Skip to main content

Breaking Free from Chemical Rockets

Welcome back to my blog! This post is for the second Action Project of the STEAM class, Frontiers. This class has been about the frontiers of science and discovery in space and the oceans. We studied marine ecology, biology, geology, and physiology in the first unit. We also looked at technological frontiers in the maritime sector, such as ways to clean up ocean pollution, capture carbon dioxide, and rebuild coral reefs. In this unit, we have looked at the stars, planets, and galaxies around us. We have learned about how the universe came to exist and how humans began to study it. For this Action Project, we have been tasked with writing a research paper about a frontier of our choosing in the field of space exploration. For my paper, I decided to look into propulsion systems or the types of rockets that can bring humans or crewless spacecraft from the Earth's surface into orbit. Propulsion systems have been researched and built for many years, so in a general sense, they aren't precisely a frontier. However, propulsion systems that do not achieve thrust via a chemical or fueled rocket are a newer area of study that I have focused on. I hope you enjoy reading. 




I hope you enjoyed reading my research paper and perhaps learned a thing or two. When I started out on this AP, I spent a lot of time gathering information and in some cases gathered too much or not enough. I chose propulsion systems because I thought they would be very engineering focused and they were. Some of the information I collected was difficult to understand and it took some time to fully grasp what I wanted to write about. After having finished the paper, I am satisfied with what I have written and learned about. There is a lot of progress ahead for alternative propulsion systems which will bring humans further into space than we could have thought possible in the very beginning of our exploration. This also happens to be the final Action Project of my time at GCE. I am both happy and sad for high school to be over but I am excited for what is coming after I graduate. Thank you for reading.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Input Manipulation Using Python

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the projects in the Computer Science class. In Computer Science we have been learning about different types of coding and how computers work. We have done math problems in binary code and practiced making something from using python. In these two projects we used python to code a advanced calculator that you can use to find what the temperature in Celsius is based off of your input of your temperature outside in Fahrenheit. The second project here is a code that uses your inputs to create a letter to a state representative to talk about something important to you. Both of these codes have been checked multiple times to see if there were any errors or changes that needed to be made. If you would like to try them out for yourself you can do so by typing in your responses on the right to the questions that are asked. The first project is an advanced calculator that takes an input of a given temperature in Fahrenheit and converts it into Celsius fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Am a Peacebuilder

This post is for the Civic Term class Global Peace. In the three weeks of this class we covered sarvodaya, satyagraha, and Sharpe's 198 Nonviolent Methods of Nonviolence. Sarvodaya and satyagraha were concepts by Gandhi. Sarvodaya explains that all are rising and is supposed to be an answer to all "isms" such as capitalism or communism. The large list of nonviolent methods consists of speeches, marches, strikes, physical interventions, peaceful noncooperation, boycotts, and more. For this project I chose to focus on homelessness in Chicago. In the large city you can find tent cities or people camped on the street in many places. With the weather in Chicago living outside with only a small shelter or none at all can be difficult for surviving. The city is also dotted with empty lots or abandoned land. I believe these plots of land can be redesigned into housing for the homeless. Each person or group of persons depending on their situation would have a small residence where...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can You Spell Sub-Bituminous Coal?

The first unit of this winter term was very interesting in the Fuel class for STEAM. We did a lot of talking about energy and different types of fuel. Some of these include the known fossil fuels, natural gas, oil, coal, and also renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. We also watched the documentary Pump which is about people having a choice at the gas pump and being able to decide what fuel they should use for their car. In this unit we talked to someone from Nicor Gas where we found some extra opinion on the use of natural gases and the other fuels we use today. This unit largely talked about fossil fuels and how we use them in our daily lives without even realizing it. We might be getting our power in our home from a coal plant and our car uses gas. Even though we may fill up our cars about once every couple weeks we may not actually think about what is happening somewhere that is allowing us to have this gas. In this unit we also did a lot of graphing and predictions for ...
Post a Comment
Read more