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What is the importance of dirt to NASA?

05/23/2011. What is the importance of dirt to NASA?. Road Map. NASA. The Who, What, When, Where, and Why?. NASA. Who? N ational A eronautics and S pace A dministration What? Aeronautics Exploration Systems Science Space Operations. NASA. When? Established in 1958

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What is the importance of dirt to NASA?

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  1. 05/23/2011 What is the importance of dirt to NASA?

  2. Road Map

  3. NASA The Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

  4. NASA • Who? • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • What? • Aeronautics • Exploration Systems • Science • Space Operations

  5. NASA • When? • Established in 1958 • By President Dwight D. Eisenhower

  6. NASA • Where? • California, New York, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico…

  7. NASA • Why? • “To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind”

  8. So far we know… • Who NASA is and what they do • One of their goals is to put humans on Mars!

  9. Mars Base How do we prepare?

  10. Why? • Human Evolution • Closest planet we might be able to live on • Comparative Planetology • Similar to Earth, we might learn about our history • What might be required to sustain a permanent human presence beyond Earth • Technology Advancement • Contribute to advances in technology

  11. Why? • International Cooperation • Political benefits from a cooperative international program • Inspiration • Motivate people and benefit technical education • Investment • Modest investment

  12. What? • What should we consider before we build?

  13. So far we know… • Who NASA is and what they do • Why they want to build a base on Mars and what they need to know before they can • How do they learn about Mars without being there?

  14. Studying Mars How do we learn about someplace 213.5 million miles away?

  15. Observations • Mars Global Surveyor • Mars Odyssey • Spirit • Opportunity

  16. Experiments • Models • Simulations

  17. If X is to Y… • Examples of _________. • Banana is to fruit as cabbage is to vegetable • Three is to triangle as five is to pentagon • Four is to car as two is to motorcycle • Boy is to girl as man is to woman • Dark is to light as tall is to short

  18. Analogies! • What’s an analogy for Mars? • Atacama Desert, Chile (South America)

  19. Which is Mars? Earth Mars

  20. Which is Mars? Earth Mars

  21. Which is Mars? Earth Mars

  22. Which is Mars? Earth Mars

  23. So far we know… • Who NASA is and what they do • Why they want to build a base on Mars and what they need to know before they can • How we can learn about Mars, though it’s so far away • It’s probably important to know what we’re building on!

  24. Soil Everything we build, is built on the ground, on top of soil.

  25. Where does soil come from? • Rocks • Igneous = magma (Granite) • Sedimentary = soil (Limestone) • Metamorphic = igneous + sedimentary (Marble)

  26. Where does soil come from?

  27. How does it get small? • Weathering • Physical (water and wind) • Chemical (reactions with oxygen) • Biological (organic acids)

  28. So far we know… • Who NASA is and what they do • Why they want to build a base on Mars and what they need to know before they can • How we can learn about Mars, though it’s so far away • How soils form • Now that soil exists, so what?

  29. Soil Properties What should we know about soil?

  30. Why do we care? • Soils can fail

  31. Soil Properties • Soils are like particles (time to stand up!) • Particle Size • Phases • Expansion • Consolidation • Strength

  32. Particle Size

  33. Sieve Analysis • Sieve separates wanted stuff from unwanted stuff

  34. Soil Phases • Can contain all three phases of matter at the same time • Solid = you = soil • Gas = air = air • Liquid = backpacks = water

  35. Soil Phases

  36. Soil Phases

  37. Expansion • Soil is naturally compacted • When excavated, it expands • When the soil is put back, you have extra • You compacted it less than originally (naturally) • When the soil is put back, you need more • You compacted it more than originally (naturally)

  38. Consolidation • Consolidation is making the soil’s volume smaller • How much weight can the soil take?

  39. Strength • How well can soil hold together?

  40. So far we know… • Who NASA is and what they do • Why they want to build a base on Mars and what they need to know before they can • How we can learn about Mars, though it’s so far away • How soils form • Soils are particles, have phases, and different properties • How can we measure them?

  41. Lab Measuring some of the properties

  42. Mass and Volume • Mass (Dry vs. Wet) • grams • lb • [M] • Volume (Dry vs. Wet) • cm^3 • in^3 • [L^3]

  43. Density • Density = Mass / Volume • Grams / cm^3 • lb / in^3 • [M] / [L^3]

  44. Moisture Content • How much water? • w = (M wet – M dry) / (M dry) • (grams – grams) / grams = grams / grams • (lb – lb) / lb = lb / lb • Unitless! • Actually… • w * 100% = percentage

  45. What you need:

  46. So far we know… • Who NASA is and what they do • Why they want to build a base on Mars and what they need to know before they can • How we can learn about Mars, though it’s so far away • How soils form • Soils are particles, have phases, and different properties • We can measure properties in a lab

  47. What did we learn?

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