Reaghan+S

= The Search for Life on Mars = By Reaghan S

From Big Bang to Galaxies
====About two billion years after the big bang, the formation galaxies begin to appear. Where there is slight unevenness in the distribution of matter, gravity causes clumps to grow, and become more dense. and galaxy clusters are concentrated in shells and strings around huge empty voids, which formed into galaxies. Our galaxy started off as a huge sphere of gas. Some stars formed in globular clusters were scattered around the sphere. This formed a halo around the galaxy. The rest of gas settled in and spiral arms were developed. ====

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The milky way is an insiders view of what our galaxy looks like. There is a flat disk of stars about 100,000 light years across, and 1-2,000 light years thick. A thinner layer of gas and dust covers across the middle of the disk. At the center of the galaxy, there is a large, flattened bulge, about 20,000 light years across. Looking down onto the galaxy, you would see four spiral arms, with bluish colored young stars, and pink clouds of hydrogen gas. On the central bulge, the stars are mainly red and orange, which are old stars. At the center of the bulge, there is the nucleus of the galaxy. The whole galaxy is turning, however each star and gas cloud is in its own orbit. =====

The History of the Sun
The sun, like all stars, formed when gravity pulled together gas and dust. The rotating ball collapsed into a disk. In the disk, solid material started to collect, creating larger formations. Over time, some of this solid material collided gently enough that they formed larger material. Some collided so fast that they shattered into smaller pieces. Eventually, four very large masses formed. These became the planets. The moon was most likely created because of a catastrophic collision between the new earth and another planted, about the size of Mars. The surface of the moon and all the other rocky moons a planets, were created by a heavy bombardment for about a million years. Icy materials from the outer solar systems become comets when they reach the warm facility of the sun. Rings around planets are most likely the result of stray materials and comets being torn apart by gravity when they get too close.

=The History of Rockets =

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Chinese were reportedly one of the first to create rockt-like devices. They filled bamboo tubes with a mixture of gunpowder and other things to create explosions during festivals. It is thought that some of those tubes failed to explode and instead broke out of the fires, pushed by gases and sparks that were produced by the burning gunpowder. After this, they began to experiment with the gunpowder filled tubes. At some point while they tried this, they decided to attach bamboo tubes to arrows and launch them with bows. Soon enough, they discovered that the rockets were able to shoot themselves, and the first rocket was created. =====

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The world has now advanced much more in rocketry. In 1898, a Russian teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, came up with the idea of space exploration with the use of a rocket. On March 16, 1926, century, Robert H. Goddard achieved the first successful flight with a liquid-propellant rocket. Rockets have come a long way since the first time they were created. At first, they were very simple gunpowder devices, but now they are exploring outer space. ===== 

Rocket Stages
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The Exploration of Mars has been continuous over hundreds of years. It began by the use of the telescope in 1600. Space probes sent from the earth in the 20th century expanded the knowledge about mars. In 1965 a flyby provided more accurate information about the planet, such as the temperature. Each machine or robot that has been sent to mars are able to send back different information. Flyby robots are able to send back pictures from far above the surface. Surface rovers can provide information about the surface;as an example, dirt and rocks. The more recent data that has been collected showed that life would have a more difficult time surviving than expected. The exploration of mars definitely has its financial burdens, so the creators of the rovers are sometimes limited to what they are able to use. 

Results of Rocket Launching
I think that the weight of the rocket does not have a big effect on how high it goes. However, some of the rockets that were launched did not eject a parachute, which may have had some effect on how high the rocket flew. For example, when the parachute ejected from some rockets, it may have shot the rocket back a little bit.



=<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Adding More Fins =

====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The purpose of this rocket experiment was to see if changing the placement or amount of fins a rocket had would change its flight. By changing the position of the fins, this caused most of the rockets to flip over mid-flight. This led to the parachutes not coming out, and the rockets spiraling towards the ground. Generally, the rockets that had less fins tend to go higher. This is because they have less mass, and there are less fins that are trying to direct them where to go. ====

====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We decided to keep our original three fins, and add three more directly on top of the originals. When our rocket was launched, it didn't go very high at all and turned and shot towards the ground, with no parachute. Two of the original fins ended up breaking off. I think our launch was not very successful because the three new fins were not exactly on top of the original, causing it to be slightly off, which set the entire rocket off balance. ====

