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Wiki entry one: What is electricity and how can it be used to get to Mars? Electricity is a form of energy that results when electrons and protons overthrow the neutral balance, resulting in a positive or negative charge. There are three different types of electricity, which are static, discharge, and current. Static is controlled electricity. When you rub your feet on the carpet, electrons gather on you, When you touch someone, you release these electrons, which lightly shock the victim. Electric current is electricity that is inside a circuit. A cord moving from an outlet connected to a light is an example of this. The electricity goes from the outlet to the light bulb, then right back again, in a never ending circuit. Electric discharge is out of control electricity that cannot be controlled. This type of electricity is nearly impossible to contain, because it is being emitted so randomly and is usually very powerful. An example of this is lightning, which is discharge by storm clouds, which are charging with electrons and protons, reacting and a blast of pure electricity.

Electricity can be used to get to Mars simply by using it for all the technology on board. Batteries could be used to power computers among other things, and electricity would be necessary to power the ship from mission control. Once landed the ship would need to deploy some kind of probe or droid by, you guessed it, electricity. Once this was successfully carried out, astronauts would come armed with probes and small vehicles maybe, all powered by electricity. So nearly everything that has to do with the Mars mission is going to take electricity, this just shows how important it is. Wiki Entry two: What is Magnetism and how can it be used to get to Mars? Magnetism is the attraction or repulsion of two magnetic materials, due to electrons moving in a circular motion around a nucleus. Every magnet has a north and south pole, even Earth is a magnet, it has the North Pole and the South Pole. Like charges repel and opposite charges attract. There are only three noticeable magnetic minerals, which are iron, nickel, and cobalt. Electromagnets are magnets activated by electricity. When it is charged,it turns magnetic. An example of the Earth being a magnet is that with the two poles, it repels most of the sun's rays, if this didn't happen, we would all not be alive. See Figure 1. Another example of magnetism is that if you take 2 pieces of iron and put them close together, they will attract to each other. However if you take one of them and turn it 180 degrees, they will repel because like charges repel and opposite charges attract. Another example of magnetism is that if you were to look in a junkyard, you would see one of those mini "cranes" with the disk instead of the claw. This is an electromagnet. When the disk is charged, it becomes magnetic and will attract other things, in this particular case, its cars. As soon as you pull the lever though, the charge is gone and the disk is no longer magnetic. Figure 1: Earth's magnetic field repelling solar beams Magnetism can be used to get to Mars in a number of ways. One of these ways is that all the different parts of the space shuttle can be attached using electromagnets, and w hen a certain stage is reached, it stops the charge, making the stages disconnect. Another way magnetism could be used is as a compass, to navigate through space, after all, it can't look up at the stars and tell! See Figure 2. This may sound farfetched, but if a magnetic pad was put on mars, it could repel or attract at will, to help any robot landings. Figure 2: A compass could be used for the rocket to navigate. From the Big Bang to the Galaxies: Wiki Entry 3 The world started in a fraction of a second. The Big Bang started out as the size of an atom, but quickly grew into the size of Earth. When the big bang started it was incredibly hot. All the time it was cooling off, and since only certain things can survive with heat, all the particles came at different times. Within a few milliseconds, Quarks, anti-quarks, and energy were formed. From there antiprotons and protons were created, and then neutrons. Anti matter came and so did matter, there was more matter than anti matter, and for a very good reason. If there was more anti matter than nothing would exist today. At 3 minutes the first nuclei was created, which was helium. Atoms were eventually created after about 300,000 years. After 2 billion years, galaxies start to form in three different shapes. These shapes were spiral, irregular, and elliptical. The Milky Way Galaxy: Wiki Entry 3 The Milky Way galaxy was formed after about 3 billion years for the Milky Way to form. There is a layer of stars that are about 100,000 light years long. The same band is 1,000 light years thick. There is a bulge in the middle of the Milky Way that is 20,000 light years thick. There are four spiral arms around the milky way. This means that the Milky Way is a spiral shape galaxy. Inside of the bulge are mostly red and orange stars, and nearly all of them are very old. The entire Milky Way is rotating, but everything is also spinning independently. Lives of the Stars: Wiki Entry 3 Stars form in clouds of dust and gas when a disturbance from space hit these dust clouds. This disturbance causes cores, gravity forms these until they form protostars, which are surrounded in a halo of gas and dust. Eventually this halo fades, and the star is born. Bluish-white stars are the biggest type of stars, and are 20x bigger than our sun. It then goes down the chart of biggest to smallest