Matthew+M

The Search for Life on Mars //by Matthew M//

From Big Bang to Galaxies
The universe started out the size of an atom and grew to something beyond imaginable in size very quickly, because of the big bang. About 15 billion years ago the universe was very hot and packed into the space of an atomic nucleus. Within a tenth of a millisecond, antiquarks, energy, and quarks are formed which then turn into protons and neutrons. The matter and antimatter particles collide and annihilate, forming energy. The temperature is still dropping. Then the universe is dominated by radiant particles such as electrons. After three minutes, protons and neutrons combine, making helium nuclei. During the next 300,000 years, not much happens but the temperature continues to fall, and the universe keeps expanding. After 300,000 years, the temperature has dropped to 3000 degrees kelvin and electrons orbit the helium and hydrogen nuclei without falling apart by the heat. About 2 billion years after the big bang, galaxies form. Galaxy and clusters of galaxies are formed around huge, empty voids. Our galaxy started as a huge sphere of gas. Galaxies are classed, according to their shape as elliptical, spiral, or irregular.

The Milky Way Galaxy
The milky way is the galaxy that we live in, and it is very complicated. On a clear, starry night, you can see the milky way arch across the sky. The light is coming from a ton of stars. The darker patches are clouds of dust. The milky way is an insiders view in our own galaxy. The diagram above shows the disk of stars and the rings of gas and dusk around the center bulge, which contains a lot of stars (red and yellow) jam packed into the middle. These are old stars and there is also star clusters around the galaxy that stretch out 130,000 light years away from the center. The milky way has four spiral arms that spin out from the center. In the middle there is a nucleus, probably with a black hole surrounded by gas. The sun takes 250 million years to go around once (traveling at 250 km/s)! The galaxy also might be five times bigger than it appears, because of the dark matter that travels around it.

History of the Solar System
The solar system was formed by many collisions, but they have settled down now. The sun was formed when gravity pulled together a cloud of inter stellar gas and dust. Particles collected into larger particles around the sun and the clumps grew to be a few km wide. Where it was colder away from the sun, icy planetesimals (the particles that were collected into clumps) formed. Closer to the sun, the planetesimals were formed out of metal and rock. In the outer solar system, four masses formed (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,Neptune). In the inner solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars formed. The planets heated up and the metal sank to the middle and the rock went to the outside, giving them a core and a crust. Our moon was probably created by a collision between newly formed earth, and a planet about the size of Mars. Most planetesimals had been destroyed or settled into the asteroid belt, but a few became moons or comets.

ROCKET HISTORY
Rockets have been around for a long time. Around 100 B.C. a Greek inventor (Hero of Alexandria) mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. The fire that was made below the kettle turned the water into steam. The gas traveled through pipes in the kettle to the sphere. Two L- shaped tubes on both sides of the sphere let the gas escape, giving the sphere thrust and in turn, causing the sphere to rotate. The Chinese created the first rockets. They made explosions during festivals using bamboo tubes filled a mixture and tossing them into a fire. Some of the tubes could have skittered out of the flames and turned into a rocket. The Chinese then began experimenting with the gunpowder filled bamboo tubes. They attached the homemade rockets to arrows and launched them with their bows, creating the first true rocket. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian schoolteacher who changed the views of rockets forever, proposed the idea of exploring space with a rocket. He suggested using liquid propellants in order to achieve greater range. He said that the speed and range of a rocket were limited by the exhaust velocity of escaping gasses, like smoke.

Robert H. Goddard achieved the first successful flight with a liquid propellant rocket on March 16th, 1926. His rocket was fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline and flew for a bout 2.5 seconds, climbed 12.5 meters into the air, and landed 56 meters away. The Germans took this idea and modified it to work for them. The Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) developed the V-2 rocket, which was used against London in WWII. The V-2 achieved thrust by burning a mix of liquid oxygen and alcohol very fast. It could devastate whole city blocks with its power. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was formed after the Russian's launched Sputnik into orbit. Since it was formed in 1958, we've been sending people and things into space.

