Liam+C

=**The Search for Life on Mars**= By //Liam C//

//From Big Bang to Galaxies//
====The **Big Bang** was the starting point of our universe, galaxies, and solar system. When the big bang occurred, there were only **particles** and **energy**. These particles then started colliding with each other, becoming larger particles, which then came to form atoms. The first atoms, **hydrogen** and **helium** in were the first elements. The first elements then gathered around in big clouds of gas and started to form stars. When the bigger atoms formed. They started coming together by the power of gravity. Stars also got pulled in these, which came to form the first galaxies. Since the galaxies were closer than they are today. Some galaxies ran into each other. The galaxies collided together which then made bigger galaxies.====

//The Milky-Way Galaxy//
====The **galaxy** made up of dust, stars, and other forms of matter. It is made of three parts, the **central bulge**, the gas and dust, and the disk. Our galaxy was formed by the pulling of stars, and something else in our galaxy, dark matter, shaping our galaxy into a central bulge with four "arms" of clumping masses. In the central bulge, there are old stars that are going around what is said to be, a **super massive black hole**, has a cloud of gas and dust going around it. It is that which our sun and other stars, orbit around. The galaxy rotation is rotating around as I said earlier, the nucleus of our galaxy, which is thought to be a super massive black hole. The older stars which are mostly red giants are orbiting close the nucleus of our galaxy while the other and younger stars are usually farther to the nucleus of the galaxy.====

====Our **solar system** started out with a proto star (the sun) who's gravitational pull collected dust and small **planetoids** which started to orbit around it. The larger planets were made on the outside of the solar system, where small planetoids collided with each other at just the right speed and combined to become large planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The ones closer to the Sun, took a little while longer to form, but eventually made smaller planets. These were Mars, Earth, Mercury, and Venus. The way **moons** came to orbit around planets, was when the small planetoids were caught in the gravitational pull of one of the planets. Our moon, was thought to have been made by a small planetoid colliding with Earth, which made a field of debris fly out into space which collected together to become the moon. The **planetary rings** were formed around the bigger planets because since the planets were so big, the strong gravitational pull from those planets pulled dust and ice into orbit around it, creating a ring around those planets. **Comets** were made, from when icy small bits of small planetoids, came near to the sun and had a trail of flying debris.====

=Rocket History Summed up=

The first event that was similar to the rockets and missiles at the earliest occurred at around 100 B.C. was a engine called the Hero Engine that ran on and used steam to propel a sphere round and round called the aeolipile. The first time when rockets actually appeared though, was in early China, when they used these for explosions at festivals, which were made of gunpowder, salt-peter, sulfur, and charcoal dust, and bamboo, then threw them in the fire to make them explode. Soon, they started to be used in warfare, attached to arrows by the Chinese. But then was propelled by just the gas escaping.



The actual rockets were actually used, in the war between the Mongols and the Chinese at the battle of Kai-Keng. They were rockets that were guided by a stick attached to the rocket, that used solid p ropellant as fuel. The Mongols then copied the idea of the rocket, and used them as they were making their way to the west, where other countries experimented with this new discovery. A monk named Roger Bacon from England was able to increase propulsion of the rocket by improving forms of gunpowder. A French-man named Jean Froissart was able to increase accuracy of the rocket by launching them from tubes.

In 1898, a Russian man named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, was the first to recommend rockets of the use of exploration. He also gave the idea of using liquid fuel instead of solid fuels to increase the range of the for such a task. In 1898, an American named Robert H. Goddard experimented with how far rockets could go in terms of altitude by using different types of fuels, finding that liquid fuel worked the best., which was quite an accomplishment back then. He then began more experiments which lead to bigger rockets, gyroscope systems, and payloads with scientific equipment including a parachute with allowed the rocket to be recovered easily.

Germany started using rockets in warfare. They invented a rocket called the V-2 that burned liquid oxygen and alcohol and could destroy entire blocks. After Germany lost the war, America and the Soviet Union got what was left of the V-2s and German rocket scientists. They then began to develop the rockets to become better for war and soon for space exploration. Soon, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik out into space which relayed data, and also sent a rocket carrying a dog out into space, which survived for a week. Soon, the US launched Explorer 1, a satellite, out into space which led to the creation of NASA. Soon, space was open for exploration. Satellites were launched for data, TV, GPSs, etc.

