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Facts that We Need to Know in Order to Get Our Rover to Mars
Some areas in the Martian Crust (in the southern hemisphere) are highly magnetized; these are traces of a magnetic field that remain in the planet’s crust from 4 billion years ago.

There is an open window in which spacecraft can be shot from Earth to Mars using as little few as possible, though this window only opens every 2 years.

Mars has general features that are some of the biggest, widest and deepest, such as Olympus Mons, a volcano whose peak reaches above most of the Martian atmosphere.

Both the northern and southern Martian ice caps vary in size as the seasons switch on Mars. The northern ice cap is mostly frozen water whereas the southern cap is frozen water and carbon dioxide.

There is less sunlight on Mars, so we will need to plan correctly on sending the rover to where sunlight can hit it so it can recharge with solar energy.

The surface gravity of Mars is not as strong as earth’s, so the rover will need to be massive enough to stay on the surface of Mars.

Need enough fuel to escape Earth’s gravity

Need to launch so the distance travelled is the least possible so we can use less fuel

Launch window to determine aim for Mars where it’s going to be in the future when out rockets get there

Launch window is favorable about every 2 years

Mars has 2 small moons so need to steer clear of them

Mars has huge dust storms so need to make rover as dust-proof as possible

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun

At its closest point, Mars // (????) //

Mars has polar caps made of frozen carbon dioxide and water so may want to stay clear for landing

Mars has seasons so we need to store energy for the winter when we won’t be able to collect as much solar energy

Mars is cold; average air temperature is -63 degrees Celsius so rover needs to be able to withstand cold temperature

Mars has hundreds of thousands of craters, large mountains and a huge canyon so need to pick flat area for landing

No liquid water so don’t need to worry about that in picking a landing site

Pressure is 1/100th of that on Earth so rover needs to be able to operate in this environment // Ms. Mc: Good facts about Mars and its condition. Also good additions from our class discussion. 10/10 //

Rocket History
For thousands of years, man has strived to achieve a rocket that will fly. One of the first devices that successfully demonstrated the principles needed in rocket flight was a device called an aeolipile. The aeolipile was invented around 100 B.C. by a Greek inventor, called Hero of Alexandria. Suspended above a pot of boiling water was a hollow sphere, and on each side of the sphere there were hollow L-shaped tubes that allowed the steam from the boiling water to escape out of the sphere. The force of the steam leaving the pipes gave the sphere thrust, and the sphere rotated.

After the Aeolipile there came rocket-shaped tubes that were propelled by solid fuel. The Chinese were among the first to use these rockets for ceremonial and religious purposes. They used simple, which was composed of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal dust to propel the rockets. These rockets were used in religious festivals as well as during the Chinese-Mongol war (they called the rockets “arrows of fire”).  For centuries solid propellant was used to fuel rockets, but in 1898 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed the idea of space exploration and found that liquid fuel for rockets would achieve greater range. He said that the speed and range of a rocket are determined by the overall velocity of the escaping gases. For his great discoveries, he has been called the Father of Modern Astronautics.

On March 16, 1926, just 28 years after Tsiolkovsky’s discovery, an American, Robert H. Goddard, achieved the first successful rocket flight using liquid fuel. The propellant was a mixture of liquid oxygen and gasoline, the rocket only flew for 2.5 seconds, climbed a total of 12.5 meters and landed 56 meters away in a local cabbage patch. It was this discovery, this launch that motivated people to use liquid fuel to achieve greater distances with their rockets.

The race to space had begun. In Germany the Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) Created the V-2 rocket (known as the A-4 in Germany), which was created for use in World War II against London. The V-2 achieved its thrust by burning a solution of alcohol and oxygen at a rate of one ton every seven seconds. This rocket appeared too late in the war to be used, but by the war’s end, Germany had plans for advanced missiles capable of attacking the United States from across the Atlantic Ocean.

In America, meanwhile, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed with the goal to peacefully explore space for the benefit of all humankind. It was (and still remains) America’s formally organized space program.

Rocketry has evolved drastically over centuries and centuries of experimentation and discovery, but the discoveries haven’t ended. The world is still finding ways to make our rockets even safer, more advanced and more likely to succeed in their missions. The race is not over yet, and will most likely never be.

