time about 1.2 million dollars been spent on the spread of robotics. During the 1990s, NASA started to use the robots for space exploration. The Candarm2 was launched and attached to the International Space Station in 2001. Sprit and Opportunity were other robots launched by NASA and they were sent to look at the surface of Mars. One of the latest robots sent was the Robonaut 2 and it is showing how robots act in space to engineers, but it might reach a point where it will be fixing problems as well. As seen in Figure 2, NASA also launched Curiosity which is the newest robot for NASA to scan Mars. Finally, Lego Mindstorms NXT robots can even be used for basic programming and give a background for robots these days. This is the history of robotics.

//Ms. Mc: Good overview and figures! How are robots primarily used today? (-1/2). I like how you included the exploration of space by robots and Mindstorms. 9.5/10//

On The Edge
The challenge “On The Edge” is a challenge for Lego Mindstorms Robots where your robot moves forward when you say go, then stops when it reaches the end of the table and then it will say watch out. To make it stop you either have to use the Ultrasonic or Light Sensor because it will see the piece of tape on the edge of the table and this difference color will make it stop before falling off the table. To make the robot move forward when you say go you must also use the Sound Sensor so it can hear you. media type="file" key="TAM_Challenge.AVI" width="300" height="300" Video #1: On The Edge Challenge

Block 1: A sound block that listens for sound greater than 60. What port? -1/2 Block 2: A movement block that uses servomotors B and C to move unlimited at 50% power. What direction? -1/2 Block 3: A light block that looks for a surface that is less than 30%. Port? -1/2 Block 4: A movement block that tells the robot to stop all movement. Ports? Brake or coast? -1/2 Block 5: A sound block that makes the robot say “Watch Out” Volume? -1/2

Ms. Mc - good overall -- just needed some more detail. 17.5/20

Life on Mars Summary
Mars was the planet chosen for searching because it is the most like Earth, it is most likely to have developed life, and is most likely the first planet other than Earth that will be visited (by humans). The main objective for Soviet and US spacecraft was to look for life on Mars. Through these attempts no life was found. The search for life on Mars started back in the 70s with Mariner 9 and Viking lander searches. You see a Viking Lander in Figure #1. The Viking search for organic molecules through a variety of experiments came back negative which led to a large amount of pessimism about life on mars. However, several signs pointed to the fact that there could be life on Mars like the temperatures that life can survive in and the fact that the discovery of life on Earth started very quickly. Also, the fact that they both had similar conditions when they first formed is another sign that pointed life towards Mars. Finally, Earth and Mars exchange materials which means they both have some materials. Shocking evidence was found in 1996 when bacteria like objects were found, hydrocarbons were found, and magnetic particles were found that some bacteria produce. (This is disputed now, however.) It has been found now that there is liquid water flowing in some places at some times.

A microorganism is a microscopic organism that either is made up of one cell or more than one cell. Types of microorganisms are bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, and even animals. As seen in Figure 2, this is a type of microorganism. These were the first type of organisms ever (over 3 billion years ago). To tell whether a microorganisms is alive, dead, dormant, or non-living you would test to see what functions are working. First you would test if it has cells or is made up of many things. Next, you would test if it needs materials or it has to have food water and oxygen to live. (Not necessarily food and oxygen but it needs to use energy which results in it producing waste). Your next test would be to see if it is homeostatic or it stays the same internally despite changes on the outside. You would then test whether it responds to stimuli or if reacts to a stimulus. Next, you would test whether it can reproduce or make more of its self. Your next test would be to see if it can grow by seeing if it has changes in growth. Your next test would be to see if can adapt or make changes to help its life. Your final test would be to see if it has respiration or release energy from food. If the sample’s microbes has all of these things you can conclude it is alive (if all of them are fully functioning), if the sample’s microbes used to have all of these then it is dead, if the sample’s microbes has some of these, but others are slowed you can conclude it is dormant, and if it doesn’t have these functions you can conclude it is non-living.



//Ms. Mc - very good overview and photos! What evidence of water and/or life on Mars have the rovers found? -1/2 Great discussion of the characteristics of life and how you would classify a specimen from Mars. 9.5/10//