Tori

Facts You Need to Know to Send a Rover to Mars

 * If you have a heavy object the rocket has to be able to lift it up in the air of Earth against gravity
 * Mars is covered by hundreds of thousands of craters so need to pick a smooth landing area
 * Mars has dust storms
 * Try to use least amount of fuel when trying to
 * You have to have good enough aim to shoot the rocket directly at Mars, and since Earth goes around the moon twice as fast as Mar’s does, you have to aim it like you aim a football


 * Mars has polar caps and so they probably don’t want the Rover to land there


 * Mars does not have the same kind of magnetic field as Earth
 * Mars sky is covered in pinkish dust


 * Mars is a butterscotch coloring


 * 4 th planet in our Solar System
 * Last of the Rocky Planets
 * Mars is about half the size of Earth but doesn’t have any surface water.
 * Temperatures from -250 to +250
 * Earth: 365 days
 * Mars: 686 days
 * Mars has many volcanos that are not livable anymore
 * Mars' atmosphere is primarily carbon-dioxide and trace amounts of oxygen
 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Make rover able to move on ice
 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Mars is half the size of Earth, so you have to aim right to get there, and if you go past it then your Rover is gone.


 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Mars has seasons


 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Doesn't get as much sunlight as Earth
 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Mars doesn't have a magnetic field
 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Only 44% of sunlight
 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">Takes 7-8 months to get to Mars after lift-off
 * Mars is very, very cold 250 º Celsius
 * <span style="color: #f88008; font-family: 'catholicschoolgirls bb'; font-size: 18pt; vertical-align: middle;">The wheels need to have retraction on the Rover

//Ms. Mc: Good facts. Need to relate them to why we would need to know them or how we would need to design our rocket or rover in order to account for those facts. (-1) For example, in order to create enough thrust to overcome Earth's gravity, what type of rocket fuel might we need? Good additions from our class discussion. 9/10//

History of Rocketry Summary
A large variety of rockets have been made from century to century with attempts by many cultures. Our scientists still aren’t sure when the first rocket was invented, but many have hypothesized, and this is what they have found. Around the year 100 B.C. an inventor from Greece, named Hero of Alexandria used steam as a propulsive gas. He mounted a ball on top of a water kettle, a fire below the kettle which turned into steam and then gas traveled through pipes to the sphere where two L-shaped tubes (on opposite sides) allowed the gas to escape. When doing this there was a thrust that caused the sphere to rotate. In the first century A.D., the Chinese had a modest form of gunpowder made from saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust. During religious festivals, the Chinese filled bamboo tubes with a mixture and tossed them into the flames. They soon began experimenting with the gunpowder tubes. They attached bamboo tubes to arrows and propelled them with bows. They soon learned that the tubes could launch themselves, because of the powder produced from the escaping gas. This is when scientists think the true rocket was born. In 1898, a Russian schoolteacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky suggested the idea of space exploration by rocket. Tsiolkovsky published a report in 1903, and in it he suggested the use of liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range. He stated that “The speed and range of a rocket were limited to only the exhaust velocity of escaping gases.” He is now nicknamed “Father of Modern Astronautics.” Early in the 20th Century, an American, Robert H. Goddard conducted practical experiments in rocketry. He was the first to think of the idea of a liquid fueled rocket. Goddard knew it would be a more difficult task than building solid-propellant rockets. After using fuel and oxygen tanks, turbines, and combustion chambers, he finally achieved the first successful flight with a liquid-propellant rocket on March 16, 1926. It flew for over 2:30 seconds, climbed 12.5 meters, and 56 meters away in a cabbage patch. Many small rocket societies became the opposite of obsolete in the early 20th Century. One, located in Germany, called Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel), led to development of the V-2 rocket. Today it is known as a smaller version of the rockets located in the U.S. The V-2 achieved a great amount of thrust by burning a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol at a rate of about one ton every seven seconds. It has so much thrust, that once launched, the V-2 could devastate whole city blocks. Lastly, on October 4, 1957, the world heard of the artificial satellite launched by the Soviet Union, called Sputnik 1. It was the first successful entry into space. Less than a month later, the Soviets launched another satellite with a dog named Laika on board. Laika survived for seven days in space, before being put to sleep, because of the oxygen supply. After all of these rockets, the space program, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) became a civilian agency. Since January 31, 1958, space crafts have been lifted off from Earth’s surface and put off into space, and now our technology is pushing us into more ideas. Ever since the earliest days of discovery and experimentation, rockets have advanced from simple gunpowder machines to robots skilled enough to travel to outer space. We now as humans can learn more about our universe, due to this technology, and it’s making us smarter and better at what we do.

