Category Archives: 12-13 Students

Top 5 Space-Related Events of 2012

 Note: This list is not in any particular order.

1.) Curiosity
     It wouldn’t be a list about this years achievements without including Curiosity in there somewhere. In August, NASA managed to land it’s most advanced rover yet onto Mars. It also sent some pictures back from  Not putting this on the list would be a crime, because who doesn’t enjoy a good old space landing, right?

2.) Will.i.am’s transmission to mars

     On August 28, the first recorded song was sent to Mars. Singer will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame, recorded “Reach For the Stars” a song about science, particularly that of the space-ey kind. The song was made specifically to be broadcast to Mars, via Curiosity. The event took place after the team that landed the Mars Rover gave a speech to a group of kids about how the rover mission was done, and the technicals behind will.i.am’s interplanetary transmission.
3.) Ice On Mercury
     This year, NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER), or as I like to call it, the spacecraft trying too hard to get a catchy acronym, found ice on mercury. New info relesed in December proved that if the ice in Mercury’s polar region was spread over an area as large as Washington D.C., it would be 2 miles thick
4.) The Orion

     In July, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida announced a new spaceship. The Orion is designed to bring astronauts more deep into space than ever before. It also has a strong focus on ensuring the astronauts can get OUT of space, which is always a good thing to pay attention to. It also is important to note, that the first time I remember learning about this vessel and it making an impression on me was  through the Burger King toy.
5.) W.I.S.E.

     In April, it was revealed that NASA’s Wide-field Infared Survey Explorer, or W.I.S.E. was actively seeking for black holes. Not just black holes, but HUGE black holes, called blazers. They are also one of the most energetic objects in the universe. Over 200 have been found so far.

NASA Angry Birds

Don Pettit With Plusies and Eggs

nasa.gov

Space Life System

nasa.gov

On Nasa’s 2012 Year In Review, I watched a video about the video game Angry Birds Space and how it is close to real life. Don Pettit was in a real space station and was encouraged to do an Angry Birds Space Experiment. He had Angry Bird plushies and recorded a video of it all.

– Don Pettit had a Angry Bird plusie, 2 eggs, and a green pig ballon. Don took his bunjee cord and supported it across a wall.

– Then, he shot the Angry Bird and just like in the video game, the angry bird would get close to an object and orbit around it.

– “We have a Regenerative Life System which is a fancy way of saying that we got a toilet, which you use, then a machine that goes chugga, chugga, chugga , then you go to the galley and get yourself a cup of coffee. And that is exactly what you think it is.” Says Don Pettit. (Shown above in the photo.)

– The video game creators of Angry Birds Space but the physics of outer space into account because they are planets in the game which have a gravitational force which pulls the angry birds closer to the planets which they can them kill the pigs.

– At the beginning of the video, Don Pettit made a story f the big bad green pigs taking the eggs away from the angry birds. (Shown above in the photo).

2012 NASA review

Scientists have named a mysterious galaxy NGC 6872. This is thought to be made up of smaller galaxy’s that have combined together to make the biggest galaxy scientists have said. Astronauts have also located another strange but smaller galaxy which was named IC 4970, they think this odd couple of galaxy’s are located 212 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Pavo. The last thing is the astronaut class of 1978 otherwise known as “The Thirty-Five New Guys” was NASA’S first new group of astronaut a since 1969!

 

 

NASA

One of the interesting facts I learned was that the Dragon X is to splash in the Pacific at 12:38 pm today. Number two a famous supernova discovered in 1604 that is accelerating the expansion of the universe. Number three some of the youngest stars ever seen were found in the constellation Orion. Number four before hurricane Sandy the coast was lush and beautiful after everything dead. Finally world water day is on March, 22.

 

NASA By Elliot E.

We are reading Cosmic in LA. our teacher Mrs. Williams wants us to pick our top five favorite things that happened on NASA in 2012.

  • On December 12 NASA announced that the Hubble Telescope can see very far in space. they discovered a unseen population of seven primitive galaxies formed 13 billion years ago!
  • In July the NASA Kennedy space center in Florida had an arrival of the Orion Capsule. It will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before! There is also an abort capsule in it.
  • NASA discovered ice on Mercury! NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEocheistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) found ice on mercury!
  • IN April NASA will be hunting a class of black hole in space with NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
  • In January NASA captured the best and most complete glimpse of what lies beyond the solar system! They captured it in the Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft.

My Roller Coaster

In LA class we are making a roller coaster. My roller coaster is called Nitro and is located in Houston, TX. The length of the ride is 2 miles long and the speed is 155 mph. It has the tallest drop of 500 ft. Nitro has lots of drops turns and loops. The G-force of this ride is 7.4 and has a 54 inch height requirement to ride. To build this massive ride, it took one year and cost me 3.1 million dollars. When my staff finished, I was excited to ride it and once I got off it made me dizzy, but it was worth it. Once the ride opened, the line was so long people didn’t get to ride but the park gave some them a free pass to come back and try again. This ride has been a huge success and I hope it continues.

 

Constellation Activity: Pegasus by Dianne K.

Pegasus

The meaning of Pegasus is the “winged horse”. Surprisingly, Pegasus was born from medusa when Perseus decapitated her. Bellerophon, who was known for slaying the Chimaera, a fire breathing monster who had a head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a tail of a serpent, tamed Pegasus. When Bellerophon was trying to go to Olympus to join the gods on Pegasus, he fell off of him and lied on the ground. Luckily, Pegasus made it to Olympus and carried Zeus’s lightening and thunder. Zeus sent Pegasus up to the stars.

