Enoch+K

=The Search for Life on Mars=

The Big Bang
The Big Bang occurred 15 billion years ago. All matter was in one point smaller than the nucleus of an atom. The point was really hot. Out of nothing, it exploded and the matter when everywhere. The universe was formed and started to expand. It continues to expand today.

The Milky Way Galaxy
The Milky Way is the Galaxy that the Earth is located in. There are a lot of stars in the Milky Way, one of which is our Sun. In the center of the Milky Way, there is a high concentration of stars, most of which are red or orange. At the center of this, there is possible a black hole. When looked at from above, the Milky Way has four "arms" spiraling away from the center. Out side of the Milky Way there is Dark Matter which we can detect because of its gravitational pull on the stars in the galaxy.

Lives of the Stars
Stars are first formed by clouds of gas and dust. A blast wave from an exploding star or something else causes a core to form. Each core contracts as gravity pulls it together. The core rotates and the center heats up. A new star is formed. Gas streams from the poles of the stars for a while. After that there is a period in which the start doesn't change a lot. Bigger stars change faster than smaller stars. The big stars are blue and the smaller ones are red or orange. The brightness of the star is determined by the mass of the overall object.

The Sun
Our Sun is a ball of hot hydrogen and helium. On the inside of the Sun, which is 15 million degrees at its core, Fusion is happening. Fusion is making hydrogen in to helium and so on. Hydrogen is the fuel that the Sun uses to keep shining. Sometimes, Sun Spots appear in groups. These spots look dark because they are much cooler than the rest of the Sun.

History of the Solar System
The Sun is a Star which formed about 4.5 billion years ago. A disk surrounded the Sun in the early stages of its life. In the disk there were small particles called planetesimals. They collided and begane to clump together. After awhile, some collided gently enough form together. These created planets. The largest plants were made of gas and had disks of their own. In these disks, moons formed and started orbiting the planets. Closer to the sun, lots of high speed collisions were happening so large planets couldn't have formed. These planets were made of rock and metal. Earth was one of these planets.

Hubble Deep Field Academy
The Astronomers asked very good questions about the HDF picture. For example, one of them was how can objects be classified and identified. Another one was, how far away are the objects. In Level 1, t he Astronomers have estimated that there are 50-100 billion objects in the picture. In Level 2, three types of objects were found in the HDF image: Stars, Spirals, and Elliptical. In Level 3, I learned that in order to find the distance of an object, astronomers study the light it emits. In Level 4, I found that the color of the object shows how old the star is. Red stars are much older and blue stars are a lot younger. The shape of a galaxy also shows how old a galaxy is. The older galaxies are round or oval because they are most likely the result of two galaxies crashing together. Also in Level 4, I discovered that in order to estimate the number of galaxies in a universe a picture is divided into 3 quadrants which are they split into 12 sectors. An estimation is made of the number of stars in the single picture. That number is multiplied by 12 to get the number of galaxies in a quadrant and then mulitpied by 3 to get the total number of galaxies in the picture.



=** Rocketry **=

Ancient Rocketry
A long time ago, people were already using gases to propel objects. The Hero Engine used the steam from the boiling water to propel the sphere around.



Dating all the way back to 1232, the Chinese used rockets as fireworks. Eventually they noticed that they could direct them in certain directions. They used them against the Mongols as missiles to scare them away.

Modern Rocketry
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s contribution to rocketry was that he suggested to use rockets for space exploration. In order to get there he proposed using liquid propellants to achieve longer distances. Goddard achieved his first flight using a liquid propellant in a rocket on March 16, 1926. When WWII started, Germany used rocketry as an attack weapon. The Verein fur Raumschiffahrt led the development of the V-2 rockets. The V-2 Rockets were used for bombing cities from far away.

The US formed NASA because the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik. This disturbed the US so they started a space program to match the Soviet Union's success. This started the space race which helped our world innovate and expand on new ideas.

= = =Rocket Parts Labeled= Nose Cone- Designed to cause the least drag for the rocket. Shock Cord- It connects the rocket to the parachute. Body Tube- It keeps all the components of the rocket together. Launch Lug- It keeps the rocket on a metal rod that directs the path of the rocket. Fins- They keep the rocket stable when in flight Motor Mount- It keeps the motor in place. Rocket Motor- The propellant of the rocket. Recovery System (Parachute)- It keeps the rocket from free falling after the rocket reaches apogee.

= An Experiment to Test if the Mass of a Rocket Affects Its Maximum A ltitude =

Play this song before reading: media type="file" key="EK_Ride of the Valkyries.mp3" width="240" height="20"

**Purpose, Method, Results**

The Rocket Experiment was designed to see if the mass of a rocket affected the maximum altitude of the rocket. The experiment started out with the building of eight identical rockets from kits. The next stage was to paint each rocket differently. This made the masses of each rocket different. Then, we launched the rockets on two consecutive days. The angle was taken 100 meters away (calculated by Trundle Wheel) by an angle gun. Using trigonometry, the angle, and the distance away from the rocket, the Rocket's maximum altitude was found. The formula used to find the maximum attitude was 100 multiplied by the Tangent of the Angle measured. The angle measured for my rocket launch was 35 degrees. When plugged into the formula, we got the number 70. Our rocket when 70 meters in the air. When compared to other rockets, our rocket did a little better than the rockets that were the lowest in weight, but not as good as the rockets in between. I conclude that to get the best maximum altitude possible, you have to find the perfect weight. Not too light, but not too heavy.