//Ms. Mc. Great summary! Good drawings too. Please refer to your diagrams in your writing (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1"). 10/10 //

Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation
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Instructions for How to Run Simulation


 * 1) Turn on your Sound
 * 2) Click on the Green Flag to start Simulation
 * 3) Click on the Red Stop Sign to end Simulation
 * 4) If the simulation does not run click on the Learn More about This Project Link

Marisa B- I like how your rocket moved like a real rocket would. You did a great job on it and I can tell you worked very hard. One thing I would change is when you changed from one background to another the rocket disappeared.. In addition, I liked how you made the simulation fun. By fun I mean you said something like "Goodbye Earth. It was nice knowing you." So, that kind of made your simulation not as serious. If you know what I mean. But, good job!

Rachel G- I like how you said in your scratch, "Good-bye Earth, it was nice knowing you." If I were you I would glide and turn, and I would change how you went up past mars, but then came down and up again. You did a really great job on your scratch and it must have taken some time to do so good job!!!!! :)

Labeled Rocket Photo


Located on Figure 1, the different parts of the rocket are labeled. The nose cone of a rocket guides the rushing air around the body of the rocket (it streamlines the rocket). The body of the rocket (a large tube) is the main structural part of the rocket. Located inside the body tube of the rocket is a device that allows the rocket to be transported safely back to the ground (usually some sort of parachute on a model rocket). Below the recovery system is the recovery wadding, which holds the job of protecting the recovery system from the ejection charge gases. The launch lug, located on the outside of the body tube, guides the rocket straight at a 90 degree angle off the launch pad. The fins of the rocket(also located on the outside of the body tube) keep the rocket traveling straight on its course. The motor mount in the inside of the body tube holds the rocket's motor in place, and the rocket motor (when ignited) provides the thrust that lifts the rocket off the ground.

// Ms. Mc: great definitions and labels! 10/10 //

The Atlas V-154 Rocket Parts and Explanation
The Atlas V 541 rocket is the carrier of the Curiosity Rover, and is currently on its voyage to the Red Planet. The Atlas V 541 is composed of multiple different systems and inventions that allow it to safely journey to Mars. The RD-180 main engine produces the thrust that is needed to launch the Atlas V 541 out of earth's gravity by burning liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellant and produces more the 800,000 pounds of thrust. Solid Rocket boosters also provide extra thrust to the liftoff sequence. The Common Core Booster serves as the main propulsive stage for the Atlas V 541, and the Centaur serves as another engine for the rocket; the rocket's "brains". The Payload Fairing encloses and protects the rover, and the payload serves as an adapter than can be varied to meet a vast multitude of mission needs. See Figure #1 for location of the rocket's parts.



The Atlas V 541 was selected for the Mars Science Laboratory Mission because it has the right liftoff capability that is required to lift heavy equipment. It belongs to the same family of rockets that have successfully launched NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and New Horizons missions. The height of the Atlas V 541 is 58 meters, and the mass of the Atlas V 541 is 531,000 kilograms.

//Ms. Mc: Very good overview and diagram of the launch vehicle. What exactly is the purpose of the Centaur enging? (-1/2) 9.5/10//

Introduction and Summary of Rocket Experiment

 * TESTING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MASS OF A ROCKET AND ITS APOGEE **

The purpose of this experiment was to test whether or not the mass of a rocket affected the apogee of the model rocket. On the launch pad, the forces acting upon the rocket were gravity and the force of the launch pad, so on the launch pad the mass of a rocket would not matter. When the engines are ignited and the rocket lifts off, air resistance and gravity still are acting upon the rocket and the more massive the rocket, the stronger the pull of gravity. When the apogee was reached, the rocket stops for a split second and then the gravity acting upon the rocket pulls the rocket back down to earth. During the rocket’s descent back to the ground, the air resistance that was acting upon the rocket begins to act upon the rocket resists the descent of the rocket. It was hypothesized that the higher a rocket’s mass was, the lower its apogee would be and the quicker its descent because gravity has a stronger pull on more massive objects, making it more difficult for a rocket to fly very high. The rocket’s inertia would of course be more the more massive the rocket, and there would be less air resistance, but inertia and lack of much air resistance would not equal the force of gravity, and eventually the stronger pull of gravity on the rocket would pull it back to earth sooner.



