Credit: NASA
Embedded Files
Welcome to Day 3!
Welcome to Day 3!
Welcome to Day 3 of To the Moon & Beyond Summer Camp. So far we’ve explored our solar system, learned about safely traveling and landing on the Moon, as well as how we can protect ourselves as we explore the Moon’s surface.
Today, we’ll learn more about how astronauts protect themselves from extreme conditions and dive into coding - an important first step in creating robots that can help us learn more about the universe.
Let’s have a BLAST!
Getting Started
Getting Started
Meet Frank Robinson, Former NASA Engineer
Meet Frank Robinson, Former NASA Engineer
Frank Robinson Jr. was the deputy director of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He assisted the department director with providing reliability, quality assurance and system safety management, and expertise to support Glenn technical divisions, project offices and contracted programs.
Space Apparel
Space Apparel
This activity adapted from NASA Knows: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows
Astronauts wear various types of clothing for all aspects of a mission to space. Whether preparing for launch, working inside the space shuttle or the space station, working outside in space, or landing back on Earth, astronauts wear the proper garments for both comfort and protection. But one of the most important items an astronaut needs is a space suit.
What Is a Spacesuit?
What Is a Spacesuit?
A spacesuit is much more than a set of clothes astronauts wear on spacewalks. A fully equipped spacesuit is really a one-person spacecraft. The formal name for the spacesuit used on the space shuttle and International Space Station is the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU. "Extravehicular" means outside of the vehicle or spacecraft. "Mobility" means that the astronaut can move around in the suit. The spacesuit protects the astronaut from the dangers of being outside in space.
Credit: NASA
Credit: NASA
Why Do Astronauts Need Spacesuits?
Why Do Astronauts Need Spacesuits?
Spacesuits help astronauts in several ways. Spacewalking astronauts face a wide variety of temperatures. In Earth’s orbit, conditions can be as cold as minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit. In the sunlight, they can be as hot as 250 degrees. A spacesuit protects astronauts from those extreme temperatures.
Spacesuits also supply astronauts with oxygen to breathe while they are in the vacuum of space. They contain water to drink during spacewalks. They protect astronauts from being injured from impacts of small bits of space dust. Space dust may not sound very dangerous, but when even a tiny object is moving many times faster than a bullet, it can cause injury. Spacesuits also protect astronauts from radiation in space. The suits even have visors to protect astronauts' eyes from the bright sunlight.
What Are the Parts of a Spacesuit?
What Are the Parts of a Spacesuit?
The spacesuit consists of several pieces. The Hard Upper Torso covers the astronaut's chest. The arm assembly covers the arms and connects to the gloves. The helmet and Extravehicular Visor Assembly are designed to protect the astronaut's head while still allowing him or her to see as much as possible. The Lower Torso Assembly covers the astronaut's legs and feet. The flexible parts of the suit are made from several layers of material. The layers perform different functions, from keeping oxygen within the spacesuit to protecting from space dust impacts.
Underneath the spacesuit, astronauts wear a Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment. Tubes are woven into this tight-fitting piece of clothing that covers the entire body except for the head, hands and feet. Water flows through these tubes to keep the astronaut cool during the spacewalk.
Credit: NASA
Credit: NASA
On the back of the spacesuit is a backpack called the Primary Life Support Subsystem. This backpack contains the oxygen that astronauts breathe during a spacewalk. It also removes carbon dioxide that astronauts exhale. The backpack also provides electricity for the suit. A fan moves the oxygen through the spacesuit and life support systems, and a water tank holds the cooling water that flows through the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment.
Also attached to the back of the suit is a device called the Simplified Aid for Extravehicular Activity Rescue, or SAFER. SAFER has several small thruster jets. If an astronaut became separated from the space station, he or she could use SAFER to fly back.
