Apollo 16 launch

Objective:

Determine the feasibility of a trip to Mars in a rocket launched from Earth.

Due Date:

Monday, April 20th (the day we get back from Songkran holidays).

Introduction:

Recent exploration visits to Mars have been done using robots launched from Earth.  As Mars is one of the closest planets in our solar system, and the most hospitable to life in it far past, humans have been very interested in the question of, is there life on Mars?  If there is life on Mars, it is very likely that life is a common occurrence through out the university and we are not alone.  Missions to Mars have been largely focused on determining how likely life is to be on Mars and finding evidence of it.  There have been many problems with these missions, and a manned mission might be the best way to answer this question.

As budding young scientists and mathematicians, we are going to use the calculus we have learned, plus some more mathematics we will need to learn, in order to try and understand the problems behind a manned mission to Mars.  Your job will be to research, analyze, and understand the problems with a mission, and prove mathematically if it is possible, and what would be the requirements for undertaking such a mission.  This endeavor will take many classes, so you must be organized and keep a record of what you have discovered.

Procedure:

1. Find out more about what is already known about Mars.  Keep track of useful information you may need to know later.  You may share this material with your classmates on this website and use whatever research they discover as well.
   
2. Research what missions have been to Mars already and find out what problems they faced.
   
3. Plan a mission to manned mission to Mars.  Explore the problems that a manned crew would encounter on the way to Mars, and come up with, or find, mathematical models which help understand these problems.  Some example problems are; how much fuel should they bring, how long will the trip take, how much food will they need, etc...
4. Explain your plan to get to Mars, and describe how you have decided that it is the best plan.
   

Resources:

Introduction to rocket science - http://sites.google.com/site/mrweescalculus12/pbl---rocket-to-mars/rocket-science
The mathematics behind rockets - http://www.relativitycalculator.com/rocket_equations.shtml
Methods of space travel - http://www.google.co.th/search?hl=en&q=methods+of+space+travel&btnG=Search&meta=lr%3Dlang_en
Problems with space travel - http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/02144/start/prob.htm

These should be enough to get started, but you will have to consider many more potential problems and see if you can come up with solutions to these problems.

Assessment:

Your project will consider of three parts; research, calculations, and a presentation.  You will receive a mark out of 15 for your group work, and each member of the team will receive an additional 5 points for evidence of strong participation in the project for a total of 20 points, which will count as 20% of your grade in your course this semester.

	Poor ( 0 - 2 points )	Good ( 3 - 4 points )	Excellent ( 5 points )
Research: Evidence of having collected sufficient information to make your decisions.  You should show summaries of research you have found, along with links to the resources you used.	incomplete lacks organization lacks citations	logically organized presented in a clear format complete includes citations	shows evidence of self-exploration of the problem many possible plans have been examined
Calculation: As part of your work, you must do some mathematical calculations, which will include both integration and differentiation.	errors present difficult to understand incomplete	mostly error free logically organized complete	includes ideas not formally discussed in class detailed explanations and clear why calculations have been done and what they prove
Presentation: You will present your findings to the rest of the class, both in written form (using a Google site is one suggested method) and as an oral presentation (for which you may opt to create a video instead of presenting live - bonus marks for creativity here!)	disorganized unappealing presenters lack confidence difficult to understand, lacks organization lack of preparation evident	logically organized interesting presenters are confident easy to understand shows evidence of having practiced ahead of time	presentation is exciting presentation uses digital media in a highly effective manner