Katherine+C

= Electronics and What They Have to Do With Our Mission On Mars =

To get to Mars, many electronic devices will be necessary. In order to have a safe and successful trip we must have an understanding of different ways to build our electronics so we can have the best mission possible. There are two types of electrical signals. An electrical signal is a changing electric current that carries information. An analog signal is able to increase and decrease the signal in a smooth manor. TV's, VCR's, radios, and telephones are examples of devices that use an analog signal. On the other hand, a digital signal does not decrease/increase its signal in a smooth manor. A digital signal, changes in jumps or steps. For examples a digital clock's signal jumps signals when it changes it's number while a clock with hands smoothly transitions from one number to the next making it a analog signal. Semiconductors are made up of elements that are not able to spread energy as well as conductors, but can spread energy more easily than insulators. The interestinng thing about semiconductors are that you can control their electrical conductivity by adding impurities. They become useful in electronic devices because by doping a semiconductor (also knows as adding impurities) you are able to control how much electricity you want going through the metalloid your are using. In diode circuits, the electricity can only flow one way. The current in this circuit flows from a n-type semiconductor (a semiconductor that gives electrons) and then the current will flow towards the p-type semiconductor (a semiconductor that receives electrons.) This is the only way the current will flow. When a diode circuit is in place, it will convert an alternating current (current that constantly changes) to a direct current. The solid component in an electric circuit that can amplify signals is a transistor. Transistors can also be an electronic switch. Different electric signals can cause a transistor to let a current go through it or it can cause it to stop the current. Unlike the diodes, the transistors cause the currents to flow from a p type semiconductor to a n type then back to a p type semiconductor. An integrated circuit contains interconnected solid components. Electric devices use integrated circuits because they can compact millions of transistors, diodes and other components yet it is no bigger than 1 mm on each side.

When out in space on our mission to Mars, it will be very important to have reliable electronic devices. On Mars, it will be important to have computers, so we will be able to record observations and data. A navigation system for our spaceship will be necessary so that we will be able to find Mars, and then get back onto Earth. While in space, we will need to be able to photograph our findings so researchers back on Earth can examin those findings.Communication will be needed to get in touch and report any news back to our planet. Therefore we will need computers to email and video chat. One of the most necessary things for us to have on our trip to Mars, it a rocket to get us there. It is important that all these electronic devices are properly put together so we will not run into any problems. It would be impossible to get to mars with out some sort of electronic device. Not to mention, these devices are much quicker and easier to use than pencil and paper.

= Rocket History =

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Over the years, Rockets have been taken to the next level. Many people have spent countless hours researching and experimenting with new rocket creations. The first rocket type device was the aeolipile. Hero of Alexandria (a greek inventor) build this machine around 100 B.C. He used steam to propel the sphere on top of the water kettle. The fire below turned the water into gas. When the gas escaped from the L shaped tubes it propeled the sphere. ======



No one knows exactly when the first true rocket was created, but it is known that the Chinese's creation of gun powder signifigantly helped the advancment of rockets. The Chinese has created a simple gun powder that was placed into a bamboo tube to create explosions during religous festivals. Instead of exploding, they were propelled by the gas of the gun powder. After this, the Chinese began experimenting with gun by attaching bamboo tubes to arrows and launching them. The tubes were able to launch themselves just by escaping the gas. Once this was completed, the rocket was born.

The first rocket was used in 1232 when the Chinese and Mongols were at war. The Chinese were able to repel the mongols by "arrows of flying fire." These arrows were made of a solid-propellant rocket. The tube at one end contained gun powder. When the tube ignited the burning powder produced fire and on the other end the gas escaped which produced a thrust. This thrust then pushed the rocket foward. After that war, the Mongols began to produce some of their own rockets which lead to a wide spread of rockets throughout Europe.

Meanwhile in England, a guy named Roger Bacon improved different types of gunpowder. A different guy in France discovered that is was more useful to launch rockets through tubes. Even though rockets were advancing so rapidly at the time, people still only used them for warfare or fireworks.