**Flight Summary** In the beginning, two buttons were pressed and the igniter sparked to start the engine. Then the rocket started to fly upward, it kept burning the fuel. When the fuel stopped burning, the rocket continued to fly upward and was coasting. After a moment, the rocket hit apogee. Then the top blew off and the parachute came out. The rocket spiraled down, but the parachute did not catch the air. The rocket landed on the ground breaking two fins.

= Mars Rover (Egg) Drop = In science, we did an egg drop that simulates the landing of the Mars Rover. To ensure the egg's (robot's) safety, we had to design a vehicle with certain materials that would bring the egg to a certain spot on the ground, without it cracking. To make this simulation as realistic to the actually Mars Rover Landing, we also had to be able to take the egg out of its vehicle in less than 45 seconds.

Our vehicle consisted of three parts: The parachute, the egg hold, and the bottom cushion. We designed out vehicle like this for a number of reasons. The parachute would bring the egg down to the ground slower which would lessen the force applied to the egg. The egg hold was used to provide secure storage and limited cushioning for the egg. The bottom cushioning was also to ensure the least force was applied to the egg. This design worked very well in the simulation. With more materials, the parachute could have been bigger to provide a more stable fall from above.

= Robotics =

Motor Use and Function
The motor is a very useful tool. It can be used to move a vehicle around and collect more data. The motor is a tool that transfers electromagnetic energy in to mechanical energy. How far a vehicle moves is based on how many rotations/degrees the program it is using dictates. To know when to stop, a tachometer is used to detect how many rotations the wheel has gone. When it reaches the limit, it sends information to the NXT which tells the motor to stop. Using this sensor inside the motor, the motor is fully capable of stopping on a dime.

Sensors and Uses
Sensors are tools that conv ert outside energy into electromagnetic energy (electricity). They pick up information that may help complete programs. In the Lego Mindstorm's kits, there are 4 sensors, sound, light, ultrasonic, and touch sensors. The sound sensor detects sound, the light sensor detects light, the ultrasonic sensor detects distance, and the touch sensor detects touch. Using the sound sensor, you could have a robot respond to loud or soft noises. Using the light sensor, a robot could follow a line or a pattern on a floor. Using the ultrasonic sensor, you could have a robot stop before it hits a wall. Using a touch sensor you could have a robot back up if it hit any walls. Using these 4 sensors, robots become more adaptable to its surroundings.

=Geology on Earth and Mars =

On earth, rocks and minerals can be identified many ways. Some of these techniques are: Cleaving/Fracture, streaking, visual identification, the acid test, the Mohs Hardness scale, and magnetism test. On earth, geologist can easy identify most minerals using some of these methods. To do a cleaving/fracture test you have to break the rock, the way it breaks is good evidence to help identify it. Streaking is done by scraping he rock on an unglazed porcelain tile. This leaves a streak on the tile. The color of the mark left is an easy way to help identify rocks and minerals. Visual identification is done by comparing a known sample to an unknown sample. By comparing the two, you can figure out the identity of the rock or mineral. The acid test is used to identify carbonate compounds. Carbonate compounds bubble when introduced to acid. When you do an acid test you are seeing if the rock or mineral is a carbonate compound. The Mohs Hardness scale is a test that determines the hardness of the rock/mineral. This can help identify the rock/mineral. The Mohs Hardness Scale compares the harness of rocks compared to everyday objects. If a rock can scratch something, it is harder than the object. The scale goes from 1-10 or talc to diamond. The magnetism test is a simple test that finds if the rock/mineral is magnetic. If it is, the type of rock/mineral it could be has dramatically been narrowed down.  The mars rover called Curiosity is on mars running geological test to determine the different rocks and minerals present of mars. Curiosity has to ways to do this: First, it can drill into rock/mineral, with a drill that is 1cm in diameter. One it has drilled into the rock/mineral, the dust is collected and an analysis is performed to discover the chemical composition of the rock or mineral. The second way Curiosity can identify rocks and minerals is the laser it has installed. The robot can shoot a laser at a rock on a high wall it cannot reach. The light reflected back is a way to identify the rock/mineral. Using these two techniques rocks can be identified by the robot. = What is Life? = Life can't be easily characterized. The best criteria that we have to classify if something is living or not are these eight rules. It has to be made of cells, it needs materials, it is , it responds to stimuli, it reproduces, it grows, it adapts, and it respires. A living thing does not have to have all these characteristics at once, but it has to have all eight at one point in its life time. = Life on Other Planets = Life on Mars can be detected by many means. So far we have sent probes, landers, and rovers to try and find living things on Mars. Probes that fly be can take visual evidence of life, this method would be successful, but it is not because the living things would most likely be to small for them to see. The Landers land on the surface of Mars and take samples for biological sampling. This can be a good way to find life, but the life on mars may not be everywhere. The Land cannot move so that handicaps its method of research. The rover is the most effective way of finding living things because it can take test samples and analyze them, but then move along and go to another spot to find more samples. Using pictures and samples, humans can analyze terrain and data to see if the planet had the right conditions to support life. If it did, then finding the actual life is a lot more likely to happen.