Charlotte+E

=The Search for Life on Mars=

From Big Bang to Galaxies
Before the universe became what it is today, it went through a long transformation. It started about the size of an atomic nucleus, and was very hot. Within a fraction of a second, the universe expanded to a size similar to Earth.at this stage, the temperature begins to drop and the formation of protons and neutrons begins, followed by electrons. The helium nuclei form and the temperature continues to drop as the universe expands over the next three hundred thousand years. When the temperature drops low enough, electrons begin to orbit protons, creating atoms. Two million years after the Big Bang, galaxies begin to form. Where clumps of matter occur, their gravitational pull causes them to grow. Galaxies are spread out between voids. These galaxies form when gas clouds turn into discs around a bulge. The disc then begins to develop spiraling arms. The galaxies are then formed.

The Milky Way Galaxy
The Milky Way is a large galaxy with spiral and arms. In these arms, bright blue stars make up the arms, whereas orange, red, and yellow stars cluster in the central bulge. At the center of this bulge, there is most likely a black hole with gas clouds. All of the matter that surrounds the bulge orbits it at its own pace. The spiral arms of the Milky Way are where matter piles up temporarily. In this mass of orbiting matter, our sun is about halfway to the center of the Milky Way, and orbits the center at two hundred fifty kilometers an hour.

Lives of Stars
The life of a star has many stages. They first form from massive clouds of gas and dust that is disturbed by a blast wave. This blast pushes the cloud into clumps, causing gravity to pull more matter in. the energy of rotating gas in the core begins to generate heat and energy, Nuclear reactions start as hydrogen is made into helium, which provides energy for the burning star for a very long time. As the hydrogen runs out, the color of the star changes and begins to contract and swell repeatedly. During this time, it blows off material in layers. When the final layer is blown off, a white dwarf star remains. This star eventually cools and fades. Larger stars have a slightly different life cycle. After contracting and swelling, large stars become Red Super Giants. It then too sheds material until it its inner core made of iron collapses and blows the star apart.

The Sun
The sun is the closest star to Earth, and is an interesting one. The inner core is where hydrogen nuclei single protons collide to make the nuclei of helium and nuclear energy. This energy radiates from the core where it spirals near the surface, heating and rising, then cooling and falling again. The surface is granulated, and jets of incandescent gas called spicules come in between the gaps. Solar flares do this too, but are much more powerful. Sun spots also appear on the surface near the equator when the magnetic field loops through the surface of the sun.

History of the Solar System
When the sun formed, the beginning of our solar system's creation began too. Material in the remaining dust cloud began to collide to create larger clumps of matter known as planetecimals. In what is now the outer solar system, four large masses formed, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune. Moons condensed around them in their own discs of gas. With a strong gravitational pull, these planets managed to hold on to their own atmosphere. In the inner solar system, large planets didn't form, but Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury, the four terrestrial planets. When forming, these planets were heated by constant bombardment and radioactivity in the core. This caused the metals of the planets to collect in the core as lighter material rose to the surface. Most planetesimals had been cast beyond our solar system, or settled into the asteroid belt. Some were captured as moons around planets. This is how our solar system was born.

Hubble Deep Field
When these images of the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) were first seen, astronomers had many questions. One question about HDF were how many objects there are. It has now been estimated that there are three thousand objects in the image. They did this by taking a third of the image and dividing it into smaller sections. The number of objects in the section are counted and multiplied by the number of sections in the sky. Using this method, it has been estimated that fifty to one hundred billion galaxies are in the universe. Another question was what types of objects there are in HDF. By looking at the shapes and colors, astronomers can guess what is out there. They have decided that some objects are elliptical, spiral, irregular galaxies or stars. The age of these galaxies can also be estimated by looking at the overall color of the stars that make it up, as red stars are older. Another question was how far these objects are. This can be estimated by using the object's size and what size it appears in the image. They also use light as a reference, because the closer something is, the brighter it appears.

**Rocket History**

The things we know as rockets went through a long evolution before becoming what they are today. The Chinese were too said to have had a form of gunpowder, which was put into bamboo and thrown into fire, and exploded. Some of these tubes didn't explode, and were propelled by the gunpowder in a similar fashion to rockets. This lead to experimentation, and soon fire arrows were developed, which basically was a bamboo rocket connected to an arrow. This is when the first rocket was created. These rockets were used in warfare against Mongol invaders, and the psychological effect must have been astonishing. After their encounter with these rockets, the Mongols began producing their own rockets, which lead to the spread of rocketry to Europe. Throughout the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, many rocket experiments were conducted, which included the basis for torpedoes and bazookas. Almost all of these inventions were used for warfare or fireworks. The idea of space exploration through rocketry was then proposed by a Russian school teacher named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1898. With his ideas and research, he was named the father of astronautics. Later in the 20th century, an American rocketeer Robert Goddard became certain that a rocket would best be fueled with a liquid propellant, despite the fact such a rocket had never successfully been made before. Goddard then made the first successful liquid propelled rocket, which only flew for two seconds. This was the beginning of a new era in rocketry, and Goddard was named the father of modern rocketry. Smaller rocket companies began, and weapons for WWII were developed. After the war, the US and the Soviet Union realized the potential in rockets. This was the beginning of the US space program. In 1957, the first orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched by the Soviet Union. They soon followed with a satellite carrying a live dog. After this, the US began launching its own satellites, and NASA was born. From this point on, rockets have evolved to complex machines capable of great feats.