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Many years later, in 1898 a Russian by the name of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky suggested the idea of exploring space by a rocket. He said they could use liquid propellants, and he said the velocity of escaping gases would be able to control the speed and range of the rocket. ======

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Soon after in the early 20th Century, American Robert Goddard began to conduct different experients with rockets. Going against Tsiolkovsky's theory Goddard began to use solid propellants. He observed that a liquid propellant would be better, but the problem was no one had ever built sucessful rockets using this type of propellant.. On March 16,1926 Goddard had completed the first ever sucessful flight with a liquid propellant. Even though his rocket only flew for two and half seconds, he still had a huge contribution to modern day rockets. ======

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Later on, parachutes for invented for safety reasons. Then American and the Soviet Union realized how useful rockets would be for military forces. Then missiles were realized and the U.S. space program was devolped. Little did they know, the misiles that they created were soon to launch people into space. ======

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The purpose of this rocket experiment was to determine whether or not the mass of our rockets affects the height our rockets fly. First we took a steady cylinder made out of cardboard and added a plastic nose cone with a recovery system inside. We also added a solid propellant for our engine. We had a launch pad which is where we put our rocket. We had to hook up to igniter to alligator clips that were attached to a ignition. When we put the key in the ignition and pressed another button the rocket flew up. To measure the height of the rocket we had to use a trundle wheel to measure out 100 meters on a diagonal line. Two people used an angle gun to measure the angle of the rocket from where they were standing. The angle was taken when the rocket was at its apogee. The two people averaged the two angles they measured. Then trigonometry was used to figure out how high the rocket flew. Overall, the lightest rockets flew the highest and the heaviest rockets flew the lowest except for two rockets that must have had some other variable effect it's flight. Our rocket ended up flying 60 meters which was the lowest any of the rockets flew. My hypothesis ended up being true for most of the rockets because I said that the weight would effect how high the rocket is able to fly although that was proven untrue for two of the rockets. ======

[[image:kc_graph_from_rocket_experiment.JPG]]
When we first hooked up the wires with our rocket and put the key in, the rocket didn't take off. It took about 10 seconds for the rocket to finally lift off into the air. Then the rocket flew up straight and quickly reached it's apogee. The rocket turned down and the nose cone pointed straight to the grass and the ejection occurred. Once the nose cone flew off and the parachute came out it took about 5 seconds before the parachute was able to open up. Instead of flying straight down. It swayed a lot to the right of itself while it the speed of the rocket slowed down as it got closer to the ground. The rocket landed in the baseball field with few injuries.

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Astronomy is one of the most important aspects in our trip to Mars. We need to know how Mars rotates in contrast to the Sun and Earth and we will also need to know how Mars formed. Astronomy will teach us this and allowus a deeper insight into the hisotry of Mars. Our knowledge of astronomy will allow us to see how Mars formed and if there was any lfe on Mars at that time. Now that we can detect all the objects in speace, we will be able to detect anything around Mars that gives us any reason to think there was life. Without our experience with astronomy our mission on Mars would be 10 times more difficult. =====

History of Robots
=== Robots have a history that goes all the way back to Greek Gods. The first idea of any robot was organs and water clocks with movable figures created by an ancient Greek engineer named Ctesibus. Writers and authors began to use fictional stories of robots in their creations. Mark Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" which was about also about a fictional robot. People like Issac Asimov began to make predictions about robots playing a main part of life in the future. ===

=== After all these predictions, Geroge Devol and and Joseph Engelberger created the world's first robot company. The existence of robots kept advancing when MIT started computer assisted manufacturing. The fiirst industrial robot was online in New Jersey at a Gerneral Motors automobile Factory. It was called Unimate. Then the first artifical robot arm was created. The first mobile robot controlled by artificial intellence produced by SRI International was called Shakey. This was really the first time people realized that one day robots may be a big part in everyone's life! === = The importance of Motors and Sensors While Programming Robots =

Motors on the robot help the robot to move certain parts. One motor moves the wheels on the robots so it can turn right and left and move fowards and backwards. Motors can also move other parts of the robot like arms or fingers. On Mars, our robot must be able to visist different areas of the planet and if it suspects any form of life it must be able to pick it up so we can examen it back on Earth. For the robot to be able to do all these different motions, motors are necessary. Motors are also needs for cars, planes, amd even fans. One of the challenges of using a motor is that it is they may stop working due to different variables like the weather, the sourroundins, or maybe the electricity flow stopped so the motor could not function properly.

