Step 1: Getting to the Moon
Not everyone can fit on the main shuttle. This grim reality has pitted a lot of the world's powerful and poor against one another. Despite this, you and a team of engineers have decided to undertake plans to reach the moon through less than conventional means. Not being able to get your hands on the Nitrogen tetraoxide needed for a conventional rocket flight, you have managed to draw up extremely well-wishing plans for a rail gun.
Boiling the engineering feat down to it's purest form, your rail gun will serve to shoot your ship into low Earth orbit much akin to your standard projectile motion problem. To avoid impending doom, you must make haste in your calculations. Research momentum, conservation of energy, escape velocity and projectile motion to figure out just what velocity is needed to put you into orbit. Describe how these concepts intertwine with a Rail Gun and calculate the initial velocity needed to launch a capsule into space. As in all engineering feats, failure is not an option!
Conservation of Energy
Low Earth Orbit
Escape Velocity
T0 calculate angles and with initial velocity, get yourself familiar with this projectile motion simulator
Boiling the engineering feat down to it's purest form, your rail gun will serve to shoot your ship into low Earth orbit much akin to your standard projectile motion problem. To avoid impending doom, you must make haste in your calculations. Research momentum, conservation of energy, escape velocity and projectile motion to figure out just what velocity is needed to put you into orbit. Describe how these concepts intertwine with a Rail Gun and calculate the initial velocity needed to launch a capsule into space. As in all engineering feats, failure is not an option!
Conservation of Energy
Low Earth Orbit
Escape Velocity
T0 calculate angles and with initial velocity, get yourself familiar with this projectile motion simulator
Step 2: Colonizing the Moon
The second step in your investigation is gathering information about what difficulties need to be considered when establishing a permanent lunar base.
Go to this animation, which will allow you to explore one engineering team's plans for a potential lunar base. Make a list of the ways the engineering team tried to address the needs of astronauts living on the moon. It may be helpful to organize your list in the form of a chart. For example,
Need How that need was met
Protection from radiation - Built base in a crater to offer protection from sun's rays
- Outside coating of lunar soil for further protection
To read a review of what the animation covered, go to the article associated with the animation.
Go to this animation, which will allow you to explore one engineering team's plans for a potential lunar base. Make a list of the ways the engineering team tried to address the needs of astronauts living on the moon. It may be helpful to organize your list in the form of a chart. For example,
Need How that need was met
Protection from radiation - Built base in a crater to offer protection from sun's rays
- Outside coating of lunar soil for further protection
To read a review of what the animation covered, go to the article associated with the animation.
Step 3: Additional Topic
The third step in your investigation is to select an additional topic to research from the possibilities below, and use the links provided under the resources tab along with your own research and prior knowledge to complete the task associated with that topic.
Farming in Space
The animation included plans for an extensive greenhouse at the lunar base, and in the article they list 3 types of plants that they would grow there. Research the characteristics of these plants. Why would the engineering team choose these plants to bring to the moon? Based on those reasons, choose two other plants that they could grow in the lunar greenhouse, and justify your choices.
Life Support
Research the needs of the average human body, and determine how much water, oxygen and energy are required for a human to survive the three day trip to the moon. How much physical space (volume) does this much water take up? How much mass is this? At a cost of ~$10,000/kg, how expensive will it be just to launch the water needed for one passenger?
Hazards
There exist unforeseen dangers in colonizing the moon. Factors like day length, exposure to radiation, causticity of moon dust and a smaller force of gravitational pull all possess hidden complications towards potential moon colonization. Research three of these confounding variables, assess why they are dangerous, and come up with a smart, cost effective and realistic way to defend against them.
Energy
Obviously, colonizing the moon is a very technology-heavy and energy-heavy task. The lunar base will need a way to power all of the life support systems in place. The animation already mentioned solar power as a method for energizing the base; nuclear power would be another option that could work on the moon. Research the benefits and risks of these two energy sources, especially when used on the moon instead of on Earth. How would you design a power plan for the base? Consider where you would locate your power source(s), how this energy would be transported to the base, and how conditions on the moon (such as the long lunar night) are taken into consideration with your plan.
Farming in Space
The animation included plans for an extensive greenhouse at the lunar base, and in the article they list 3 types of plants that they would grow there. Research the characteristics of these plants. Why would the engineering team choose these plants to bring to the moon? Based on those reasons, choose two other plants that they could grow in the lunar greenhouse, and justify your choices.
Life Support
Research the needs of the average human body, and determine how much water, oxygen and energy are required for a human to survive the three day trip to the moon. How much physical space (volume) does this much water take up? How much mass is this? At a cost of ~$10,000/kg, how expensive will it be just to launch the water needed for one passenger?
Hazards
There exist unforeseen dangers in colonizing the moon. Factors like day length, exposure to radiation, causticity of moon dust and a smaller force of gravitational pull all possess hidden complications towards potential moon colonization. Research three of these confounding variables, assess why they are dangerous, and come up with a smart, cost effective and realistic way to defend against them.
Energy
Obviously, colonizing the moon is a very technology-heavy and energy-heavy task. The lunar base will need a way to power all of the life support systems in place. The animation already mentioned solar power as a method for energizing the base; nuclear power would be another option that could work on the moon. Research the benefits and risks of these two energy sources, especially when used on the moon instead of on Earth. How would you design a power plan for the base? Consider where you would locate your power source(s), how this energy would be transported to the base, and how conditions on the moon (such as the long lunar night) are taken into consideration with your plan.