Mission To Mars
Published on Nov 25, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
MARS
In class, we decided that Mars was the best
planet to land a rocket ship. We decided this because after studying the nine planets, we figured that Mars is by far the best planet to land a rocket (other than Earth). Mars is next to Earth, has a rocky surface, and isn't too cold or hot, so this makes Mars a particularly good planet for landing spaceships. Also, Mars is safe for humans. Other planets have unsuitable temperatures, and things that might harm people.
Photo by jasonb42882
On Mars, you can see its surface appears to be a red color, due to iron covered rocks on the planet. Our class wanted to explore there because we hoped to learn and study life on Mars, and experience life on it. We wanted to go in depth and observe Mars.
Photo by Perrimoon
TEAM SPACECRAFT
After my class decided Mars was a great planet for landing a rocket, we started designing our own spacecraft. Things that we thought were important in creating a rocket were boosters, thrusters, a door, an engine, exercise room, bathroom, bedrooms, storage room, living area, escape pod, and wings.Some items we thought were important to make our mission to Mars successful included parachutes to land, air tanks to breathe, and also food and beverages to eat and drink out of.
PARACHUTES
Parachutes were an important part of my team's spacecraft, mainly because after watching a video in class about a rover landing on Mars, the class found out when landing on planet Mars that it is vital for the rover to land as slowly as possible. In the video, it showed that scientists used a parachute to land on Mars very gently, and to keep the rover from toppling over. So my class realized how important a parachute was in landing on Mars. The parts of a parachute are the canopy, suspension lines, and load.
The canopy is the part that catches air, located at the top of the parachute, while load is carrying. And the suspension lines link the canopy and load together, making a parachute.
Photo by Leo Reynolds
TRIAL ONE
For our first trial, our independent variable was the size of the canopy (including large, medium, and small). The controlled variables were the material for the canopy (a coffee filter), the length of the suspension lines (21 inches), and the size of the load (small). The results of this test was that the large size canopy dropped with the longest time, the small one dropped fastest, and the medium parachute dropped in between the speed of the large and small one. So preferably, largest size the best canopy for landing on Mars.
Photo by Leo Reynolds
TRIAL TWO
For our second trial, our independent variable was the length of the string (including 21, 13, and 9 inch string) . The controlled variables were the size of the canopy (medium), the material (coffee filter), and the size of the load (small). The results were that the 21 inch string let the parachute land more slowly than the 13 and 9 inch string, meaning that the 21 inch suspension lines worked the best in this experiment.
Photo by Leo Reynolds
TRIAL THREE
During the third trial, the independent variable was the material we could use (including fabric, trash bags, and coffee filters). The controlled variables were the size of the canopy, the length of the string, and the size of the load. The results were that the trash bags dropped in the least amount of time, the fabric dropping with the least time, and the coffee filters dropping in the time in between the trash bags and fabric. The trash bags proved to work the best in landing on Mars.
Photo by Leo Reynolds
FINAL PARACHUTE
Next, after doing the three tests, the entire class split into groups and made a final parachute. However, there were some limits. You needed to figure out your parachute Packing Score by squaring your canopy radius, and then adding the length of one suspension line times four. So you couldn't build a parachute with a large canopy and 21 inch suspension lines. As a result, my group used a trash bag, large canopy and 13 inch string to construct our parachute.
After we finished building the parachute, Mrs. French took it and dropped the parachute from a ladder three times to do the 3 trials. The results were that for Trial 1, the parachute took 2.25 seconds to fall. For the second trial, it took 2.60 seconds, and for the final trial, it took 1.95 seconds to drop. Then we averaged the results on a calculator and got 2.30 as the average. To see if we were Mission Ready, I divided 9.25, the number of feet between the parachute and floor before Mrs. French dropped the parachute, by 2.30, the average, and got 4.02, meaning that my group was Mission Ready!
Photo by Tony Sprackett
IF I COULD DO ANOTHER PARACHUTE USING ANY VARIABLES, WHAT WOULD I MAKE?
I would make the canopy of the parachute
as large as possible, using a gigantic plastic bag, because in Test One, it showed that larger canopies would make your parachute drop more slowly. And also, in Test Three, it showed how plastic bags dropped slower than fabric and coffee filters. For the suspension lines, I would use long and thick rope, since my canopy is large, and I would probably need something stronger than string to hold the canopy.
Photo by Stuart Herbert
