Laura

4.10.2010 Log Entry #1

What's needs to be known about sending a Rover to Mars. - 4th planet in our solar system.

- Romans thought it looked like blood so they named it Mars after their god of War.

- Red color due to much of its surface being covered with iron-rich soil.

- Made of frozen water and carbon dioxide.

- Surface Pressure: about 1/100th that of Earth.

- Need a spacesuit to hold your internal organs in.

Ms. Mc: Some good points about Mars and its conditions. You were to relate each fact to what effect it would have on getting a rover to Mars or having it work on its surface though (-2). Also, I don't see many additions based on what we discussed in class (-1). Remember, if you don't get everything in class, let me know and I can send it to you. The fact that the Romans named it after their god of war wouldn't have any impact on getting a rover there (-1). 6/10

4.10.2012 Log Entry #2

History of Rocketry The Hero Engine has a sphere mounted on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, and in doing so gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed the idea of space exploration by rocket. In a report he published in 1903, Tsiolkovsky suggested the use of liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range. Tsiolkovsky stated that the speed and range of a rocket were limited only by the exhaust velocity of escaping gases. For his ideas, careful research, and great vision, Tsiolkovsky has been called the Father of Modern Astronautics. No one had ever built a successful liquid-propellant rocket before. It was a much more difficult task than building solid-propellant rockets. Fuel and oxygen tanks, turbines, and combustion chambers would be needed. It was also made by an American.



The Chinese began experimenting with the gunpowder-filled tubes. At some point, they attached bamboo tubes to arrows and launched them with bows. Soon they discovered that these gunpowder tubes could launch themselves just by the power produced from the escaping gas. The true rocket was born. The Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel), led to the development of the V-2 rocket, which was used against London during World War II. NASA became a civilian agency with the goal of peaceful exploration of space for the benefit of all humankind. A few months after the first Sputnik, the United States followed the Soviet Union with a satellite of its own. Explorer I was launched by the U.S. Army on January 31, 1958. In October of that year, the United States formally organized its space program by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Ms. Mc: Good general overview, Laura. The Chinese developed the first rockets so that part should go between the Hero Engine and the liquid propellant rockets. (-1) You were to draw both pictures. Is your second drawing original work? (-1). Please refer to your figures in your text (i.e., "as seen in Figure 1, . . .). Nice job overall. 8/10

4.10.2012 Log Entry #3 Scratch

media type="custom" key="14116966"

Instructions- 1. Turn on Sound 2. Start simulation by pressing green flag 3. if you want to stop it press red stop sign 4. if simulation doesn't appear click on "learn about this project link"

Log Entry #4

Each part of the rock is important. For instance, the nose cone adds aerodynamics to the rocket as it flies. The body tube is the main structural part of the rocket. The recovery system is a device that allows the rocket to come down safely without breaking. While the recovery Wadding protects the system from burning up from ejection. A Launch Log is a small tube that helps your rocket glide safely off of the launch pad. Fins are devices that help keep the rocket gliding straight without swerving. The motor mount is what holds the motor of the rocket in place, while the rocket motor is a safe, non-reusable device which allows the rocket to lift off the ground. All of these parts are what makes up the rocket and allows it to fly.

Ms. Mc: good descriptions and labels. Didn't label "recovery wadding" (-1/2). Don't forget to put a caption with a figure # and title under your figure (-1/2) and add a title to your entry under the date. 9/10

Log Entry #5 4.18.2012



Inside the Atlas V 541 there Is a launch vehicle, and 14 big rigs filled to the rim with cargo. Atlas V rockets can only be used once. The three in the “Atlas V 541” exemplifies the nose cone that is about 16.4 feet in diameter. Four boosters on the central common core booster; and a one-engine Centaur higher-up. The Atlas V was chosen for this mission because of its right liftoff capability for the heavy weight requirements. The Atlas V 541 is 191 feet high, which is taller than a 19 story building, and weighs in as much as 1.17 million pounds. Ms. Mc: The Atlas V-541 is the launch vehicle for the Curiosity Rover or in otherwords, it is what will get the rover out of Earth's orbit and on its way to Mars. It doesn't have 14 big rigs inside it but rather, its mass is equivalent to the mass of 14 fully-loaded big rigs (-1/2). The "5" stands for the diameter of the nose cone (5 m). You needed to describe what each of the 4 parts of the vehicle did (-2). Wrong picture (-2) and no caption (-1/2). Don't forget to refer to the caption in your writing as well (ie., "as seen in Fig. 1") and included a title for the entry below the date. 5/10

Log Entry #6 4.25.2012

It was hypothesized that the smaller the rocket is then the higher the rocket will go because there is a less amount of mass for the rocket to carry into the air. The purpose of this experiment was to see if how high different rockets apogee could. There is two forces acting against the rocket and that is the force of gravity and air resistance, but the force acting with the rocket is thrust which allows the rocket to shoot up into the air. Since the air resistance and gravity aren’t as strong as the thrust from the rocket, the rocket is able to fight against the resistance.

