Technological Developments
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Transcript of Technological Developments
Technological Development
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Technological Advances:
Are making space exploration possible.
Offering benefits on Earth.
Biggest Challenges:
Go fast enough to achieve orbit around Earth & break free of Earth’s gravity and travel to other planets.
Keeping equipment operating in the extreme environment of space.
Transporting people out and back safely.
Challenger disaster
First Rocketeer
Legend from 16th century China.
Wan-Hu, 47 rockets strapped to a chair that was connected to 2 kites.
Massive explosion.No trace of Wan-Hu, the
chair, or the kites were ever found.
28 000 km/h
Speed required to overcome the force of gravity pulling an object back to Earth.
We’ve come a long way baby…. Robotic space probes, manned spacecraft, Mir space station (Russian), American space shuttle, Canadarm.
400 BC Archytas: steam to propel a model pigeon on wires1rst Century AD: Chinese using gunpowder to make rocket propelled arrows for battle.
October 4, 1957
Soviet Union first country to launch an artificial satellite.
SputnikSecond space capsule
carried a small dog named Laika who survived for 7 days.
First living creature sent into space.
Sputnik 1- only as large as a basketballSeptember 29, 1962: Canada becomes the 3rd nation to launch its own satellite.
Fundamental Law of Physics:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Remember the balloon example: Release the mouth of a balloon and it will be propelled in a direction opposite to the path of escaping gas.
Structural & Mechanical
Rocket itself, engines, storage tanks, and the fins on the outside.
Fuel
Includes liquid oxygen, gasoline, and liquid hydrogen.
The mixture is ignited in a combustion chamber, causing gases to expand and leave as exhaust.
Payload
Refers to the materials needed for flight, including crew cabins, food, water, air, and people (or dogs!).
Future of Transport Technology:
Ion Drives-use xenon gas instead of chemical fuels.
Xenon is electrically charged, accelerated, and then emitted as exhaust.
Action pushes spacecraft in the direction opposite to the emission.
First astronaut to Mars?Like a car getting about 19 000 km/L fuel.
10 000 times weaker…
But the benefit is that it lasts an EXTREMELY long time!
Solar Sails
Similar idea to boats using wind sails.
Solar sails use the Sun’s light. As thin as plastic wrap and would
extend over 400 m2. Crazy!- but expected by 2015.
Made of carbon fibre- uses electromagnetic energy in the form of photons.
Shuttles, Space Probes & Space Stations
Oh my!
Best place to start womanned interplanetary space travel?
Orbiting space station or even from the Moon.
Why? Gravity.Several private companies
planning to develop amusement parks in space or on the Moon.
Surviving in Space
Space is a vacuum
No air or water. Cosmic rays and solar radiation. Dangers of being hit by
meteoroids. No atmosphere: ranges from
unimaginably cold to boiling hot. No atmosphere, no pressure:
pressure helps regulate our heartbeats.
Psychological Challenges
Imagine spending every minute of every day with one person.
I imagined spending every minute of every day with Isaac.
It was bad, it was very, very bad
Psychological Challenges
Imagine spending two years in an enclosure not bigger than this room.
No fresh air, no walks, no McDonalds
Also lose bone mass- record for living in space 437 days.
Microgravity
In space, a person is almost completely weightless, as is the spacecraft and all of its contents.
Bones have much less pressure on them than normal & expand, heart does not have to work as hard to circulate blood, muscles used for walking and lifting don’t get used as much, and there for weaken. Even eyes (visual depth) are affected- all muscles.
Space Suit
Everything a human needs to survive. Air, water, heating system, cooling
system, flexible, portable toilet. Early suits cost $400,000; today’s
space suits cost about $20,000 US. Allows an astronaut to work for about 9
hours. Each custom designed (shoe size,
glove size, etc.).
Space Homes?
Would also have to have all of these life support systems, as well as carry its own source of power to run life support systems.
Important Features:
Clean waterBreathable airComfortable
TemperatureAir PressurePower
International Space Station
Uses devices that recycle 100% of the water in the station.
Including waste water, water used for hygiene, and moisture in the air.
Producing Oxygen in Space
Electrolysis: using electricity to split water molecules into the two elements that make it up: hydrogen & oxygen.
In a spacecraft, this process can supply most of the oxygen a crew needs.
The hydrogen is vented into space.
Satellites
“Artificial Satellites”- built & sent into orbit by humans.
Any small body that orbits a larger body.
Help us communicate, observe & forecast weather, predict magnetic storms, GPS, TV, long distance phone calls.
4 kinds of satellites:
Communication – 1972, Anik 1- Canada the first country in the world to use satellites to transmit TV broadcasts.
Allow greater number of users, clearer transmissions, no costly cable laying.
Observation & Research
Take photographs, monitor weather, follow ships at sea (LANDSAT RADARSAT), monitor soil quality, track forest fires, report on environmental change, search for natural resources.
Remote Sensing
Main purpose of satellites in low Earth orbits.
Make observations about Earth’s surface & send info back: sense heat and other invisible waves- provides info about condition of the Earth, natural resources, and effects of urbanization.
Personal Tracking Devices
GPS- Global Positioning System- allows you to know your position on the planet within a few metres.
24 GPS satellites in orbit around the Earth.
“Space Age” Materials & Systems
Full Chart, Page 431
Space Use
Space Food Study
aerodynamics/insulation Electronics for Hubble Space
Telescope Microcircuitry for electronics Parachute material for the
Viking Space mission Development of computer
robotics
Earth Use
Enriched baby & freeze-dried
Improvements in golf balls, running shoes, ski goggles
Digital imaging for detection/treatment of breast cancer
Human tissue stimulator to control chronic pain
Improvement of traction on car winter tires
Emergency response robots
Page 433
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