6th Grade Class Trip 2007 - Buehler Challenger Science Center

Student Teams Communication Data Probe Navigation Life Support Remote Medical Isolation

Communication Team:  Our team talked over the loudspeaker, delivering short messages or warning the shuttle team of dangerous weather conditions. We also had to operate the two cameras that showed the different teams in the shuttle. If the team did not hear their message, the person on the loudspeaker would have to repeat the message. My partner and I had a special “code” when speaking over the loudspeaker. Our many codes that we had to use in the mission sounded like, “Mars Control, this is Outreach. Do you me hear loud and clear? OVER,” or, “Mars Control, this is Outreach. We have a message for the ____ team. OVER.” After that Mars Control would have to say, “Outreach, this is Mars Control. We are ready to receive the message. OVER.” Outreach would respond by giving the message over the loudspeaker with “OVER” at the end of the sentence. Once the message was given, Mars Control would either acknowledge the message or ask for it to be repeated. We had different messages for the emergencies that occurred. For example we had a hull breech during the landing of Outreach. My partner was the last out because she had to announce the breech on the loudspeaker. She also had to announce that the humidity level was way too high in the spacecraft; it was 94%. There were a few other emergencies, but they were only minor, such as spilled toxic water or the chemical leak. I had to tell my partner over the loudspeaker to move the cameras several times. Our experience of being in the communication team taught us a lot. The experience taught us that it was hard to become an astronaut in space. It also taught us that the communication team’s job only looks easy, but in fact there are a lot of important duties carried out by the communication team. This experience also made us realize just how long it would take to get to Mars and how long we would have to stay there if we ever get there. Overall, we enjoyed the job of being on the communication team.

Data Team:  We took a  trip to the Buehler Challenger Science Center, where we took a virtual trip to Mars. It takes 6-9 months to reach Mars from Earth. On our virtual trip we had replace the crew on Mars. We had to stay on Mars for two years until Earth was closest to Mars so that Earth could send a crew to replace us. Our job was to send and receive messages, and hand them to the correct team.  During the mission there were emergencies and successful tasks. As a team we received about 3 or 4 messages at a time so it was very hard to type them all and hard to not be stressed out. Also we were messengers. We gave notes that were sent to us and we handed them to a certain team. Without us the team would not be able to function correctly because all the teams had certain priorities that needed to be done. It was very hectic in the mission control center and on the space craft but we handled it very well. The messages that we sent were like text messages and emails so it was easy for us to complete our job. In the beginning we had a binder that told us how to get started so we could help the other teams complete their missions. Although there were many times when we came close to failure in the end we were successful and completed our mission to Mars. It was one of the best trips we ever took it really felt like we were going right into outer space and on to Mars.   

Isolation Team:  During our mission, we measured chemicals in which we had to find the mass and the volume.  One thing we had to do was use a mechanical arm, which consisted of different parts of movement, for instance the wrist, arm, base, and claw.  Also, we had to send our results to each other.  When we got messages over the loud speaker, we had to listen intently and stop what we were doing.  If you understood what they were saying, then you put a thumbs-up, but if you didn’t understand what they were saying, then you put a thumbs-down.  We wrote the response on sticky notes and gave them to the DATA team or the COMMUNICATION team.  We switched half way through the mission for the other person to come home.  There was a camera to see what we were doing while we were weighing the chemicals.  If the chemical’s mass was less than 50g then there was a leak.  Sadly, we had a leak, and the mission ended so soon that we had no time to fix it.  The isolation team has spoken!

Life Support:  As members of the Life Support team, our purpose was to ensure safety among crew members and to test natural experiments.  We started with two members on the Mars Control base and one on the Outreach spacecraft.  Our first responsibility on the base was to monitor the humidity levels on the spacecraft.  We researched the normal humidity levels which were 40-70%.  However, when we received readings of the spacecraft’s humidity, it was 24 degrees above the normal level, 94%.  This resulted in our first emergency, causing the loud sirens to go off.  To resolve this problem, we sent a message to our partner on the ship with instructions on how to lower the humidity level.  Our second responsibility was to get the barometer readings.  The reading read 29.3 inches, and the reading from the previous day was the same.  Once again, this reading resulted in an emergency, as the safe barometer reading would have been from 29.5-30.3 inches.  To resolve this problem we informed our Mission Commander about it.  Our third responsibility was to get the thermometer readings from the spacecraft.  After some research, we found that a safe reading would be from 18-23 degrees Celsius.  Luckily, the reading from our partner on the spacecraft was 19.8 degrees Celsius, a safe reading.  Our fourth responsibility was a seed experiment.  We had to find what kind of seeds/crops would be able to grow healthily on Mars.  After some measurements and research we found that tomatoes would be able to grow on the Red Planet.  After the seed experiments the spacecraft successfully landed on Mars, and we transferred onto the craft.  As we were on the craft, our partner on the Mars Base conducted some air filter and water experiments.  He did not complete the air filter experiments, but he did find some crucial information on the water supply.  He found that each astronaut would need 1.9 kilograms of water each day, and the whole crew would need 19 kilograms.  With this information received, we had to find which water on the spacecraft would be safe to drink.  To do this we conducted some experiments on our water taps.  After an experiment on the first tap, we found that Tap 1 contained acid water, but unfortunately, someone on our crew spilled it, so we had to quickly clean it up.  The second and third taps both contained water that was safe to drink.  However, the fourth tap contained some kind of toxic water, but we did not get to take the correct actions to fix it because there was a dust storm coming behind our craft.  Miraculously, we got our whole crew of ten into a tiny escape pod and safely got off the craft.  That concluded our very long, tiring, and exciting mission to Mars. 

