The aim of our project is to identify the best source of energy we should use when settling on a Martian environment. We chose this as our mission because choosing an efficient source of energy is essential for a mission to Mars in allowing the operation of a variety of equipment and maintaining a good Martian habitat. 

We chose to perform two separate experiments, one regarding wind energy, and the other regarding solar energy. We also tried to correspond the indoor environment of our classroom with Martian climate conditions as best as we could, using fans to simulate wind and a microbit as a light source.  We then also applied a multimeter to accurately measure the voltage and current output of the two energy sources. After completing the experiments, we carefully compared the two means of energy to determine which one was superior.

The most important thing we learned this year in science that hugely contributed towards the execution and preparation for our experiment was undoubtedly in the unit of physics, when we were studying circuits and the relations between current, voltage and resistance. This helped us differentiate the different measurements/variables involved in preforming our project (i.e. voltage and current) and how to measure this information effectively when running our final experiment.

Our Space Camp Inquiry 

When setting up a base camp on mars, we strongly believe that a good and reliable source of energy connects and contributes greatly towards the majority of other projects in the class. To give an example, an efficient source of electricity is vital towards maintaining heavy equipment, sustaining a livable habitat, providing reliable transportation and in maintaining a good health. 

 We believe we would be living sustainably on Mars for a small colony, as solar and wind energy are renewable and neither produce greenhouse gasses nor consume any resources to operate.  

Overall, our action did indeed go as we anticipated to most extent, but the general execution of our experiment definitely had contained some room for improvement. For example, we could have made the wooden supports of our wind turbine much more stable to avoid too much vibration, which ultimately affected the consistency and reliability of the turbine's level of current (but peculiarly not voltage). Also, in the process of preforming our experiments with the solar panels, it would also have been significantly more convenient to have a brighter and controllable light source (such as a dimmable flashlight) instead of our microbit, which was quite reliable, but not very bright. Another solution would be to add a seperate pathway parralel to the solar panel to decrease resistance. This would result in a higher current which could be picked up by the multimeter. We think that most of the group's collaboration and idea contribution greatly helped towards the successful development of our project, however, if we had planned a little bit more beforehand, we may have been able to eliminate the few issues and inconveniences that arose within the experimentation. For example, we could have used a photometer and various light sources rather than the microbit in the solar panel experiment. The microbit was a very good way of controlling the amount of light we shined on the solar panel, but it was quite dim in the end and the light sensor really didn't seem very good on the microbit so we couldn't use the microbit instead of the photometer effectively. We would also want to use a solar panel that would have a higher current so we could actually measure the current in our experiment. 

The data we obtained for our project may not be very reliable to when it comes to matching Mars' climate and weather conditions. That is the reason why we encourage another future group to go ahead and improve or further develop upon our project in order to fix our potential mistakes and to deem our project more accurate and reliable. As a next phase for our project, we could observe how the two sources of energy will react to a variety different Martian weather events and conditions and notice the changes and differences compared to regular terrestrial (earth-bound) climate. Some ideas for Martian weather conditions another future group could attempt to simulate in their experiments could be a windy dust storm or some of the frigid temperatures typically found on mars.

• Terrence - I have learned many new things while working on this project. Throughout the beginning of the project, I researched all about different forms of renewable and non renewable energy like geothermal and fossil fuels. When we started work on building the wind turbine, I learned more about how wind turbines and windmills work. I researched many small things like the different angles of the blades, and the best height for the blades to be, which I never would have thought about before. I further developed my collaborative skills, as we had to assign different roles to each member of the group. Time management and goal setting helped us make sure we are not behind on work, and that we have a clear way to go forward.

• Kevin - I have learned a lot of stuff about wind turbines over the course of the project. I now know how the torque affects the current and the speed of rotation affects the voltage. I know the angle of the blades affects the current and voltage. We did have many problems along the way like lack of productivity and poor time management, but we kept going and got it done in the end. I learned a lot about being a leader as this is one of my first times being the leader of a group project. I think I did okay in my role, but have more experience in the role now and can be better in the future. I found that in the end I did well directing what people in my group should do to make sure deadlines were met.

• Darrell - Throughout the length of this project I have learned plenty of stuff on different sources of energy and their viability corresponding to weather and climate on mars. While doing research for the project, I have learned about the pros and cons of these numerous sources of energy and in what environments they work the best. For example, I have learned that non-renewable sources of energy would not work great on Mars for a small colony since they require additional natural resources and hence more planification and cost to function.  I also learned about what makes a good experiment and that these experiments do not always go as planned.  At the end of the day, I also learned some important skills along the way such as collaboration, managing time better and adapting myself when faced with  problems and inconveniences.

• Daniel - I have learned a fair amount of things from this project, I'll just explain a few. I learned to work with other people as a team, and have specific roles so that all aspects of this project could be fuffilled. I learned to set small goals for today, instead of thinking too ahead. I as well learned the fact that even Nuclear energy could be plausible on the poles of mars because at some points of the year, not much sunlight would hit PV cells. We got over our burdens of laziness by the end of it, and i gained some experience being a Monitor of a group, that i hope can help in the future and i am 100% grateful for this opportunity.