Day 5

Thursday 19 June 2014

On Thursday we started out by testing our planetary landers by dropping them from a height of 2 meters, and trying to keep a quarter from bouncing out and trying to keep the lander from deviating too far from the intended landing spot.  We were fortunate to receive assistance in this activity from an ExxonMobil engineer who came to Laramie from her job site near Rock Springs.  She spoke about careers in technical fields.  After that we had our second round of paper rocket design followed by the actual launches and the subsequent data analysis (distance as a function of rocket mass, launch angle, etc.).  The (graphed) results were consistent with a launch angle of 45 degrees providing the maximum distance traveled.  After lunch the campers learned more about the challenges to human spaceflight (how to eat, go to the bathroom, how much oxygen is necessary, etc.).  We also prepared for our adventure to the nearby Snowy Range where we will explore different environments and take soil and water samples to be later tested for signs of life.  The day was capped off by using our 26-inch telescope at Red Buttes Observatory south of town to image their chosen star systems.  Some of the fun pictures below show the students twirling glow sticks outside the observatory.