In this experiment the hypothesis was that the smaller the rocket (the less mass it had) it would go higher in the air because of the less amount of material to bring up. This hypothesis was tested and turned out to be true. The amount of mass for the rockets seemed to range between 43.5-47.2 grams. This helps the apogee the range of data that was recorded was from 100-142.8 with an outlier of 71.3. It was shown in a scatter pot that was made that there was an inverse relationship between the apogees because of the different weights of the rocket. This concludes that the hypothesis that was stated is correct. An example of this experiment going wrong would be too accidently but a wing upside down, or having them not level. Another way is getting the correct measurement from the angle gun, if someone even messes up a centimeter on it, that rocket is ruined.



Log Entry #7 4.30.2012



This new configuration shown in Figure 1 should help increase the stability of the rocket because the more fins there is the more control there is. This also includes taking off weight by shaving off the ends of the bottom fins and making them round, and cutting the top fins shorter.

In the first Launch the mass of the rocket was 45.4 grams and has increased exactly 2 grams which means it's mass is 47.4 grams. (need the apogees). I think the mass of the rocket contributed to most of why it didn't fly as high. Because of the mass going up exactly 2 grams, it weighed the rocket down so it wouldn't go as high.

Log Entry #8 5.3.2012

There is a long line of inventors in America, and for the Space Center. Have you ever thought about all of the other inventors in the past; like Leonardo Da Vinci, Raymond Goertz, or even Johns Hopkins. Leonardo was an outstanding person for his time-period. He is the one that created a contraption to fly, and as seen in figure one an Anthrobot. Leonardo da Vinci was one truly magnificent person that lived in the 1495 time period. Going on from the 1400's into the 1500's, a mandolin playing lady is created by an Italian inventor named Gianello Torriano.

Moving on into the 17-1800's Swiss inventors built a robotic child which they named it L'Ecrivain. In the 1800's the pace finally started to catch up into tempo. a couple of examples is an operated by punch cards textile machine. But one of the machines that was used not to long ago was called the teleoperator-equipped articulated arm as shown in figure 2.This machine was built by Raymond Goertz.

Ms. Mc: Good review of the early happenings with robots but what has happened in modern day? (-2) 8/10

Log Entry #9 5.13.2012



Caption? -1/2

- Rover’s assignment. - Similarities/dissimilarities to past Mars rovers - How power will be provided to the rover (not solar panels this time). - How the scientists will communicate with the rover. - Give a general overview of the instruments on board the rover and what they will do: If you would like to read more about Curiosity’s instruments (not required), please go to the following website:[].
 * Make Sure to Have:**
 * Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)
 * CheMin
 * Mars Hand Lens Imager
 * Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer
 * Mast Camera
 * ChemCam
 * Radiation Assessment Detector
 * Rover Environment Monitoring System
 * Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)
 * Sample Acquisition/Sample Preparation and Handling System

Ms. Mc - Are you planning on doing this entry?

Log Entry #10 5.17.2012

On the Edge challenged us to program a robot to stop at the edge of the table. The robot had to travel across the table and stop before the table ended. (How did it start and what was it supposed to say when it stopped? -1/2)

media type="file" key="LGW_Robot_On the Edge Challenge.AVI" width="300" height="300" Video #1 On The Edge Challenge



(Missing wait for sound block that told the robot to wait to do anything until it detected a sound above a certain volume. -2) The 1st block shows/tells the robot move an unlimited distance, without stopping at 50% the speed. (What ports were activated and to what were the connected? -1/2) The 2nd block tells the robot that there is an edge coming up, and if it stops, the distance between the edge of the table and the floor is greater than the amount (16 centimeters) put into the boxes program. (What port and what type of sensor? -1) How the robot stops is programmed in the 3rd box. There is a stop sign underneath the green; this shows that when the robot calculates the amount of space between the table and the floor, it is greater than 16 centimeters, it stops automatically. (What ports and does it brake or coast? -1/2) (Missing the sound block that told the robot to say, "Watch out!" at a certain level of loudness and for 1 time. -2).

Ms. Mc - good in general but you left out some parts. 14/20

6.4.2012 Log Entry #11 Life on Mars?

**There might have been life on Mars once upon a time. The dry ice, craters, and salts found on this planet have been positive influences for the thought of life living on Mars. What happened to all the water that used to flow on this planet? It was predicted that a huge meteorite ** (asteroid) **got caught in the orbit of Mars, and over time it drew in closer and propelled into Mars, and messed up the balance of its rotation, and its core. That is one of the reasons why (shown in figure #1) that Mars has so many craters and canons; partly because of the life, and then partly because of the supposedly impact of the ****meteorite. **

===**A microorganism or microbe is a very small  organism that comprises a single cell unicellular, a cell clusters, or multicellular relatively complex organisms. Microorganisms are quite diverse; they include bacteria (seen in figure 2) , fungi, algae, and protozo. To qualify an object to be living it has to Reproduce, have Cells, make Genetic Material, Evolution/Adaptation, Metabolize, Homeostasis, Respond to Stimuli, and Growth/Development . If one of the rovers sent back dirt from Mars to Earth to be tested, I would think I would classify it to be dead. A lot of the characteristics found where recorded that it used to have. Like the dirt used to respond to stimuli, or homeostasis, but I wouldn't expect to find anything alive on the planet Mars. **===



//Ms. Mc - good general overview and figures. You were to include what the spacecraft missions to Mars have found with respect to water and perhaps life existing on Mars (-1). 9/10//