goes from blue, white, cream, yellow, orange, and down to red. The heat index of the stars goes in the same order. Our own sun is a yellow star, and is about halfway through it's life cycle. When the sun dies it will grow up to 100x its original size, and then go back to normal, and then finally it will become dwarf star. Giant stars, like bluish-white one, will explode in a mighty supernova! The Sun: Wiki Entry 3 The sun is in the middle of our solar system, and all the planets and their moons inside the solar system orbit around it. The sun is 67% hydrogen. The corona, or core of the sun, is 15 million degrees. No material can withstand that heat that we have access to. Sunspots gather on the sun in specific areas during a cycle. These cycles take about eleven years. Sunspots look black because they are around 1000 degrees less than their surroundings.Although during the cycle of the sun sunspots gather in different areas, it is usually in general areas of a place, not randomly placed spots everywhere. History of the Solar System: Wiki Entry 3 In the belt of the sun the outer icy planetesimals survived while only the inner planetesimals made of metal survived. These planetesimals collided,the slower ones coming together to form larger ones and the fast ones breaking apart on each other. Eventually in the outer area the four large planets formed, which were Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, and Jupiter. These four planets had rings because their gravitational pull was strong enough to pull planetesimals and dust, among other things, to form a ring around all of them individually. In the inner Solar System, the four terrestrial planets formed. All the previous planetesimals have now all become comets or are in an asteroid belt. The dinosaurs became extinct because of a comet hitting the Earth. Rocket History: Wiki Entry 4 Around 100 B.C. a Greek names Hero invented the concept for rocketry. He invented the aeolipile, a device that worked on steam power. It was a sphere mounted over a kettle full of water. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, the steam then traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two curved tubes on the sides of the sphere allowed the steam to escape which then caused the sphere to rotate. It is unclear when the first rockets appeared but in the 1st century the Chinese perfected the art, making a gunpowder like substance from saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust. They put this mixture into tubes, which they used for festivals. They began experimenting with these tubes for weaponry, and they developed the fire arrow. The fire arrow was a regular old arrow fired from a bow, with one of the tubes attached. The Chinese found out that the arrows could fly just by the power of the emerging gas. This was the first true rocket. These fire arrows were tested out in war against the Mongols, and they had a major psychological effect. It is not known how effective the fire arrows were as weapons, but they were most likely very inaccurate. Major developments happened from then on, including the spread of rockets to Europe. In 1898, a Russian schoolteacher by the name of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, proposed that rockets could be used for space exploration. Tsiolkovsky also proposed that liquid propellants would propel the rocket further. In the beginning of the 20th century, an American by the name of Robert H. Goddard who believed after conducting several tests, that liquid propellants would be more effective than solid propellants. He invented and launched the first successful liquid propelled rocket on March 16, 1926. The rocket flew only 2.5 seconds, but it was still an astonishing feat for the time. In World War 2 rockets were experimented on once again as weapons. including the V-2 rocket, developed by the Germans. After World War 2 German rockets were captured by the US and the Russians, who used these to build their own military rockets. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space, Sputnik 1. A few months later The US launched their own satellite, Explorer 1. Ever since then countless satellites have been launched from Earth, from numerous countries. People have gone to the moon, and even robots have gone to Mars. Rockets have evolved a lot since fire arrows, but its still been the same concept. Figure 1: Rocket Aerodynamics Figure 2: Chinese Fire Arrow Rocket History: Wiki Entry 5 Our rocket flew only 36 m high. When our rocket went into the air a fin immediately blew off. When it reached 36 m the parachute deployed, but the shock cord detached with it, so the parachute was useless. I believe one of the reasons our rocket flew so low was because of the weight. Everyone in our class painted their rockets, and since we used the most paint ours was the heaviest. This might have weighed the rocket down. To improve our flight next time I think I can make sure all parts are intact by checking it over and also while constructing to make sure everything is glued correctly.

The purpose of the rocket launch experiment was to see if the amount of mass of a rocket changes how high it goes. 9 rockets were made for this experiment, and they were all painted so that they had different weights for the experiment. The experiment was performed by two people going 100 meters away using a trundle wheel. Using angle guns, they measured the angle from 100 meters to when the rocket’s parachute deployed. The peak of the rocket’s flight was found by using tan, and was measured in meters. It was found that the lighter the rocket, the higher it went.

