Catherine+S

= The Search for Life on Mars =

 //by Catherine S//
  **Video Summaries** The universe began about fifteen million years ago in an event called the Big Bang. The universe started out being really hot and the size of an atom but one day it suddenly expanded to the size of the earth. Then it steadily became larger and cooler. Things like protons, electron, quarks, antiquarks, and energy are formed. Then some of the neutrons and protons combine to create helium nuclei. Eventually, atoms start forming after the temperature because lower. 2 billion years after the Big Bang galaxies start forming. Gravity causes clumps of matter to come together and become denser. Our galaxy formed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Galaxy are sorted by their shapes like elliptical, spiral, and irregular. Galaxies can collide and make one larger galaxies. Our galaxy is made of stars, gas, a flattened bulge, our sun, and a dwarf galaxy that is morphing with ours. The central bulge our red and orange that are very close together and old. In the very center is the nucleus of the galaxy that is probably a black hole. The galaxy is always turning but everything inside of it is in its own orbit. The sun takes 250 million years to go around once. Matter temporarily stays in the spiral arms. Our galaxy is surrounded by an invisible corona. It is also surrounded by dark matter but no one knows exactly what the dark matter is.  The planets were formed when from the matter attracted to the sun by gravity. The matter grouped into clumps that eventually came into the size of the four giant planets; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Eventually they grew disks of their own which were able to turn into their moons. After that, closer to the sun Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They were very hot. The metal of the planets sank to the center and the rock rose to the surface as they cooled off. Our moon was most likely formed by a large mass colliding with the Earth and causing a piece to break off and become trapped in our gravitational pull. Icy matter (that did not become a planet or a moon) that gets to close to the sun become comets. Rings around the larger planets are most likely do to stray matter that is torn apart by the gravity of a planet when they get too close. Venus, Mars, Earth got their atmosphere later because of the gases blown out of volcanoes. The dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago when something collided with the earth but things like that don't really happen to our planet anymore. 
 * // Big Bang to Galaxies // Video Summary
 * // The Milky Way Galaxy // Video Summary
 * // History of the Solar System //Video Summary

**History of Rockets Summary** Some of the first rocket technologies started forming as early 100 BC. A Greek inventor named Hero of Alexandria used steam power something called a Hero Engine that used things necessary to rocket flight. In the first century records say that the Chinese had a form of gunpowder to create small explosions during festivals using bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder and lit on fire. Sometimes the sticks failed explode and just flew out of the fire, propelled by the sparks and gases from the gunpowder. The Chinese started experimenting with the bamboo tubes and gunpowder. Eventually they figured out that the tubes could launch themselves into the air just with the gases created by lighting the gunpowder on fire. These were some of the first true rockets.



Following some battles between the Mongols and Chinese during 1232 rocket technology spread throughout Europe. The rocket gradually evolved with contributions from different people throughout Europe until 1898 when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky introduced the modern idea of exploring space by rocket. He said this could be done by using liquid propellants so the rocket go fly further. In the early 1900's Robert H. Goddard did some experiments in rocketry involving finding ways to make rockets fly higher than lighter-than-air balloons. On March 16, 1926 he had his first successful flight using a liquid propelled rocket. This began a whole new era of rocket flight. His rockets became bigger and flew higher overtime. Countries like Germany used rocket technology to create weapons of mass destruction which then caused other countries like the US and the Soviet Union begin using rockets for weapons too. 

March 16, 1926, the Soviet Union launched the first Earth-orbiting satellite into space. Its name was Sputnik which means satellite in Russian. Then about a month later they launched another one into space but this time with a dog named Laika on board. A few months after the first launch the US sent a satellite into space too named the Explorer 1. Several months following that NASA was officially organized. Overtime more machines and eventually people were launched into space. Some of these landed on the moon. Rockets and other space crafts are important in our very important in our lives today, such as discovering new things and helping us communicate across the globe.

**Rocket Stages** media type="custom" key="14043132"

**<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Exploration of Mars **

<span style="color: #fa5c99; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Different orbiters, landers, and rovers have been going to Mars since the 1960's. The first people to launch probes for Mars were the Soviets. Since then other countries including the US have missions to Mars. Many space crafts have been launched to Mars, but they only have a 50% success rate. There are lots of things that can go wrong during the launch, flight, and landing of the space crafts, so there have only been 20 successful missions. Mars is explored a lot because it a place that could sustain or could have once sustained life. The Exploration of Mars is very important and extremely interesting.

**<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Rocket Parts Labeled ** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;">

**<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Rocket Launch Results ** First built the rocket using a level one kit. Everyone's rocket was the same until we painted it. Then all the rockets weighed different amounts because everyone used different amounts of paint. The purpose of the experiment was to see if the mass of the rocket effected how high it would fly. To launch the rockets we lit them then measured the apogee with an angle gun. Then we used trigonometry to figure how high the rocket flew. My hypothesis was that our rocket would fly pretty high because it isn't very heavy but it isn't too light either. Its weight is right in the middle which is the ideal weight because if something is too heavy it won't go very far and if the rocket is too light it won't go very far. That was relatively true because our rocket flew about the average amount compared to the other rockets.