= ROCKET STAGES =

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= Summary of the Exploration of Mars =

The exploration of Mars has been focused on greatly by our men in NASA. For the United States, it began in 1960-1969 with the launches of the Mariner 3 which failed, and the Mariner 4 which succeeded and sent us back 21 pictures. Soon, the Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 were launched which were both successes. Then in 1970-1989 we started sending orbiters like the Mariner 8 which failed and the Mariner 9 which was the first orbiter success. Soon we started sending out orbiters and landers like Viking 1 and Viking 2 which were both successes. Then in 1990 to 1999, they sent out more orbiters like the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Pathfinder, and the Mars observer. They also sent out landers, but those failed. Soon, in 2000 to 2009, NASA was having lots of successes like the Odyssey orbiter, the MER-B rover Opportunity, and the Phoenix lander. Currently, the Rover Curiosity was launched in 2010. Right now it is on it's trajectory to Mars and will hopefully land safely to conduct more research of Mars so we can better understand it.

[[image:ca-science7/clc_model_rocket_made_by_CLC_and_BCP.JPG]]
Definitions for the Model Rocket:

Nose Cone- This guides the airflow around the rocket. Body Tube- The main structure of the rocket, made out of a strong paper tube. Recovery System- The device that gets the rocket safely back on land for repeated use. Recovery Wadding- Protects the Recovery System from the heat of the motor. Launch Lug: Guides rocket straight of launch pad. Fins- Keep rocket traveling straight. Motor Mount: Holds the motor in place. Motor: A safe non-reusable device that propels the rocket.

= ROCKET EXPERIMENT SUMMARY =

The purpose of the experiment was to find out how mass effects the altitude that a model rocket can get to. The experiment was performed by first by building the rocket. Then we painted them, and the paint made the masses of the rocket flew. Then, the rockets were launched. The altitude was measured by finding the tangent of an angle that was measured, multiplied by 100 meters. The data was then recorded on excel and was made into a scatter plot data. According to the data, it turned out that my hypothesis was false. That mass doesn't effect the altitude of the rocket.



When my lab partner and I launched our rocket, it didn't fly straight up in the air and flew slightly slanted because of the wind. It didn't spin or do any weird tricks in the air. When it reached it's apogee, it took only a few milliseconds for ejection to occur. Then it smoothly parachuted down towards the ground. All in all, it was a successful launch and a successful landing.

= Other Rocket Experiment Summary =

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The purpose of this experiment was to find which fins would make the rockets go higher. It was kind of two experiments in one, because the we changed the fins which also changed the mass of the rocket. By changing the fins of the rocket we changed the mass, the stability and how high the rocket went. It turned out that the rocket with the regular three fins that were slightly changed that weighed 46 grams exact, was the rocket that went the highest. It went 72.7 meters high. On the scatter plot graphs that we made, there was no data relationship at all, although it showed that rockets with a mass around 46 grams and 3 or more fins were more successful than others. ======



How my rocket flew: When we built our rocket, we made really small fins. When it launched it. It flew straight and was spinning for about one second, then it pin wheeled sideways. When it came down, it's recovery system kicked in and it launched the parachute at about four meters off the ground. Then it crashed into the ground, but didn't break.

=ROBOT HISTORY=



The start of robots first started in China, where the "Cosmic Engine", at 10 meter tall clock tower was built in Kaifeng. In 1088, China featured mechanical mannequins that chimed the hours or would ring gongs, or do other tasks. Then an Arab Muslim inventor, designed and constructed a number of automatic machines, those including kitchen appliances, musical machines powered by water, and the first programmable robot, all of which happed in 1206.

Between 1500 and 1800, robots were made including them being capable of acting, drawing, flying, and playing music. Some of which was an iron automaton eagle that could fly and a wooden beetle that could fly as well. From 1801 to 1900, they started creating more programmable machines. Then from 1901 from 1950, they started creating humanoid robots. Soon, from 1951 to 2000, they started creating bipolar junction transistors. This was the world's first software programmable digital electronic computer used for commercial applications. They also created the first industrial robot that worked in an assembly line. Soon, they started building micro-processing chips, space rovers, and humanoid robots.

