Download Space Exploration

Warm – Up 3/3/15
1.
During the new moon phase, the Moon cannot be seen in the night sky. Which
diagram shows how the Moon, Earth, and Sun are arranged during the new
moon phase?
A.
.
C. D.
2.
B.
D.
Which best describes the orbit of the Moon around the Earth?
A. Circular with a period of about one month
B. Circular with a period of about one week
C. Elliptical with a period of about one month
D. Elliptical with a period of about one week.
3.
If Earth revolved at a faster rate, what would most likely occur?
A. Annual rainfall would increase
B. Daylight hours would decrease
C. Season would be shorter
D. Annual temperature variation would be greater.
Space Exploration
The Hubble Telescope
From left: Images from the Hubble telescope of the Sombrero Galaxy, Orion Nebula,
Messier 101 Galaxy

In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was placed in orbit by
the shuttle Discovery

Example of scientific instrument in space

Used to measure the age and size of the universe

Able to take extremely clear images that are undistorted by
Earth’s atmosphere
The Hubble Telescope
Launch Date: 4/24/1990
 Mission Duration
24 Years, 9 Months
• Orbits Earth outside of
Earth’s atmosphere.


What has it done for science?
◦ Measures the rate at which the universe is expanding –
age of our universe
◦ Observe distant supernovae
◦ Observe stars and dwarf planets found in our solar
system
◦ Images of galaxies billions of light years away
◦ Identified a fifth moon orbiting Pluto
◦ And much more…
Imagines from Hubble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA06Ck0eVs
The International Space Station (ISS)




Launched in1998
It orbits Earth 15.54 time each
day
Continuously occupied
for 14 years by astronauts
from 15 different nations
Purpose: laboratory,
observatory, provides
transportation, maintenance,
and act as a staging base for
possible future missions to the
Moon, Mars and asteroids.
Life on Board the ISS









Wake-up at 06:00,
Post-sleep activities and a morning inspection of the station
Next, breakfast and a daily planning conference with Mission Control
Start work at around 08:10.
The first scheduled exercise of the day, after which the crew continues work until
13:05.
One-hour lunch break
14:05 the afternoon consists of more exercise and work
Pre-sleep activities beginning at 19:30, including dinner and a crew conference.
The scheduled sleep period begins at 21:30. In general, the crew works ten hours
per day on a weekday, and five hours on Saturdays, with the rest of the time their
own for relaxation or work catch-up.
Sleeping on Board the ISS
•
Two 'sleep stations' in the Zvezda and
four more installed in Harmony.
•
The American quarters are private,
approximately person-sized
soundproof booths.
•
The Russian crew quarters include a
small window, but do not provide the
same amount of ventilation or block
the same amount of noise as their
American counterparts.
•
A crewmember can sleep in a crew
quarter in a tethered sleeping bag,
listen to music, use a laptop, and
store personal items in a large
drawer or in nets attached to the
module's walls.
Sleeping in Spacehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSCi-oWqtgU
Tour of the Space Station:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkYz43qAL
MU
Visiting crews have no allocated sleep
module, and attach a sleeping bag to
an available space on a wall—it is
possible to sleep floating freely
through the station, but this is
generally avoided because of the
possibility of bumping into sensitive
equipment.
• It is important that crew
accommodations be well ventilated;
otherwise, astronauts can wake up
oxygen-deprived and gasping for air,
because a bubble of their own
exhaled carbon dioxide has formed
around their heads.
•
Frequently Asked Questions?

Why do you have to
work out in space?
◦ To maintain strength
in space – due to low
gravity there is little
stress on the body.

Why is your
spacesuit inflated like
a balloon?
◦ So our bodies remain
under the same air
pressure that exists
on Earth.
Space Shuttles




Originally spacecraft were used only once, in
the 1980s, NASA developed reusable
spacecrafts, the space shuttles
Launched like rockets but land like modernday airplanes
Considered the most complex machines
ever built
Used to take satellites and instruments into
space

Provides oxygen for astronauts and
removes the carbon dioxide that is
exhaled by the astronauts.

Reusing and improving on old
space shuttles, are what most
likely helped scientists to be
able to go from launching
artificial satellites to sending
spacecraft's to the Moon
Unpiloted Missions: Space Probes and
Landers

Space probes – designed to gather
information while orbiting planets other
than Earth.

Probes sent to orbit and study the outer planets
and probes have landed on planets of the inner
solar system like Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

Typically sent to explore different planets
atmospheric gases, soil samples, weather
patterns, ect.
Why send robotic probes instead of
humans?

Benefits:
◦ Cheaper: there’s no need to send along food, air, and living space
for astronauts or fuel for a round-trip
◦ Safer: there’s no danger to human life

Drawbacks:
◦ Robotic probes can only do what they’re programmed to do; they
cannot grow or adapt to face unforeseen changes
◦ Robotic probes often must be controlled remotely from Earth
◦ Some feel that robotic missions lack the romance of discovery
and experience of manned missions
Gravity Assist Concept

The use of the relative movement
and gravity of a planet to alter
the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically in
order to save propellant, time, and expense.

It was helpful in planning spacecraft
trajectories.

Apollo 13 Mission
Telescopes

Telescope – a device that gathers
electromagnetic radiation, example:
visible light.

History of Telescopes
◦ Galeleo Galilei built one of the 2st telescotes in 1609
◦ He found that the Moon had craters, mountains,
and valleys
◦ He found the four largest moons of Jupiter
◦ Used this information to support the theory that the
planets orbit the Sun not the Earth!
2 Types of Visible-light Telescopes

Reflecting Telescope
◦ are telescopes that use a mirror to gather light.
◦ providing enough light to reveal hundreds of deepsky objects as well as show details of the moons
around Jupiter
◦ *Galileo used this type!

Refracting Telescope
◦ are telescopes that use a lens to bend and
concentrate light.
◦ crisp views of the moon, planets and stars
Technology Gains from Space
Exploration










Microwaves
Hand held calculators
Fire resistant materials
Firefighters suits
Purifying air, water, and
food
Solar panels
Shoe insoles
Skiboots
Adjustable smoke detector
Water filters











Computer mouse
Cell-phone cameras
Ear thermometer
Golf clbs
Long-distance
communication
Invisible braces
Artificial limbs
Baby formula
MRI and CST scans
Memory foam
UV blocking sunglasses
The Cassini-Huygens Mission
An image of
Saturn relayed to
Earth by the
Cassini –
Huygens
spacecraft

First spacecraft to explore Saturn and its rings and moons
from orbit

Has been in orbit around Saturn since January 30, 2004

The Huygens probe was released from the Cassini
spacecraft in January 2005 to study Titan, Saturn’s largest
moon
Voyager

Launched in 1977, first
spacecraft to visit the outer
planets of our solar system
and send back pictures of
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune

Continue to function to this
day

Now the farthest man-made
objects in the solar system
Images of
Saturn (left)
and Jupiter
(below) from
the Voyager
spacecraft
Mars Rovers

Probes launched to Mars with
robotic rovers to explore
surface

Spirit landed on Mars January
4, 2004; Opportunity landed
December 12, 2004

Primary mission scheduled to
last ~ 3 months, but mission
has been active over two
Earth years

Rovers remotely controlled
by scientists on Earth
Top and bottom:
images of Mars
from the rovers.
Left: an artist’s
vision of Spirit on
Mars