In Graph #1 it is apparent that generally when the rocket’s mass increases the apogee of the rocket decreases. The rockets’ masses were 43.5 g, 43.9 g, 44.0 g, 44.1 g, 44.7 g and 47.1 g, with a difference between the lightest and heaviest rockets just 3.6 grams. The distances each of these rockets flew were 71.3 m, 83.9 m, 107.2 m, 90 m, 47.7 m and 63.7 m, with a larger difference between the highest and lowest apogees, which was 59.5 meters. There is a direct relationship between the masses and the heights of the apogee of the rockets. Between the rockets that weighed 43.5 g, 43.9 g, 44.0 g and 44.1 g, there was a significant rise in apogee with a rise in mass. Also, between the rockets that weighed 44.7 g and 47.1 g there was a rise in apogee along with the mass. When the rocket with he mass of 43.5 grams was shot off, it only had an apogee of 71.3 meters. When a rocket with a higher mass was shot off (a mass of 44.1 grams) its apogee was 107.2 meters.Therefore, the hypothesis was proven incorrect by the data that supports the fact that when the mass of a rocket increases, so does the rocket’s apogee. The hypothesis stated that when the mass of a rocket increased, the apogee of the rocket would decrease. This would mean that the mass of a rocket and the rocket’s apogee would have an inverse relationship.

Not all controlled variables were exactly the same throughout all the launches, in fact, many of them changed. The experience and precision of the people using the angle guns varied as the users rotated in and out, which would affect the apogee overall. The wire may have bent a little bit with each use, so the launch angle of each rocket may have been slightly different. Because these rockets were built by different people, the fin placement and stability of the rocket may have varied, thus resulting in a difference in apogee height. The amount of glue and where glue was applied may have had some effect on how aerodynamic the rocket was during liftoff. Lastly, the sample size of six rockets was not enough to solidly form a hypothesis on the relationship between the mass and apogee of a rocket; at least 100 rockets would be needed. Therefore, a solid conclusion upon the relationship between the mass and apogee of a rocket could not be formed.

Rocket Fin Re-Design


As shown in Figure 1, smaller fins were added as an experiment between the normal fins on the rocket. It was believed that this design would increase the apogee of the rocket because it would improve the rocket's stability, thus letting it fly higher and straighter on a vertical path. The added fins were made smaller than the normal fins because the launch lug prevented the fins from being normal size, meaning that the launch lug was in the way.

For the first launch, the mass of the rocket was 43.5 grams, and for the second launch the mass of the rocket increased to 44.9 grams. The apogee of the rocket during the first launch was 71.3 meters, but when the rocket was launched for a second time the launch failed because one of the small fins added to the rocket was interfering with the launch lug, thus preventing the rocket from launching. During the first launch, the rocket was stable because of its fins during flight. The light mass of the rocket allowed it to fly higher because the gravitational pull was not as strong on it. The added fins of the rocket added stability, again, and the fins added aerodynamics to the rocket, or they would have if the rocket lifted off. Because the center of pressure was below the center of gravity with the rocket, the rocket would have flied high and stably, but because liftoff failed this could not be proved. It was therefore hypothesized that if the rocket had flown successfully, the flight would have been straight, the rocket would have been stable and the rocket would have a higher apogee than with the first launch.

History of Robotics
Since the Industrial Revolution, modern concepts of robotics were being developed with the availability of more complex machines and the subsequent discovery of electricity. Of course, during the 1920s the entire robotics concept was not created. Since around 350 B.C there have been machines that are controlled by a hand-operated motor. The Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum is rumored to have built a mechanical pigeon in 400 B.C. The clepsydra was made in 250 B.C, by Ctesibius of Alexandria, a physicist and inventor from Egypt. Yan Shi, from China, created a wooden automaton that resembled a human in the 10th century. Another Ancient Chinese water-powered mechanism that was Su Song's astronomical clock tower, which featured a clepsydra tank, waterwheel, escapement mechanism and a chain drive that powered an armillary sphere, as seen in Figure 1. Although there were already these inventions created, during the Industrial age new opportunities for robot design and creation were created. Because of recently discovered electricity (in an overall timeline sense) and new mechanics, digitally controlled industrial robots and robots equipped with artificial intelligence were made possible, and have been created since the 1960s.



With the Industrial Revolution came different ways to create robots. In 1928, in Japan, Makoto Nishimura created Japan's first-ever robot, called Gakutensoku. In New York, a robot called Electro appeared in the 1939 New York World's Fair, in Westinghouse's pavilion. In the 1950s, Garco, another robot, was created. This robot could perform only a few moves, much like the automatons of the 18th century. Unimate, the first industrial robot ever created, worked on the General Motors assembly line in 1961. In 1968, Marvin Minsky engineered the Tentacle Arm, an arm that was controlled by a computer and its 12 joints were powered by hydraulics. The first mobile robot that was capable of reasoning about its surroundings was Shakey, built in 1970. Shakey combined many sensor inputs, including TV cameras, laser rangefinders and bump sensors to navigate. Soon, the idea of mobile robots went viral, and perhaps the appearance of C-3PO and R2-D2 in the Star Wars series in 1977 helped spread that perception.