Our rocket flew great. Its highest altitude was 52.1m. IT was right about in the middle compared to the other groups' max heights. Our rocket's parachute deployed correctly and at the right time. Nothing except for the recovery wadding was burned. Our rocket was constructed really well and we painted it with a zebra pattern. The weight of our rocket after we had painted it was 45.5 g The rocket didn't lose any fins before or after the flight. Overall our rocket's flight was a huge success and I am not sure quite how we could improve it because its flight went so well the first time.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**Rocket Fins Experiment** <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">The purpose of this experiment was to see how many fins a rocket flies best with and if the mass of a rocket effects its max altitude. We found out that rockets with less fins fly higher than rockets with more fins. We also found out that the mass of a rocket does not effect how high it is going to fly.

<span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">My hypothesis was that our rocket would fly really well and really high. This was not true. Our rocket flew about 3.5 m into the air and then turned and almost ran into everybody. Our rocket launch was not successful and the parachute did not deploy correctly. <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Robotics History ** <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Robotic technologies have been around since 350 BC. Archytas of Tarentum built a mechanical bird that moved with steam power. Then in 1495 Leonardo DaVinci made mechanical object that looked like a knight. The stuff inside caused it to move like it was a real person. These were built for entertainment. In 1898 the word robot was used for the first time by Kikola Tesla in his play Rossuum's Universal Robots.

<span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Another big step in Robotics History was in 1998 when LEGO started selling their first Robotics Invention System. They named the products Mindstorm. One of the most recent robotic innovations is Robosapien which is a humanoid robot. It was created by a robotics physicist named Dr. Mark W Tilden. As you can see robots have come a long way since 350 BC when robots were first invented to now where they can help us with everyday things.



Programming Robots

<span style="color: #fa5c99; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">It is very hard to program a robot. You need to have each command exactly right or the robot will freak out and start spinning in circles. To avoid this happening you have to program your robot correctly with the right commands for what you want it to do. There are different commands for different things. One of the main commands is to make the robot move. These commands tell the motor in the robot what to do. The motors in the robot can make the robot turn, go forwards, go backwards, and go in circles. Without the commands from your tablet, your robot wouldn't be able to go very far on its own. The motor is a very important part of your robot in helping it function correctly. media type="file" key="100_0030.AVI" width="300" height="300"

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Geology on Mars <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">There are many different ways a geologist can identify a mineral. They can do a streak test, an acid test, a magnetism test, a taste test, and several others too. A streak test is when you rub a mineral on a piece of porcelain to see what color it leaves behind. If two minerals look similar you can tell them apart by seeing what color their streak is. You can use an acid test to identify a mineral because only some minerals react to and acid. A Mineral like Calcite reacts when you put hydrochloric acid on it because it is made up of a carbonate compound. A magnetism test can be used to identify minerals because not all minerals are magnetic. Out of a box of 75 minerals that we had, only 9.3% of them were magnetic. Another way a geologist can identify a mineral is by tasting. Minerals like Calcite and Halite look similar but they taste very different. When it comes to identifying minerals a geologist has many options for testing to see what kind the mineral really is. <span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">

<span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">The purpose of the Curiosity is to figure if Mars can or could have supported life. The robot is going to use its drill to drill into the Mars surface. Then it will take samples of the rock and see if there are any organic compounds and certain minerals in it that could support life. The rover also has a laser that can be used to look at rocks on cliffs where the robot can't get to. The robot can shoot a laser beam and then see the light that is reflected back to it. It can use this information to see what the rocks and minerals might be there. If the mission is a success, the rover will go to new places on Mars, show more of the history of Mars, and maybe have identified past life on the planet.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Life
<span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Life is characterized by 8 main things. First of all, a living thing must be made up of cells. Types of cells vary between animals, plants, and bacteria. Secondly, a living thing must need materials to survive. These materials can be gathered from their environment like water, minerals, and air. Thirdly, living things try to be homeostatic internally. This means that a living thing tries to always stay the same on the inside and it takes a lot of energy to do this. Fourth of all, a living thing must respond to stimuli, like how when someone screams at you and you react. Another thing something must do to be classified as living is to be able to reproduce in some part of the things life. Living things can have sexual reproduction which is two parents or asexual reproduction which is with only one parent. Also living things must grow, but not all living things grow at the same speed or reach the same size. Living things also adapt to their surroundings like through evolution. Lastly, things must perform the process of respiration to be classified as living. Respiration is when a living thing releases energy kept in the chemical bonds of sugars.

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<span style="color: #fa5c99; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">There are many ways scientists can test for life on other planets. Currently scientists are interested on finding life on the planet Mars. In the 1970's they sent probes that tried to test for life on the red planet. One of the ways the probes tested for life was by putting nutrient filled water and radioactive carbon atoms on Martian soil. They also performed this on controlled soil from Mars that they had kept in conditions that couldn't support life. Another thing scientists did with the data from the rovers and probes was to see if anything on Mars had a circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythm is like the internal clock found in all known living creatures. Things that have to do with a circadian rhythm are waking, sleeping, and body temperature control. Scientists looked at the data from the rovers and saw that the radioactive gas measurement on Mars is higher during the day than it is at night. Circadian rhythms are a sign that there could be life on Mars. Also, in 1996 scientists announced that they had found evidence of life on Mars meteorites. They said the rock had bacteria like objects, detection of hydrocarbons, minerals assembled in a way that did not produce chemical equilibrium, and magnetic particles that are close to ones made by some types of terrestrial bacteria. These were good signs that life could exist or once have existed on Mars even though the tests on the meteorite were never fully validated. These results ended up causing a disagreement among the scientific community. Overall, there are many useful and effective ways to test for life on other planets.

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