Meet the seamstresses who fashioned Apollo's spacesuits
Meet the seamstresses who fashioned Apollo's spacesuits
When NASA needed a lunar spacesuit for the Apollo astronauts, they turned to the International Latex Corporation, and a team of women who normally sewed bras and girdles, to create a softer, more flexible spacesuit. Tracy Smith talked with some of the seamstresses who fashioned protective wear that would mean life or death for men in space, and with Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt who was the last man to walk, and jump, on the lunar surface.
STEM Challenge: Create a Textile to Withstand Extreme Temperatures in Space
STEM Challenge: Create a Textile to Withstand Extreme Temperatures in Space
Your challenge:
Your challenge:
Design and create a glove or shoe that can protect an astronaut from extreme cold in space.
Materials:
Materials:
Cardstock
Tape
Felt
Paper Towels
Plastic Bag
Thermal Blanket
Wax Paper
Aluminum Foil
Thermometer
Timer (this can be a clock, stopwatch, or an app on your phone)
Any other materials around the house that you'd like to try!
Requirements:
Requirements:
It fits you - You’ll need to be able to slip it on and off.
Protects the wearer from extreme temperatures. In a successful design, the temperature should remain between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lightweight
Flexible - You’ll need to be able to move in your accessory.
Instructions:
Instructions:
Gather your materials and examine them. Brainstorm how you might be able to use them in your design.
Before you begin, use your camp notebook to sketch and label your design. Be sure to think about the layers you will use and label each one.
Remember to incorporate the Engineer Design Process as you go!
Begin building your prototype by tracing your own hand or foot, depending on if you’re making a glove or boot. Be sure to leave a little extra room around the hand/foot outline because you’ll need to be able to slip your creation on and off.
5. Using the materials you’ve decided on, create a textile that meets the requirements outlined above.
6. Test your creation using a freezer. If you don’t have access to a freezer, you could also place your creation outside on a hot day.
Using the thermometer, record the room temperature reading before placing your textile in the extreme weather condition (freezer or outside). Create a table like the one below in your notebook and record your data.
Place the thermometer inside your creation. Place inside the freezer (or in the hot sun), and leave it for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove from the freezer, take out the thermometer, and record the temperature. Do this quickly so the temperature doesn’t have time to return to normal!
Replace the thermometer and return the item to the freezer. Wait 5 more minutes, remove the item, and record the temperature. (You can repeat this test more times if desired.)
7. Evaluate: Analyze the data. Did your space apparel offer enough protection to keep the thermometer between 65 and 75 degrees? How can your design be improved? Is it airtight? Did you utilize all your materials? Is there something you haven’t tried?
8. Redesign and improve your textile and retest.
Binary Coding
Binary Coding
This activity is adapted from Code.org: https://code.org/curriculum/course2/14/Teacher
Someone clever once said, “There are 10 types of people in the world...those who understand binary and those who don’t.” Do you think that’s a funny joke? If not, read on to learn more!
What do the words bicycle, binomial, bipedal, and binary have in common? That’s right - “bi.” Bi- is a prefix that means 2. Bicycles have 2 wheels. Bipedal means two legs. Binary means representing information using only two options. Examples of binary include on/off, magnetic/non-magnetic, reflective/non-reflective, and 0 and 1.
Credit: Code.org
The binary numeral system is a way to write numbers using only two digits: 0 and 1. These are used in computers as a series of "off" and "on" switches. The number system that we normally use is the decimal number system. It has 10 digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Binary is extremely important to the computer world. The majority of computers today store all sorts of information in binary form. When you type in the letter “A” on a keyboard, the computer understands it as “01000001.” The next activity helps to demonstrate how it is possible to take something that we know and translate it into a type of binary code.
Now, let’s put all of this information into practice using letters!
STEM@HOME: Binary Bracelets
STEM@HOME: Binary Bracelets
Let's practice using binary! Use these worksheets to:
Encode letters into binary
Decode binary back to letters
Create a binary bracelet with your initials
Credit: Askatechnogirl.com
Reflection
Reflection
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