The first robot whose motors were inside itself was the "Direct Drive Arm" created in 1981 by Takeo Kanade. Soon, the idea that robots could be artificially intelligent spread, and companies around the world began to develop artificial intelligence programs. Chess playing programs HiTech and Deep Thought became prominent in 1989. Another artificially intelligent mobile robot was a hexapodal robot named Genghis was created in 1989, and used 4 microprocessors, 22 sensors and 12 servo motors. NASA then created the Mars Lander Sojourner, as seen in Figure 2, in 1997. Then, the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity were created, followed by the most recent rover, Curiosity, who is currently on its way to search the Red Planet.

From ancient times to modern-day concepts, robotics has captivated the minds of our scientists and engineers. From wooden water-operated mechanisms to the high-tech Apple iPads, iPhones and iMacs, robotics have advanced and evolved throughout history. It is robotics, a legacy, a history.

// Ms. Mc - very good general overview and figures! I like how you included robots that are used to explore space. 10/10 //

The rover Curiosity is essentially a mobile laboratory, set upon the Red Planet to collect samples of Martian soil drilled from rocks or scooped from the ground. Its mission is to roam the surface of Mars in search for evidence of life in the soil. Curiosity, however, is not exactly like past robots Spirit and Oppurtunity. Curiosity has the same six-wheel drive, rocker-bogie suspension system and cameras mounted on the mast as former rovers, but unlike Spirit and Oppurtunity, Curiosity will carry equipment to gather samples from rocks and soil, to process them and distribute them to internal test chambers located inside analytical instruments. Also, unlike both Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity will not be powered by sunlight with solar panels. Its electrical power will be supplied by a U.S. Department of Energy radioisotope power generator. The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator produces electricity from heat from plutonium’-238’s radioactive decay. Scientists will communicate with Curiosity through radio relays in Mars orbiters. There is a connection between the Mars orbiters and the Deep Space Network of antennas on Earth. The instruments on Curiosity are far more advanced than Spirit and Opportunity, of course, and are more designed to analyze samples of Martian soil rather than to navigate the terrain. See Figure 1 for a close-up image (artist rendering) of Curiosity on Martian terrain.



As seen in Figure 2, each of the instruments has a direct location that allows it to perform the best it can. The suite of instruments called Sample Analysis at Mars analyzes soil, and includes a gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer and a tunable laser spectrometer. CheMin, an X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrument, will also examine samples of Martian soil gathered by the robotic arm. It’s designed to identify and quantify the minerals in rocks and soils, and to measure bulk composition. The Mars Hand Lens Imager, located on the arm of the robot, will take extreme close-up images of rocks, soil and if present, ice, and will reveal details smaller than the width of a human hair. Located on the arm as well, the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer will determine the relative amounts of different elements in rocks and soils. The Mast Camera, located at around human-eye height, will capture the rover’s surroundings in both stereo and color, with the capability to take and store high-definition video sequences. The ChemCam will use laser pulses to vaporize material from Martian rocks or soil targets from up to 7 meters away. It includes both a spectrometer to identify the types of atoms excited by the beam and a telescope to capture detailed images of the area illuminated by the beam. The Radiation Assessment Detector will identify the radiation environment at the surface of Mars. This information is essential for planning human exploration of Mars and relates to assessing the planer’s ability to harbor life. The Rover Environment Monitoring System, provided by Spain’s Ministry of Education and Science, measures atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds and ultraviolet radiation levels. The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (or DAN), provided by Russia’s Federal Space Agency, will measure subsurface hydrogen up to one meter below the surface. Finally, the Sample Acquisition/Sample Preparation and Handling System includes tools to remove dust from rock surfaces, drill into rocks, scoop soil and collect powdered samples from rocks’ interiors, sort samples by particle size with sieves and deliver samples to laboratory instruments.



//Ms. Mc - excellent overview of Curiosity's payload! 10/10//

Challenge Programming Code Explanation
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The ¨Walk the Line¨ challenge (actually, it was the "On the Edge" challenge) included the use of the sound sensor and the light sensor on the robot. When you exclaimed ¨Go¨ to the robot, the robot was to move forward until the robot´s light sensors detected the black line at the edge of the table. When the sensor detected the line, the robot was to stop abruptly and exclaim ¨Watch Out!¨. Then the challenge was terminated.