ROCKET STAGES SCRATCH PROJECT
media type="custom" key="13888208"

MARS EXPLORATION OVERVIEW
Many countries and people have tried different exploration techniques on Mars, some of them failing and some of them prevailing and broadening our understanding of Mars. Numerous and rovers have been sent to Mars and orbiters have been sent to orbit the red planet since the 1960's. The Mariner probes sent back magnificent photos or Mars when we had had no pictures of before and was a huge breakthrough in this field. Then the Viking sent back even better pictures in the '60's. From then on, the US and other countries were sending spacecraft towards Mars. Then, landers like the Pathfinder and Glob al Surveyor were sent in the late '90's. The MSL curiousity is the newest lander/rover on its way to Mars and will actually conduct experiments on the surface as well as help us discover more about the surface and climate. Overall, our understanding has evolved along with the technology sent to the red planet.

MODEL ROCKET EXPERIMENT 1
The purpose of this experiment was to see if the mass of identical rockets (except for the paint) affects the height that the model rocket flies when launched. Once the whole class had made their model rockets identical, the rockets were painted with different designs. Then, the rockets were taken outside and launched. 100 m away from the launch site, there was two students holding an angle gun, and they measured the angle that the rocket flew at (the angle between the launch pad, where it reached apogee, and where they were standing). After using trigonometry to find how high the rockets went, the heaviest and the lightest rockets were found to go the highest. The rockets that were in the middle (of weight between the heavy and light) didn't do very well and the ones on the heavier side did better than the lighter ones. It was hypothesized that the lightest rocket would fly the highest, and this remained partly true, because it did, but so did the heavier one. The graph doesn't appear to have a pattern, so it is classified as No Relationship.

=== ===

Our rocket (shown all the way to the left on the graph) flew the highest and tied with the heaviest rocket. Ours was the lightest, weighing just under 44 g and the heaviest weighed just over 50 g. Our rocket had pink flames on it, so I think that is part of why it tied for first at 86.9 m (other than being the lightest). Our fins were placed neatly and everything looked neat until it hit the ground and the parachute hadn't deployed (one of the fins broke off on impact with the ground). To make sure the fins didn't break we could've taken more time with the baby powder and folding the parachute to ensure that this wouldn't happen, but I think the flight went very well.

MODEL ROCKET EXPERIMENT 2
First, all of the groups glued extra fins onto their rockets in strategic positions to make the rocket fly higher. Then the class flew the rockets again and this time the results were a lot different.



This graph --> shows how the lightest rocket did well and the rocket in the middle did very well. The heavier and lighter rockets toward the middle didn't do as well. This rocket has no relationship because the points are all over the place.



<-- This graph shows that the less fins the rocket had, the better. The rockets with more fins weighed a lot more and also weren't as aerodynamic as the lighter/less fin rockets. (The blue point on the graph is actually two points of data). This rocket is classified as indirect relationship because the points are, for the most part, going down on the graph.

Our rocket flew the second highest and had the least amount of fins. It was a very smooth flight and soared higher than almost all of the other rockets. Although ours didn't win, it flew the smoothest and the rocket that flew the highest actually looked to go about the same height as ours, but didn't move easily through the air.

ROBOTICS HISTORY
Robotics have been around as long as myths and legends have told about them. The Chinese records suggest a history of robotics as far back as the 10th century BC, and Western and Eastern civilizations have records of mechanical servants almost as far back as the 10th century BC. Legends suggest clay men and giants that could be animated, but this is most likely false. Heron of Alexandria created some mechanical devices in the late first century, including one that could, according to records, speak. Once the "electronics of the time", water clocks and such, were invented, more "robots" were built in China shortly before the year 400 AD. Leonardo Da Vinci had a notebook (rediscovered in the 1950's) that contained many detailed drawings of a mechanical knight which was able to sit up, wave its arms, and even move its head and mouth. It is unknown whether Da Vinci attempted to build this mechanical man.

Modern day robotics are a lot more advanced. We are now sending robots into space like rovers and robotic arms. Robots can perform surgery now and even work at restaurants! Modern day robots can walk, talk, think (using electronics), and move freely and smartly around a space. Robots can have many sensors on them, like a thermal or object sensor. It's clear that we have come a long way from "clay men" and robots are now marveled over all the time.

