Benita

4/9/12 Log Entry #1 Facts You Need to Know About Mars in Order to Send a Rover to Mars

// Ms. Mc: good facts overall. Needed to relate fact to how it might impact getting a rover there (-1). Good additions from class discussion. Please capitalize Mars as it's a proper noun. 9/10 //
 * Mars has no global magnetic field
 * The Martian polar ice caps vary in size depending on season
 * Mars has no surface water
 * Mars is (at the closest) 249 million miles away from earth
 * 1 year on mars is 686 Earth days
 * Typical temperature on mars is -89.2 degrees C or -128.6 degrees F
 * Surface pressure is about 1/100 th of earth’s
 * A person can’t survive on mars without a spacesuit due to lack of oxygen and the persons internal organs would expand and cause the person to be broken apart.
 * Mars has lots of impact craters
 * To get to mars the rocket would have to leave when the earth and Mars' orbits are aligned (this happens about every two years)
 * Atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide
 * Mars has dust storms
 * Mars is about 1/2 the size of earth (consider for trajectory)
 * Mars has seasons so in winter the rover won't be able to recharge.
 * Mars only gets 44% sunlight so need a back up generator
 * Takes 7-8 months to travel to mars
 * Temp. varies greatly within a few feet of the surface
 * Rover needs good traction as surface is rocky and has loose soil.

4/9/12 Log Entry # 2 History of Rocketry

All through history people have used rockets but the earliest rocket was the hero engine. The hero engine was a metal sphere on top of a kettle of boiling water that was attached to two pipes, the steam from the water would move through the pipes and flow out of the two that were attached facing opposite directions on the metal sphere, then the metal sphere would begin to move. The hero engine was considered the first rocket in 100 B.C



Later on in history, the Chinese had invented gunpowder which was commonly used for fireworks. Shortly before the war against the Mongols, the Chinese came up with an idea to attach the fireworks to a bamboo rod and use them as weapons. The way it worked was that when the fuse was lit the firework would propel forward and the bamboo rod would act as a type of steering mechanism to keep the rocket on target. Many years later came things such as the V-2 rocket, which was used in world war two against British soldiers and eventually that lead to the formation of NASA who formed for the peaceful exploration of space for humankind.

//Ms. Mc: Good summary or early rocketry concepts but missing information about how modern rockets came to be and the rocket inventors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (-2). Good diagrams. Please refure to your figures in your writing. 8/10 //

4/9/12 log entry #3 Scratch Rocket Flight Simulation media type="custom" key="14075692" Instructions for how to run simulation: 1. Click on "Learn more about this project" 2. Click green flag to play. 3. Click stop sign to stop. 4. Enjoy! :)

Comments:

Matthew G: Good but forgot some definitions and stages Laura W : GOOD JOB! It would be worth a little more editing, your definitions where a little off on the timing. but other than that it looks pretty good ;) good job!

4/17/12 Log Entry #4



Model rockets are a great pass time for someone who likes to work with their hands and it is also a great learning experience. By building a model rocket you can also learn the stages of rocket flight and the parts of a model rocket. The first part is the nose cone and the nose cone is the part of the rocket that creates a streamline that keeps the rocket on track. The body tube is one of the most important parts of the rocket because it keeps all of the parts like the recovery system, the recovery wadding, motor mount and the rocket motor on the inside of the rocket. The recovery system is the part of the rocket that enables the rocket to return for multiple launches and the recovery wadding is the paper that is on top of the motor that prevents the recovery system from being burned. Finally we have the fins; the fins do about the same thing as the nose cone except there are three of them on three points at the bottom of the rocket.

//Ms. Mc: Good general overview of the parts of the rocket. Although,you labelled all 8 parts, you didn't discuss the function of the launch lug, motor mount or the motor (-1.5). Also, the fins do help with the aerodynamics of the rocket but their primary function is to provide stability (-0.5). Please don't forget to add captions to any file you upload and refer to them in your writing (-1). Your entry also should have a title at the top with the entry # and date. 7/10//

Log entery #6

The purpose of the experiment was to see if the experiment was to see if the mass of the rocket affected the apogee. The mass of the rocket was 43.5 grams which was lighter than most of the other rockets. A rocket with a lighter mass would fly higher because there would be less gravity pulling down on it during the coasting stage of flight, then in the apogee the force of gravity would be pulling down harder on the heavier rockets. Finally in the decent the force of gravity pulled down on the rocket causing it to begin to fall, the air resistance gives little force against the rocket and eventually the recovery system deploys. It was hypothesized that the rocket with a lighter mass would have a higher apogee than a rocket with a heavier mass. The rocket’s mass’ ranged from 43.5 to 47.2 and the apogee ranged from 71.3 to 142.8, as seen in graph #1 there was an inverse relationship between the rockets meaning that the heavier the rocket was the lower the apogee would be.



Log entry 7 5/10/12 Rocket fin redesign

The three fins at the top of the rocket should improve the aerodynamics and allow the rocket to glide through the air more smoothly. Before the new fins were added the rocket weighed 43.5g, but after the new fins were added the rocket weighed 46.6g. On first launch the rocket flew 142.8 meters but on the second launch the rocket flew zero meters because the fins were placed where the launch lug was too close and the rocket got stuck on the launch pad. If it had flown up, the rocket might have had an unstable flight because when the new fins were added, the center of pressure was pushed up above the center of gravity.

//Ms. Mc - good initial ideas, diagram, and conclusion. 5/5//