Medical Team:  On our mission to Mars we had to test people for radiation, visual reaction time, and for harmful germs.  For the radiation safety check we found out what radiation poisoning is, and what the symptoms are.  The three symptoms of radiation sickness are nausea, skin burns and weakness.  The number of crew members exposed to radiation was zero.  Then we had to test visual reaction time.  A person from the remote team got an average of 0.3 seconds with his left eye and a 0.2  second average with his right eye.  For both eyes he got an average of 0.3 seconds.  A person on the medical team got an average of 0.5 seconds with her left eye and an average of 2.6 seconds with her right eye.  With both eyes she got an average of 0.5.  Another person from the medical team got an average of 0.4 with her left eye and with her right eye she got an average of 0.4seconds.  She got 0.3 seconds with both eyes as average.  A person from the probe team got an average of 0.4 seconds for the left eye and 0.3 seconds as an average with her right eye.  With both eyes she got an average of 0.3seconds.  Germ identification sample A was ID number 5.  It was called mildew and it was in the mold and fungus family.  Sample B was ID number 4.  The germ was called Shiitake Mushroom and was also in the mold and fungus family.  Sample C was ID number 2.  It was called household mold and it was also in the mold and fungus family.  None of the germs had to be disposed of.  We did not finish all of our tasks, but we got most of them done.               

Navigation Team:  On our mission to Mars we had to locate Mars, find constellations and, find angles so we can land on Mars.  We had to record in our data log how many arc seconds for the constellations. The constellations were Ursa Major, Gemini, and Sagittarius. Earths apparent size was 11.1 arc seconds, the suns apparent size was 21.0 arc minutes, Mars was 19.3 arc degrees. Then we had to find how many degrees for orbital vector which was 225. To make sure our landing was safe we had to find the landing weather. The weather on Mars we had to find was the wind Velocity, wind direction, visibility, temperature, and safe landing. During our mission we took pictures of Mars with the Bow Camera, Port Camera A, B, and C. There is also a stern camera and starboard camera A, B, and C. Also, we had to use the telescope to find the distance, diameter, composition. We had a safe landing and our mission was successful.

Probe Team:  During the mission we had to build a weather probe and monitor the weather with the old probe. Our mission was to build a new weather probe to replace the old one. We had to stay very clean and calm when we were building the probe, and we also had to keep the door closed so that the air wouldn't contaminate the probe. Since we only had two people it was hard to record everything. One person was reading the instructions in mission control to the other person in the Mars spacecraft and the other person had to carefully put the parts in the right spot. The most important part of the probe was the CPU because it is the “brain” of the probe. Some other important parts were the video; it sends the MTV and Mars spacecraft. The send which sends messages. Also the receive messages. We had to stay in a clean room; we also had to put on a white, clean, 1 piece suit. When we launched the probe we were happy/excited. At the end there was a level three dust storm that could of killed the whole crew but they evacuated calmly and orderly and the whole crew was safe.  

Remote Team:  On our trip to the Buehler Space center our mission was to successfully reach Mars to change the crew members aboard the Mars Control.  It took six to nine months to get to Mars.  The crew was on Mars Control for two years.  The crew on Mars Transportation Vehicle switched, and the crew on Mars Control went home. This is our data we found on our trip. Sample one had the mass of 70.8 g. The mass of the sample two was 47.6 g.  The mass sample of three was 114.6 g. Finally the sample four has a mass 35 g. The volume of sample one is 210 which equals 10 ml. The sample two had a volume of 205 which equals 5 ml. The sample three had a volume of 205 which equals 5. ml And finally sample four has a volume 212 which equals 12 ml. The sample one’s density is 7.08 g/ml and it is not magnetic. The sample two’s density is 9.4 g/ml and is not magnetic. The sample three’s density is 22.92 g/ml and is magnetic. The sample four’s density is 2.916 g/ml and is not magnetic. This was our trip to Mars and information data.