= Now in 2001 through 2010 we have been more advanced than ever before. We have created more advanced planet rovers like Spirit and Opportunity. People have been creating more robots like the "Starfish" robot that can flip itself back on it's four legs after being damaged. Also, we have created something called an i-sobot which is a humanoid bipedal robot that can walk like a human beings and performs kicks and punches. =



= PROGRAMMING ROBOTS =

Robots are very beneficial to human society. One reason for this, is because the can move automatically or by program commands. When you program a robot to move, something has to move it, or make it move. These are called motors. Motors can be programmed to make curve turns, go straight, make a point turn, and go backwards. Other robots can do many other things depending on how advanced the robot is. It can do a curve turn, by moving it's wheels in opposite directions, one wheel moving faster than the other. It can do a point turn by moving it's wheels in the opposite directions at the same speed. Obviously, to move forwards, the wheels move in the same direction pushing backwards on the ground to propel forwards, and to go backwards, the wheels move in the same direction pushing forwards on the ground to move backwards. The challenges of using motors with robots is that you have to program the motors before it can actually move, which can sometimes be a hassle. You can sometimes get the programming wrong and have to do it over.

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= Geology on Earth = There are many ways to identify minerals on Earth. One way is to preform a streak test. This is when you rub a unknown mineral on a piece of unglazed porcelain, and the color of the powder that the mineral leaves behind can be used to identify what mineral it is. Another way to identify a mineral is the hardness test. By scratching an unknown mineral with an object with a known hardness on the Mohs scale, then you can find out the range of what the mineral could be. Another way to identify a mineral is to use a light refraction test. By testing its light refraction, you can range it to the group of minerals or a single mineral with that kind of light refraction.

= How Curiosity will analyze Geology = The Mars Land Rover Curiosity will be landing on Mars soon to investigate if Mars was capable of holding life a long time ago. To do this, they will need to analyze the geographic data of Mars, like the rocks and minerals. The robot that they are sending is the bigger in size compared to other rovers, that will be able to carry a whole lot more than any of the other rovers. The way it will analyze the geology on the surface of mars will be to use a drill that drills a hole into whatever rock it finds. They it collects the dust to analyze it. Another way to do it is if a rock is out of reach, it uses a highly concentrated laser that vaporizes the rock. The robot then analyzes the light refraction of the dust of the rock in the air. ==

= HOW TO DETERMINE IF SOMETHING IS LIVING AND HOW TO FIND TRACES OF LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS =

To be a living thing, something must have eight certain characteristics to be considered alive. The first thing that a living thing must have in order to be considered alive would need to be made out of cells. All life that is known to man has to be made out of carbon cells. The second thing that a living thing must have in order to be considered alive would be that it needs materials in order to survive. In other words, it needs to need materials from its environment in order to survive. The third thing is that all living things must be Homeostatic. Homeostatic is when internally living things stay about the same despite environmental changes. Living things also must respond to stimuli to be considered living. There are two kinds of stimuli, positive, and negative. Negative stimuli makes the thing run away or angry, and the positive stimuli makes the thing come towards it. Another characteristic that a living thing must have is the ability to reproduce. Bacteria is considered living because it can multiply like crazy, same with fungi, plants, and animals. Living things also need to grow and adapt. This is means to see if something is alive, you'd have to observe it to see if it has grown more complex over a period of time. When something adapts, that is when something has some kind of modification to suit its environment. And finally, for something to be living, it needs to have Respiration. Respiration is when a living thing takes energy away from sugar and uses it for itself. These are the eight characteristics for something to be considered living.

To find out if there was any life on a planet or if there were suitable conditions to have life on a planet. You would have to search for necessities for life. These necessities for life on a planet would have to be water, energy or heat, and organic cells. First, you would need the organic cells anyways to create something that is organic. Then, you would have to have energy and water to survive. The energy would be used to keep the bacteria warm, and the water would keep the bacteria hydrated. To find evidence of water, you would have to find something that water or salt water would have left behind, like pieces of salt that could be found only in an ocean. Then for the energy, you would have to see if the planet itself had a heated core, and if that heat could find its way to the surface. Then, to find the organic cells themselves, you would have to find fossils of bacteria to see if there was any actual organic cells to make life.