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=<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Robot History =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Around 350 B.C, a Greek mathematician built a mechanical bird what was propelled by steam. This object serves as one of the earliest studies in robotics and model airplane. In 200 B.C, a Greek inventor and physicist designed water clocks that have moveable figures on them. Up until water clocks were invented, the Greeks used hour glasses. Further down the time line, in 1898, Nikola Tesla built and demonstrated a remote controlled robot boat in Madison Square Garden. As an even bigger accomplishment, the Stanford Research Institute (SRI Technology) created Shakey, the first mobile robot to know and react to its own actions. In 1970, Stanford University produces the Stanford Car, which is designed to be a line follower but can still be controlled by a computer from radio link. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Robotics have improved over many years. Over the more recent years, many electronic pets, or robot pets, have been created. In 1998, Tiger Electronics created the Furby. Furby used a variety of sensors which were able to react to its environment and communicate using over 800 phrases in English. Exploration in space involves a lot of robotics. In 2004, January 4th, the robot rover Spirit lands on Mars. On January 23rd, the second Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" lands on Mars. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First Picture - "Shakey" the first mobile robot <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Second Picture - "Opportunity" - Mars rover <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Programming a robot can be difficult if someone doesn't know what they're doing. Using the mindstorms programming software, we are able to tell the robot what we want it to do. As examples, the robot can move, do a point turn, turn in a square, and much more. One of the main commands that is used almost every time the robot is programmed to do a command. By programming the robot, the commands tell the motors in the robot to move a certain direction or a certain way.

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=<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Geology on Mars =

Even though it can be easier to identify something as a rock or a mineral, it's not as easy to identify what type of rock or mineral they are. Rocks are made up of multiple minerals. In the lab activity "An Exploration of Minerals and Rocks", we tested ways to find out what type a certain mineral or rock is. A test that was used often was a scratch test. Scratching a rock or mineral on something else can help identify how hard it is. Also, some scratch tests will leave a colored streak on a plate. This can also help identify a rock or mineral by what color the streak is. Another test is the taste test. While one mineral tasted salty, the other mineral had almost no taste at all. This was helpful because some minerals have a different or unique taste. One of the most important tests was the magnetic test. This was very helpful because only a few rocks or minerals are magnetic.



Curiosity is a robot from NASA that is currently on its way to Mars. Its job is to find out more about Mars' geological history. Curiosity is equipped with many tools used by geologists on Earth. Results from tests will be sent back to scientists on Earth, which will be analyzed to determine if Mars has, used to have, or can support life. Curiosity will first need to find out if life is able to exist on Mars if the rocks on Mars contain the two things that all life is based on: certain minerals and organic molecules. Curiosity analyzes rocks by driving to an outcrop, drilling into it, and testing the powder that comes out. It then takes the rock powder and splits it into two sections to test the minerals and the organic molecules. If these two things are discovered, scientists can determine if life is a possibility on Mars. Sometimes caves or certain places on mars are too small for Curiosity to access, so it uses a laser. From the light that reflects back off the rock that the laser is shot at, information is sent to scientists on Earth that allows them to find out the chemical composition of the rock. If all goes well, Curiosity is expected to find the answer to if there was ever life on Mars, or if Mars can support life.

= Characteristics of Life & How Scientists Find Life on Other Planets = There are 8 things that a living things must possess to be classified as a living thing. First of all, it must be made up of cells. It also needs materials to survive on. To be a living thing, it must be homeostatic. The living thing must have some kind of reaction to respond to stimuli. The living thing also needs to be able to reproduce, or duplicate itself. Growing is an important characteristic of a living thing. Living things are always able to adapt to their surroundings. For example, humans have thumbs so we can grab things easily. In conclusion, living things need respiration. The picture below is a picture of someone responding to stimuli, by reacting to touching a hot pan.

Mostly everything that scientists do to find life on other planets involves robots. Scientists send many robots out to the planet to make sure the planet safe before they send a human. Scientists first want to know if the planet can support life. They do this by conducting many tests using the robot. Curiosity is the robot that is on it's way to Mars right now. Scientists have programmed Curiosity to do tests to see if there is or ever was life on Mars. Curiosity will do things like pull in different rocks and minerals to conduct experiments with them and dig down into Mars and see if water was ever there.