Essay Questions
- Give a general objective of the following NASA space program missions, and give details such as who, when, where, how and why. (30 points) this answer should take at least three paragraphs.
Project Mercury started in 1958 and it came to completion in 1963. This was the first program that man landed in space. The program made six flights from 1961 to 1963. The objectives of the mission included: to investigate the ability of man to function in the space, to ensure that both the man and the spacecraft came back safely and to make the spacecraft orbit around the earth. Seven men were selected for this mission and were introduced to the public in a press conference held in Washington by the NASA administrator, Glennan. The seven men were Cooper, Grisson, Shepard, Glenn, Slayton, Carpenter and Schirra. They were military test pilots who flew the newest and advanced planes that technology had produced. They earned the name astronauts. They underwent training and medical checkups before flying to the mercury.
Project Gemini
After astronaut Shepherd landed in the mercury becoming the first American in space, the president announced the goal of sending the astronauts to the moon before the decade ends. The Gemini project started officially on January 3, 1962. The program had four objectives, which were to ensure perfection of reentry and landing of the spacecraft at a pre-selected location and to make the astronauts take long flights in the space. Another objective of the Gemini mission was to gather more information on weightlessness on the crewmembers and checking their psychological reactions during the long flights.
Project Apollo
This was the first mission of landing man in the moon. The goals of project Apollo went beyond landing man to the moon and returning him safely to the earth. The goals of Project Apollo included developing the capability of man to work in the lunar space, establishment of technology that could work best in the space and carry out scientific exploration in the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first man on that landed on the moon
- Explain the challenger Accident and why it was deemed such a disaster by the public? (20 points)
The space challenger accident occurred on January 28, 1986. The Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into the flight. It led to the death of seven crewmembers in the Atlantic Ocean. The challenger was to go into space on January 20, 1983 but it delayed because of technical problems. They discovered hydrogen leaks caused by cracks in the main engine. They took several months to remove and replace the engine number one. During the accident of challenger, the temperatures were below freezing point that degraded the seals on the boosters. The technical team did not voice all the problems to the launch decision team. It was a disaster because it led to the demise of seven members. Previous missions had succeeded but this one was a failure. The space shuttle program changed after the wreckage. The plans of flying civilians to space did not materialize and the satellite launches changed from shuttle to recyclable rockets.
- Explain Geostationary, LEO and MEO satellites. Make sure to include where they are positioned and give an example of what is positioned in each orbit. (20 points)
Geostationary satellites are found in orbit 35,863km above the earth`s surface along the equator. The satellite appears in a fixed position to a person observing from the earth because the objects in this orbit revolve around the earth at the same speed as the earth. There is a permanent visibility of geostationary orbits.
The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is closer to earth compared to the GEO satellites. They range from 500kn to 1500km above the earth’s surface. They do not stay in a fixed position and are only visible between 15 to 20 minutes each pass. It is important for point-to-point communication because of its proximity to the earth’s surface. For it to function well it must be in a network of LEO satellites. LEO is suitable for mobile communication.
Medium Earth Orbit satellite orbits between 8000 km and 18,000 km above the earth’s surface. They are visible for longer periods of between 2 to 8 hours than LEO satellites. They have a larger coverage than LEO satellites. MEO aids in navigation. It is the home of Telstar 1, an experimental satellite launched in 1962.
- Explain how the internet started. What was the importance of ARPANET? What is the difference in the internet and the World Wide Web? Use correct terminology and names.(30 points)
Internet began with a satellite. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik, which was the first manufactured satellite. This shocked the Americans because they considered each other enemies. They thought if the Soviet Union could launch satellites into space, they could also launch missiles to North America. The Americans created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) as a response to Soviet Union. The agency was to give America technological edge over other nations. ARPA changed the computers from the enormous devices to small devices. They created a computer network that connected four computers that run on different operating systems. They named the network ARPANET.
The ARPANET was important because it allowed sharing of resources and communication. It allowed sending information in packets and after development of TCP/IP protocols; it became possible for the expansion of the network. The internet is a large network of networks. It allows connection of millions of computers together to form a network in which they can communicate with one another. The information that travels over the internet happens in variety of languages known as protocols. The World Wide Web is a way of accessing information over the internet. It allows information sharing in the internet. The World Wide Web uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to communicate. The web services that use HTTP to permit applications to connect use the web to share the information.