Figure 1:Graph of Rocket Flight Results Figure 2: Model of Rocket with Descriptions Mars Rover Drop: Wiki Entry 6 Our drop vehicle was made specifically for maximum air resistance and air time. We stuck our egg inside a plastic cup and then we wrapped it up in bubble wrap. We then took a gallon sized plastic bag and stuck the egg, which was inside the bubble wrap, into the bag. The bag was then coated with paper towel for maximum comfort. Popsicle sticks were then taped to the side of the plastic bag. Two balloons were then taped to these popsicle sticks, to form a kind of parachute. We then taped pieces of paper between the balloons, as a sort of bridge, so that it could glide or give more air resistance. Our parachute descended slowly to the concrete ground, but there was not enough padding to keep the egg from cracking. Next time we should add more padding for the egg. Next time we could use some thrusters and more bubble wrap if they were provided. Figure 1: This is our incompleted drop vehicle Robot History: Wiki Entry 7 Animatrons and movable machines have been mentioned for millenniums, however the word robot was not used until the early 1800´s. Around 3000 B.C. it was recorded that human figurines were used to strike the hour bells on water clocks. This was the first example of something mechanical performing a task. In 200 B.C. it was recorded that in Hellenic Egypt There were statues that could speak, gesture, and prophecy. It is not known if these records are true, but if they are, they are the first examples of robotics in the world. In 1557 Giovanni Torriani (An awesome name) made a robot to fetch bread from the store for his Emperor. In the 17th century, multiple advancements were made in the robotics field, but the 1900's was when robotics actually turned many heads. The term "robot" was first used in the play, R.U.R., or Rossum's Universal Robots. The play was about robots being made for work by men and then they attack the men. The word robot comes from the Czech word for of roboti, which means serf labor or hard work. The earliest robots, as we think of them, were invented in the 1950's. George C. Devol, an inventor from Louisville, Kentucky, made the Unimate, a reprogrammable manipulator. He attempted to sell it but to no avail. In the late 1960's Joseph Engleberger took Devol's patent and formed the company Unimation to produce and sell the robot. Because of his efforts i the field, Engleberger was proclaimed the "Father of Robotics." In 2003 it was shown just how far robotics had come because this was the year that, the two robots, Spirit and Opportunity, were landed on Mars successfully. For years to come these robots took pictures of Mars and analyzed the surface of Mars, before eventually dying because of dust storms. Figure 1: These are Hexbugs, robotic toys for children Figure 2: This is Asimo, developed by Honda, it is one of the world's leading robots, it can even kick a soccer ball Almost all of this information was gathered from: [] Programming Robots: Wiki Entry 8 Motors are what make a robot move, in Mindstorms robot's cases, these are incased in plastic and hooked up via wire to the ports on the top of the robot. These motors are attached to parts like wheels and claws, which move according to what you programmed into the motors. These motors can allow you to move forward, backwards, do point turns, curve turns, drive in a square, and even go backward while turning. The challenges of using these motors is that sometimes they can be difficult to program, and it takes a lot of time. It is also frustrating because one single little degree or centimeter can mess up the whole program, and then it must be hunted down throughout the entire program. Sensors are what make different Mindstorms robots special. There are four different types of sensors, there is the light sensor, touch sensor, ultrasonic sensor, and and the sound sensor. The Ultrasonic sensor, measures distance from objects in centimeters or inches. The light sensor detects how much light is being reflected off a surface. The touch sensor reacts to when it is pushed, and it can be built upon to make it more sensitive or a bigger target box. The sound sensor, implied by the name, detects the level of sound in the area. These can all be used in programs to move the robot around. For example, if you wanted your robot to back up, turn and keep going until it hit another object, then you could use a touch sensor to make it stop, and then do those motions, then you could put it on loop. And if you had a sound sensor and you were watching your robot about to fall off the Grand Canyon, you could make it so that when you clapped or screamed, it would stop. Figure 1: This is a Mindstorms robot with an ultrasonic sensor attached Figure 2: These are all of the Mindstorms sensors, light sensor, touch sensor, ultrasonic sensor, and sound sensor Geology on Mars: Wiki Entry 9 There are many ways a mineral or rock can be identified. When you pick up any little rock or mineral in the ground, do you think about what it could be, or what it's made of? You probably don't unless you're a geologist. Rocks and minerals are not only identified by color or luster however. Most of the other ways require other material though, so you can't just pick up a rock and identify it right away, yoju have to have the right equipment. One test used to determine what a mineral or rock is is called a streak test. It uses two unglazed porcelain tiiles, one black and one white. They can be other colors, but these two work best. The rock is then scratched onto the tiles to see what color they leave in powder form. Another kind of test is the hardness test. Using the hardness scale, a rock can be scratched until it is in the middle of two parts of the scale. Once this happens, it can be hypothesised how hard the rock/mineral is. Figure 1: This is an example of a streak test, where rocks are being scratched on a white porcelain tile to see their streak colors Curiosity is the name of the robot who has landed on Mars. It is powered by Uranium and was sent to Mars to sample rocks and minerals for signs of water.The robot using mechanical "arms" to scoop a desired bunch of minerals and rocks from the ground. The the robot would bring the sample inside of it for testing. The robot would conduct various tests on these rocks, and then a report would be sent to Geologists back at Earth. Essentially, Curiosity acts almost like a geologist, and in some ways Curiosity is better.So far Curiosity hasn't found anything groundbreaking, but traces of minerals that imply water have been found.

Figure 2: This is a picture of Curiosity with a worker