//Ms. Mc: Excellent summary and great drawings! Just ot clarify, Sputnik was the first successful satellite of Earth.//

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
media type="custom" key="14053892"

Instructions for Running Simulation: 1) Turn on sound 2) Press the green button at the top of the screen 3) And get ready for lift off 4) If simulation doesn't appear, click on the "Learn more about this Project" link above.

Comments: Fiona- All of the definitions looked good and had no spelling mistakes. Maybe go back and check that the apogee is when the rocket is turned at a 180 angle. Great Job with the landing though it looks great!

Taylor-Good job explaining the six stages of the flight. You might want to go back and work on when your pictures appear. The greatings from Mars, at the end was a nice addition.

Caroline - Good definitions! (: you might have wanted to be a bit more careful about the timing of the stages. Very nice rover!!! (: Good job overall.

Labeled Rocket


First the nose cone punctures the air and air goes around the rocket. Then comes the long cylinder, called the body tube, it is the main structure of the rocket. Located inside of the body tube is the recovery system and underneath is the recovery wadding these help the rocket when landing. On the side is a little white bar, that is called the launch lug, and it makes sure the rocket doesn't go off track when in the air and the fins also help make sure it does the same and goes up perfectly straight. The rocket motor is located towards the bottom, and it is a reusable mechanism that makes the rocket lift off. Lastly, the motor mount holds everything within the rocket.

// Ms. Mc: Good job on getting all the parts, Tori. The recovery wadding helps protect the recovery system from being burnt from the motor (-1/2) and the motor mount holds the motor in place. Remember to refer to your figure(s) in your text. 9/10 //

The Atlas V-541 Rocket
//<span style="color: #f61393; font-family: 'CatholicSchoolGirls BB',sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">The rover, “Curiosity” launched on November 26, 2011, inside the Atlas V 541 lay. The Atlas V 541 is 1.17 million pounds and 58 meters tall. That means it’s practically 19 floors tall. As seen in Figure 1, the rocket is made up of a payload, centaur, payload fairing, common core booster, solid rocket boosters, and RD-1880 main engine. This rocket was chosen, because it could exceed Earth’s force of gravity and set it on Mars’ grounds. The Atlas V 541 also provides enough strength to hold the rovers weight. In figure 2, you can see the Atlas V-541 with the rover inside, and they’re both ready for lift-off. //

//Ms. Mc: Good job, Tori and great figures! You also were to describe the purpose of each part (-1). 9/10//

Data Analysis & Results Summary
<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The purpose of this experiment was to build a rocket and launch it just like NASA, but with different variables. The mass of the rocket that NASA uses is 1.17 million pounds and the ones that were used for this experiment were around 45.0 grams. This affected the apogee a bunch, because when the NASA rockets are lifted off the ground, their apogee is around the orbit of Mars, but the ones that were lifted off on Cary Academy’s grounds were seen in the sky the whole entire time. One thing that did stay the same was the forces. At the beginning, when the rocket was on the launch pad, the force of the launch pad and the force of gravity were equal. At lift- off, the force of thrust had to over-power the force of gravity. During the powered flight, the force of thrust was still over powering, because the rocket was still moving upwards. Next came coasting... when the fire turns off and the forces stayed the same as in the powered flight. During apogee, the forces didn't pull on the rocket, and it turned at a 180º angle. Lastly, when the rocket fell the force of gravity regained itself and the rocket fell on Mars’ surface (Cary Academy.) The reason the rocket does this is inertia. Inertia is what makes an object keep doing what it wants to do. It was hypothesized that if the weight of the rocket is lowest, then the apogee will make the rocket go higher.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The weight for the rocket’s ranged through 3.7g and the mode was 46g. This affected the apogee, because the lower the mass, the higher the apogee of the rocket. Group 7's rocket weighed 43.5g went up in the sky 142.8m, then there was the rocket that weighed 46.0g and only went up in the sky 71.3m which was group 6's rocket. This shows that the lesser the mass= more apogee. The hypothesis that was made said that the lower the mass the higher the apogee and that is exactly what happened within the data set.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The graph above shows the data is in an inverse relationship, because the average of the data ranges between a diagonal line that starts at the top left and goes to the bottom right. Lastly, the rocket could have had many errors, because of the weather, fins, motor, and the angle gun measurers. The weather was completely different when the rockets were lifted off. One day was sunny and 70º and the other was cloudy and 50º. This could’ve had a huge difference, but another one could be the fins or the motor. The rockets were hand-made, so the motor could fall out easily or the fins could be upside down. The angle gun measurers were changed every time a different group went. This could cause a mistake in measures, and could make the data wrong.