A program using a motor to move the robot fowards



Sensors can be built onto robots to detect many different things. The motor will workd a ceratian way according to what the sensor is detecting. If a Mindstroms robot is being used than the four sensors it can used are ultrasonic, sound, light, and touch. The sound sensor detects any sort of sound and that sound then alters the normal function of the motor in the way that your program it. Then ultrasonic sensor can allow a robot to get really close to another object without touching it. The touch tensor allows the robot to stop when it touches an object. Last, but not least the light sensor detects different amounts of light and then the motor reacts by slowing down or speeding up depending on the light it detected. Overall sensors will be helpful on Mars becuase we want our robot to be able to detect different things that will help us determine if there is life on Mars. Sensors can be troublesome ,because it is hard to know if it is detecting the right thing ,and if is not programmed right it could easily run into something that would put the robot at risk.

A program using a sound sensor



= ﻿All about LIfe! =

To tell if something is alive there are many characteritics it must have. First it must be made up of cells. Cells are fundamental units a living things that have many parts. Animal cells are circular,while plant cells are rectangualr. Cells can also be organized in tissues, organs, organ system, or organisms. Living things must also need materials. The majority need water, minerals, and some sort of gas. Everyone living things must also have some type of sugar. To get these materials, all living things take what they need from the enviroment. Next, all living things must be homeostatic, meaning that they stay about the same even when their enviroment changes. To stay homeostaic. living things must expend a lot of energy. Heart rate, blood level, and body temperature are some examples of things that are homeostatic. To be alive, you must be able to respond to stimuli. This means that you must be able to respond to a any stimulus. A stimulus is anything that causes a living thing to react. There are two types of responses positive and negative. A positive response is when the living things moves towards the stimulus, and a negative response is when it moves away from the stimulus. Reproduction is also a must for living things. Reproduction is the process in which in the organisms produce offspring. The two types of reproduction are sexual and asexual. Sexual is when two parents reproduce,and asexual is only when one parents reproduces. Of course, all things that are alive must be able to grow. When they are firt create inside another living thing they are an embryo, then when they are born that are a new born. Then when they grow more over time they become and child then an adolescent. Finally, they become an adult. Different speices of living things can have a different growing rate. At the begining, all living things are formed simplt, but then as they grow their structure becomes for complex. Other form of growth include regeneration (growth of new body parts to replace damaged ones,) cancer (uncontrolled cellular growth,) and galls (harmful plant growth.) Things that are alive must adapt. By adapt, I mean modifications that make an organism suited to its way of life. Evolution is the process in which characteristics of speices change through times because the animals who survive have adapted to their surroundings. Last, but not least living things must be able to go through a process called respiration. Respiration is the process in which a living things release stored energy in the chemical bond.Human cells use oxygen to release energy stored in food molecules, then CO2 is produce as a waste product. This process is called the Respirtory System. These are all characteristics that a living thing must have!



This plant has all the characteristics of life! On Mars, to detect life there are many different options. One way would be to use pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope to discern geologic features on and nearby the planet. This wouold give us only a peek of an sign of life, but it would still help. We could also build microscopes that would allow us to see if there are any cells on any of the planets. Then we could determine whether or not it is an animal or plant cell by its shape. There is also a layer of ice under the North Pole in Mars. This is a sign of life because water is a necessity of a living things. This could prove that life was once able to exisit on Mars if the other characterisitc of life were found as well. We could also build a robot to go on Mars to detect waste products. Evvery living thing is able to produce waste, so if any certain waste is found then that proves there was once a living things on Mars or any other planet. There are many other ways to detect life on other planets, but these are just a couple things that could help discover life in many other places.



The Hubble Telescope can detect life by taking pictures