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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