Rocket Labels


Rocket Launch

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The purpose of this experiment was to find out whether the mass of a rocket effects it's max altitude. Our class created 9 rockets and painted them differently, making them different weights. We then launched them, and used trigonometry to measure how high they flew. From 100 m away, the angle of the rocket was measured and used in this equation- tan(angle in degrees) * 100.=====

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Our rocket took a moment to leave the launch pad, but soon flew upward. The rocket coasted, and reached an apogee of 83.9 meters. The recovery system came out, but the parachute didn't deploy, and the recovery wasn't very graceful. To increase the height our rocket flew, we could use less paint to reduce mass and try to eliminate hot glue bumps that reduce aerodynamics.=====



Mars Rover Drop Our rover landing device had two major protection aspects; a cushion and a hinged, padded carrying device. The cushions were two balloons on either side of the carrying device, which consisted of two cups with bubble wrap on the insides and outside. On The two cups were hinged with pipe cleaners, and secured with popsicle sticks. Three pieces of copier paper were folded and attached to the bottom of one of the balloons to weight it and have it to fall on.



Programming Robots

Electromagnetic energy produced by batteries is converted into mechanical energy in the form of a rotating motor. This motor is connected to gears, which spin wheels. By spinning the wheels at different rates, the robot can do different types of turns. By turning only the left wheel, the robot makes a point turn to the right. By turning the right wheel, the robot makes a left point turn. To make a curved turn, one wheel must move faster than the other, the faster wheel being on the outside. These robot motors are quite capable, but can be an issue. There's never a perfect to communicate with the motors, and each is different. Depending on the robot, you may need to tell it to make a 90 degree turn or a 180 degree turn and get the same result.  A sensor is something that can detect a change in one of the five senses. There are sensors to detect energy and properties of the area around them. there are different sensors, but all of them turn mechanical energy into electromagnetic energy, which the robot can understand. We used four types of sensors; sound, ultrasonic, touch, and light detecting sensors. These sensors allow the robots to know what to do under certain circumstances. For instance, using the ultrasonic sensor, a rover can detect how far it is from a hill or mountain, and know how much farther it needs to go.

Mars Rover Geology

==== Minerals can be identified by comparing an unknown mineral's traits to known ones through certain tests. You can find how hard a mineral is by conducting a scratch test. By scratching with or on the mineral with an array of materials whose harnesses are known, you can figure out how hard it is. The harder object leaves a scratch on a softer object. Another test is luster, or how a mineral reflects light. By comparing known minerals' luster to an unknown, you can find out which one it is. You could also find out weather or not a mineral is magnetic or not by simply holding near a magnet. If it is magnetic, it slims down the possibilities because so few minerals are magnetic. You could also test to see if the mineral is a carbon compound by adding an acid, because carbonated things bubble in acid. Another test is a streak test, where a piece of mineral is rubbed on a non-glazed piece of porcelain. This leaves the powdered form of the mineral, which is easier to compare, because colors of the minerals themselves vary, and can be similar. ====

==== Curiosity has an array of tools to help it collect information about Mars. It has tools used for basic observation, and other, more advanced tools. For example, it has a drill in which it uses to gather powdered samples of rock formations. This powder is then analyzed within the rover. Using this method, Curiosity can find out if there were any organic molecules in the formation and give information on the mineralogy. Curiosity even has a laser, which it uses to the luster of a distant formation. ====



Being Alive
To be alive, something must exhibit eight characteristics sometime during its life time. The first is that it has to be made of cells. Bacteria isn't made of cells, so it isn't alive. A living thing also needs materials from its surroundings to sustain life. This includes food, water, and even oxygen. A living thing is also homeostatic, which means there is a constant temperature, heart beat, and other things that remain the same, despite environmental changes. Things that are alive must also respond to stimuli; either in a positive or negative way. Plants react to the sun, which is the stimulus, by moving towards it. Reproduction is another requirement to be alive. It doesn’t matter if they have sexual reproduction, (two different parents) or asexual reproduction (cloning). Living things also grow into more complex forms. It doesn’t matter if not all members of that species grow to be the same size, they're still alive. Living things also adapt to their surroundings, either through evolution, or by modifying its behavior to better survive. Finally, living things must be capable of respiration, or release energy from the chemical bonds of sugar in food.



Rovers have a wide array of ways to detect life on other planets. One method was to try to find microbes in soil, a drop of water which contains nutrients is added. Any microbes should react to the stimulus, the nutrients, and release methane gas, which could be detected by a probe. Another method was to just find water, because all life needs it in order to survive. It was discovered that liquid water flows above ground occasionally. Another method was to find fossils from back before Mars was rammed by an asteroid. This method is still debated today.