DRIVING CHALLENGE 1
The motors in the Lego Mindstorms robots can be used to move or turn the robot, and when the motors turn, the robot moves in the way you programmed it to. To turn, only one motor is on at a time, and to move forward, both motors turn the wheels. Here's a few basic turns:

When..... Both wheels spin forwards- robot goes forewords

Both wheels spin backwards- robot goes backwards

Only right wheel spins- robot turns left

Only left motor spins- robot turns right

Right spins a little, left motor spins a lot- curve turn to the right

Left spins a little, right motor spins a lot- curve turn to the left

You can program the speed that the robot will move, or for how long it will turn the motors and how far the robot will travel. It's fun to program the robots. Here's a video of our robot completing Driving Challenge 1:

media type="file" key="MM_Driving challenge 1.AVI" width="300" height="300"

There are many ways that minerals can be identified, like an acid test or a streak test. An acid test is where you drop hydrochloric acid on the mineral. If it bubbles, it's a carbonate compound. For a streak test, you scratch the mineral against porcelain and by the color streak it made, you can tell what mineral it is, or what few minerals it could be. Also, a light can be shined on the mineral and how much light gets through can be observed as well as seeing how much bounces back. Tasting a mineral as long as it's sanitary is another option. These tests, plus just looking at a mineral and feeling it, are simple, cheap, and very useful ways to identify minerals.



[]

MSL Curiosity's Geology It drives around until it finds a good place to look for evidence of life (like a canyon) and it takes its drill and drills a hole in the rock which makes powder. It collects that powder and analyzes it with two instruments, one tells if there is or once was any organic molecules in the substance and the other tells about it's mineralogy. It carries a ton of tools to help with geology, and it's about the size of a car.it also has a laser that can shoot and see the light that is reflected back and get the chemical composition of the rock. All of these will help scientists see if there is or every once was life on the red planet, Mars.

BIOLOGY- WHAT IS LIFE AND HOW DO DISCOVER IT
All living things have characteristics, and there's eight of those characteristics they must have. All living things must be made of cells, meaning that the little cells inside of them are cells, that are alive. They all need materials, meaning that they take in materials or get them without effort, but they all need them. Also, they must be homeostatic which means that no matter what happens to the outside of them, the inside stays the same and doesn't change (the composition of the living thing). All living things respond to stimuli, whether it is negative, where the living creature moves away from the stimulus (something that causes any living thing to react) or positive, where the living thing moves towards the stimulus. Reproduction is key in keeping the species alive, so all living things reproduce, whether it be by sexual reproduction or asexual reproduction. Next, all living things grow, they don't stay the same size for their whole lifetime. Even though they may stop growing at a point, they still grew a some point. Also, all living things are adapted, meaning that they have accepted their surroundings and changed to suit those accommodations. For example, humans walk on two legs and have opposable thumbs because we need them for the way we live life. Lastly, all living things respire, or break food down into energy. With all of these characteristics, it is easy to tell if something is living, once was living and is now dead or dormant, or just never lived in the first place.



There are many ways to try to discover life on other planets. One way, that was used in 1976 when NASA sent the Viking probes to determine whether or not there was life on Mars, is to scoop up some soil, add a few drops of water containing nutrients and radioactive carbon atoms, and then seeing if the soil released carbon dioxide or methane gas. If it did then the idea was that there is life forms on the soil, like microbes. Also a few of controlled experiments were performed, like heating some samples of soil and isolating other samples in the dark for months. The dark would kill the microbes that rely on photosynthetic organisms for survival. The new rover, MSL Curiosity, is equipped with ALL the tools you could possibly need to find life somewhere. Maybe this time the results will be solid and we can conclude once and for all if there is actually life on Mars. Curiosity will go to places that no rover has gone before, which obviously makes it more likely to detect life because nothing has touched that (supposedly) in a very long time. Curiosity will zap rocks with lasers and analyze the newly ionized vapor that is released, drill and conduct experiments on the powder that is created, identify mineral structure and composition and search for life in it, and not to mention monitor lots of radiation that is released by substances on Mars. With all of these tools, hopefully MSL Curiosity will find life on Mars, because it definitely has the tools to do it.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">