Fin Placement
In figure #1 is my groups rocket. We believed that if we designed our rocket in this way, it would support it during flight. We decided to leave the three existing fins on the bottom, but above them would lay another set of three. The shape and size of the fins were exactly the same, but the placement of the fins was different. The fins above the bottom ones were between the four. We thought that this would make everything more stable and more aero-dynamic.

Only if our rocket lifted-off. Our rocket weighed 57.1 grams and well let's just say if was supposed to sparkle. We filled our parachute with glitter, and that is what made the rocket weigh a lot. The first rocket that we had only weighed 45.0 grams, without any glitter or other fins. Our center of gravity was almost exactly in the middle, and when we did the swing test it went direct, but once at the launch pad, the rocket's engine just didn't light. The difference of the apogee was tremendous. The first was 101.2 meters and the second was zero.

History of Robotics


Even though we have only heard the word robotics since the 20th Century, but the real truth is that the first robot reported in history was in 270 BC. The Greek engineer, Ctesibus invented a water clock, with organs (ones found on a piano) with motorized parts. Another robot years later was in 1495, Leonardo DaVinci designed a mechanical device that looked like an armored knight and it was called the anthrobot. Scientists have been inventing robots and machines for so long now. Yes, our robots in the 20th and 21st century are bigger and greater, than the ones centuries ago, but there have been so many different types. Going closer and closer to the 20th and 21st century, in 1770, the Swiss clock makers and inventors made the automata for the European royal families. You can see in figures 1 and 2 that this robot/invention has been changed over and over. Kind of a popular robot was built in 1962, it was the first industrial arm robot named Unimate, which can be seen in figure 3.

The truth through the history of robots is that they have changed a lot, but I didn’t just want to write one sentence on this paper. What I have fully explained is how they have changed and how long robots have been around. Now, in the 21st Century, Curiosity, the newest NASA Rover, is being sent to Mars. And right now, it’s coasting its way to Mars to do what robots do best, DISCOVER. There have been many scientists that attempt to make the greatest rocket in the world over and over again. Each one has been unique in its own way with what it was used to do. I can’t wait to see what the many more centuries have to offer. Just look at E.T and Wall-E!

//Ms. Mc - good overview and figures but what do we primarily use robots for today? (-1/2). I like how you included Curiosity. 9.5/10//

Challenge #3
media type="file" key="VMB_Challenge Video #1: Challenge #3~ On the edge.

Short description of challenge? -2



The first block is telling the robot that it needs to detect sound through the sound sensor. That is what happens when I say “Go” in the video. (What port and how loud of sound? -1) The second block tells the robot to go forward forever. (Ports? -1/2) Then the orange block tells it that when a difference in coloring comes, then it should stop. (Sensor, port, and how much light? -1). Then last but not least, the speaker (sound block) is telling the robot to say “watch out!” (How loudly and how many times? -1/2)

//Ms. Mc - good overall but missing some parts. 15/20//

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Life On Mars
When Mars was first discovered, some believed that it was a hospitable and friendly environment. However, missions like Mariner 9’s and the Viking Spacecraft have shown that there might never havebeen any life on Mars. Even though there were negative experiences, there have been positive ones too. One of the first discoveries that prove there might have been life on Mars is that life can live in a greater range of circumstances other than us humans can, such as, salty, and acidic areas. Another factor is that life on Earth started rapidly, so if there were good circumstances for Mars, then life could be able to develop. The real fact of the matter is that Mars probably had life on it, because it might’ve had the same condition as Earth does now. A microbe is the same thing as a microorganism. It is a microscopic (cannot be deciphered by the naked eye), but sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it can be seen by the naked eye. It’s an organism that is either made up of a solitary cell or numerous cells. Some microbes consist of, Algae, Bacteria, and Protozoa. Viruses, well… they are to be determined whether or not they are living or not. Microorganisms usually live in places where there is water (liquid), because they are so important to ecosystems. Microbes typically act as decomposers, which are things that break stuff down into other chemicals or substances.) If microbes were to be found on Mars, I would classify them as living, because… // Ms. Mc: Good summary and argument for your classification. Remember, that in order to be considered "living," an organism not only must possess the 8 characteristics of life but all 8 must be fully functioning. Your pictures were too small and you needed to specifically refer to them in your text (i.e., "as seen in Fig. 1). -1 9/10. //
 * 1) 1. They are made of cells
 * 2) 2. They need materials (water)
 * 3) 3. They grow (Usually by creating more cells)
 * 4) 4. They respond to stimuli (their growth slows if they are located in a small environment)
 * 5) 5. They reproduce (both asexually and sexually)
 * 6) 6. They have respiration
 * 7) 7. They are homeostatic (The maintain their internal conditions)
 * 8) 8. They adapt (Usually to the changing environments on Earth)