Pegasus looks like a horse with wings. It is located around the area of 1121 square degrees. Pegasus is formed by eight known stars and the “Enif” which is a orange supergiant, is the biggest star and it marks the nose. “Enif” is 672 light-years away. Alpha Pegasi is the third brightest star that is in Pegasus and is about 140 light years away. It marks the saddle of the horse.

 

Roller Coaster Chaos by Imani S.

 

Awesome!

My roller coaster, The All Around the World Car Wash is a 4th dimension roller coaster, that is a Wild Mouse, which goes all around the globe to different places, like China and Japan. That’s why it’s called The All Around the World Car Wash. The car wash part of the name is because it goes through a stream of fake throw-up. The passengers will think that it is real vomit or some kinda goo. Of course I won’t leave my happy passengers looking and smelling like goop so the coaster goes through a tunnel that shoots water on the passengers. Just before the ride is over, the coaster has air conditioning that dries them off. Since my roller coaster is called The All Around the World Car Wash of course it has to be the best ride EVER!! These people waited in that long line. The length of my coaster is 5,692 feet With drops as long as 335 feet. The coaster is made of steel and it has wood to support it. I have 11 drops and every drop the coaster goes 110 mph. There is also this amazing figure eight. Well, I always encourage my passengers to enjoy their stay so they won’t feel like they wasted their money. Hopefully they would have eaten some food before they got on the ride! Here are some things that I encourage them to eat before they get on the ride: Chili Cheese Hot Dogs, Large Fries, Funnel Cake, And A LARGE soda. So after they eat all of that and go on my ride on a scale of 1-10 for their sickness, it is 100! In this whole ride, the coaster goes upside down 9 times. You go up and down, side to side, twists and turns. It’s just crazy! My ride is located in the great state known as the Sunshine State, which is also the state where the Gators live, and it’s located where all the kids love to go, DISNEY WORLD!! I hope you enjoy my roller coaster when you come to Florida!

By Imani

 

 

My Roller Coaster: Jail Break

My roller coaster is a steel Sit Down roller coaster named Jail Break. The ride is supposed to make you feel like you’re running away from the police. The “hijacked car” is a cylinder-like cart, the base of the cart is made from recycled cars and the top is a glass cover. The “car” is 15 feet long and 5 ft wide. It holds 4 people. The highest velocity during the ride is about 120 mph. The highest drop is at the end, which is 569 ft, going straight down. My passengers will not be sick unless they’re faint-hearted. The beginning of the ride begins when you go into the cave, and there is broke jail rails on the top, signaling that you have just broke out of your cell. You slowly go out of the cave, and drop 250 ft straight down. You can hear sirens, but you keep on speeding up this hill, and slow down at the top, dropping 324 ft. You’re going really fast, and you go through a loop. You start to go up a tiny hill, but you screech to a halt. You see red and blue lights flashing from the other side of the hill, and a booming voice says “STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!” You then hear your tires screech again, this time going backwards. You go backwards through the loop, up and down the mountain. At the base of the mountain, you hear a huge noise and a rock moves, revealing a second path underground. You go in, through a glass water tunnel with fish in it, you go up a 156 feet hill and drop straight down. Your going pretty slowly through a loop, the second loop faster, the third loop faster and so on. The more you go through, the smaller and faster they are. The last one goes extremely fast and “shoots you up” a hill, going at 120 mph, and going straight down a 569 foot hill. You slow down, and you’re on street pavement, no more sirens. There are 9 inversions and it is located on Alcatraz. My roller coaster is made out of steel and wood. It is the second most popular roller coaster and has won many prestigious awards. It is the best in town and it’s made of the best material, steel. It is two and a half feet long, while its hills and drops are one and a feet long. My roller coaster goes so fast that you can’t hear yourself think. The drops are really steep you want to throw up! It goes upside down two times and by the end of it there is a chance you might be sick! One kid even said, “I got so dizzy and sick that was the last ride I rode for the whole rest of the day!”

 

“PIRATE BLAST!” (Roller Coaster Description)

PIRATE BLAST!, a roller coaster proposal.
Sent to Wonder Land architecture at 1:21 PM

Alright guys, this is it, the crossover hit no one is asking for. They just don’t know they want it. Here’s the thing, you know those kiddie rides where the kids shoot targets? We’re going to be expanding the demographic on those rides little bit. You get the benefit of people looking for a thrill, and you get the family aspect that the shoot em’ up rides have. Real simple, a steel roller coaster running on LIM, the cars have little cannons on em’. They fire lasers at targets on a board as the car makes the slow ascent. About 15 mph, everyone gets comfy, shoots some targets, people get points. But then, after the rising, they go into a giant enclosed cannon. They go even slower while in the cannon, and then… BOOM, speedin’ up the hill at 80 mph. This is where the hard targets come in for the riders. Goin’ real fast, harder to hit the targets. Those targets, worth more points. Then, 2 loop-dy-loop goin’ down and they’s are goin’ REAL fast. I mean REAL fast. I’m talkin’ 90 miles per hour. Then, on the top, a single target, for the elite who have already mastered this ride. If they are capable of hittin’ that target, they have pretty much already won. We want this target to be iconic. A legend. If you hit that target then you the king of the world. What’s better, we give the winners some cheap souvenirs if they win. Good enough to give an incentive, but not so it costs us too much money. This ride is going to give this park a name. I’m tellin’ ya, you go with my idea, then you gon’ be swimming in green.