We also encourage you to write your sponsoring legislator to thank him or her for nominating you for this program. Click here to find out your legislators address.  If you don't know who sponsored you, go to your registration page and scroll to the bottom.  You might tell your legislator what the most interesting thing you have learned so far is, what your favorite lesson was, what you learned from the expert on the chat session, and tell him or her that you are looking forward to your summer experience.  It's up to you!  Please send us a copy of the letter when you are done for our files!

Click here to complete the Quick Quiz! for this lesson.

Click on Extended Mission for more fun activities, links and resources on
this topic. Consider this topic for your final project!

Assignment 1 - The Human Factor
 

Imagine that you are a human factors or spacecraft systems engineer and are responsible for one of the following space human factor issues. 

Determine whether your topic is an in-flight issue, an issue for astronauts living on the surface of the planet, or an issue for the entire mission. 

In your essay, discuss the problem, its causes, and your ideas for possible solutions and strategies to alleviate it. 

In addition, consider solutions that involve systems designs, preflight, and in-flight training, the need for specific crewmember skills or characteristics, and support from Earth.   Remember that many problems that astronauts encounter will have to be handled internally. 

Cite at least three sources.

Before you begin, reread the chapter on the topic you have chosen and explore some of the corresponding links.

• radiation  
• meteoroid impact 
• dust storms 
• microgravity  
• Mars spacesuits 
• Mars (one-third) gravity  
• proper nutrition  
• exercise  
• communications  
• recreation 
• time-keeping 
• crew selections 
• interpersonal relationships

Part Two (Continued from Lesson 9)

The spacecraft is now going to be sent to Mars.  It has been lifted into low-Earth orbit.  It is now in the same orbit around the Sun as the Earth is.  In order to reach Mars it needs to do a Hohmann Transfer maneuver (like you learned about in Lesson 3, On Orbit Ops: Orbital Mechanics 101).  This maneuver will enable the spacecraft to go from an orbit around the Sun that is equal to the Earth’s, to an orbit around the sun that is equal to Mars’.

What you need to do is determine the characteristics of the ellipse in order to aid in calculating the Hohmann Transfer.  Please identify the length of the semi-major axis, the semi-minor axis, and the focal length of the ellipse. Specify each of these quantities in millions of km (Mkm).

You can work it out yourself, or use the hints and charts below:

The semi-major axis (a) is the distance to the center of the ellipse along the major axis.  As you learned previously, the center of the ellipse is halfway between the two foci (one of which is the Sun). 

1.  The distance from the Earth to the Sun is 150 million km (Mkm)
2.  The distance from Mars to the Sun is 230 million km (Mkm)

To determine the length of the semi-major axis first determine the length of the major axis (using the information above) and divide it in half.

To determine the focal length, subtract the Earth’s distance to the sun from the semi-major axis.

To determine the length of the semi-minor axis, use the equation below.

f^2 = a^2 - b^2

or

b^2 = (a^2-f^2) ^1/2

or

b = SQRT (a^2 - f^2)

Thank you to Joe Kolecki and NASA’s Learning Technology Project at the Glenn Research Center for use of these questions and activities.

Your assignment will be assessed using the following criteria. If your work meets all of the criteria below it will be considered exemplary. If one or two of the criteria are not met your work will be considered satisfactory. If more than three criteria are not met your work will be considered unsatisfactory and you will be asked to resubmit.
 

Unit 10
Assignments	Content	Grammar	Creativity/ Originality	Length
Essay	Essay includes all required elements: Problem  Causes   Solutions  Strategies  Sources	Essay is grammatically correct and free from spelling errors.	Essay is interesting to read, flows well, and is easy to understand.	Essay contains at least 1000 words
Mars Math	Answers are correct.	Work is shown.

You also need to complete the quiz before you go on to the next lesson. Click here to complete the Quick Quiz! 

Submit your essay and the answer to the Mars Math problem in paragraph form via the Comm Link.
 

Don't forget you need to complete the quiz before you go on to the next lesson. Click here to complete the Quick Quiz!
 
 

The Human Factor Extended Mission