Block 1- A "Wait for" block that tells the robot to wait for a sound that measures less than 54 using the sound sensor. Which port? -1/2 Block 2- A movement block that instructs the robot's B and C servomotors to move forward at a speed of 75 unlimited when sound is detected. Block 3- A "Wait for" block that instructs the robot to wait until the light sensor detects a a reflection of light that's less than 43. Which port? -1/2 Block 4- A movement block that instructs the robot's B and C servomotors to abruptly stop moving. Block 5- A sound block that tells the robot to exclaim "Watch Out" when the B and C servomotors stop moving. What volume? -1/2

Challenge Terminated.

//Ms. Mc - good job! 18.5/20//

Is there Life on Mars?
In modern times, the possibilities of life on Mars have intrigued us more than ever. So much so, that we have attempted to discover life on Mars using various landers and rovers, as well as studying meteorites from Mars. Mars has remained the main focus of planetary exploration for three prominent reasons: it is the most Earth-like planet, other than earth it is the planet that is most likely to have indigenous life and it will most likely be the first extraterrestrial planet to be visited by humans. Lander modules, such as the Viking 1 and Viking 2, reached the surface of Mars to send back data of the surrounding environment. Mariner 9, the first ever spacecraft to orbit another planet, was placed in mars in November of 1971 and operated until October of 1972. It returned images that demonstrated a history of widespread volcanism, erosion by water and the reshaping of extensive areas of the surface by internal forces. The Mars Pathfinder deployed a wheeled rover named Sojourner on the surface. The Sojourner (as seen in Figure 1) reached Mars in September 1997 and examined Mar's gravity and magnetic fields, surface topography and surface mineralogy. The Japanese Nozomi was the first to reach the vicinity of the planet, but malfunctions prevented it from being put into Mar's orbit. Later, in 2003, the Mars Express orbiter detected water ice (as well as carbon dioxide) at Mar's polar ice caps, as well as discovering clay minerals in the terrain. In January of 2004, the rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mar's surface. They were equipped with cameras and instruments that included a microscopic imager and a rock-grinding tool, which they used to examine rocks, soil and dust around their landing sites. Both rovers found evidence of past water, but perhaps the most dramatic was Opportunity's discovery of rocks that appeared to have been laid down at the shoreline of an ancient body of salty water. In 2005, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took images of dark streaks that appeared to be water flowing downhill after having being melted during the Martian spring. Later it was found that the clay minerals are evidence of a warm distant past. In 2008, the U.S probe Phoenix (as seen in Figure 2) landed in Mars' north polar region carrying a small chemical laboratory to test the arctic soil. It found water ice underneath Mars' surface and alkaline soil.





The negative results from the Viking Spacecraft created a pessimism that continued through the 1980s that life did not exist on Mars. However, later discoveries contributed to a more optimistic view. Life can survive in a far wider range of environments than was formerly thought. Therefore, life could survive in extreme conditions, such as in very saline and acid environments. The second is that the origin of life is not an extremely low-probability event, if the right environments are present. The third is that conditions on early Mars were Earth-like (when life arose on Earth). Earth and Mars also exchange materials. More than 30 pieces of Mars (in the form of meteorites) have come to Earth. Piece of Earth may have been transported to Mars when life had started on Earth during the period of heavy bombardment.Thus, life may have originated independently on Mars or been seeded by Earth. In 1996 scientists found evidence of life in a Martian meteorite. They listed bacteria-like objects, detection of hydrocarbons, mineral assemblages and magnetic particles similar to those produced by some terrestrial bacteria. They then concluded that now that there are plausible abiological explanations for all the observations, and that the scientists' claims are likely invalid.

For a substance to be considered living, it must have all eight characteristics of life. It must be made of cells (be organized and have a cellular structure), have respiration (meaning they release energy stored in chemical bonds), they must adapt (modify themselves to suit their needs and way of life), grow and develop (to develop from a lower form to a more complex form), to reproduce (to produce more beings of their own kind), respond to stimuli (react to their surroundings), be homeostatic (remain the same on the inside despite external changes) and need raw materials (such as water and oxygen, etc. in order to live). For microbes to be considered alive, you would need to test whether or not they have all 8 characteristics of life. For a microbe to be classified as non-living, it would have some or none of the characteristics of life, and for a sample to be considered dormant it would have all 8 characteristics of life, but having some be postponed or slowed for a period of time.

//Ms. Mc - great summary of the findings of the spacecraft explorations of Mars and of the 8 characteristics of life! Missing captions for your figures, -1/2. 9.5/10//