Exploring the Universe I The Solar System Homework Assignment 3

Name:
Student No:
Astronomy 310 – Exploring the Universe I
The Solar System
Homework Assignment 3
Due by: 2:00 p.m., Thursday, May 31, 2007 in the slot outside Henn 312
1. Telescope Funding (adapted from Adams, Prather and Slater (2005) “Lecture Tutorials for Introductory
Astronomy”)
Recall that Earth’s atmosphere blocks, or partially blocks,
some wavelengths of light (as shown in the diagram.) This
is important information to telescope designers. It is also
important to funding agencies who decide which projects
to fund after considering the following:
• certain wavelengths of light are blocked from reaching
Earth’s surface by the atmosphere
• the proposed location for the telescope
• telescopes in space are much more expensive to construct
than Earth-based telescopes.
Based on these criteria, for each pair of proposals below,
decide which one should receive funding and explain why
you made that decision.
this is the diagram
from the in-class worksheet
“Telescopes and Earth’s Atmosphere”
(a) Project Bart: an x-ray telescope, located near the North Pole, used to examine the Sun
Project Lisa: an infrared telescope, in orbit around the Earth, used to view the formation of nearby
solar systems
(b) Project Jordan: a large, optical telescope built in the Rockies in British Columbia
Project Blake: a small, optical telescope on the outside of the International Space Station
Astronomy 310 (Newbury) Summer 2007

2. Roving Mars Scientists controlling the $700 million Mars Rover Spirit do not want to drive it off a cliff!
Every command must be confirmed before it is carried out, just in case the message is corrupted on the way
to Mars. With the current time-delay of 17 minutes, this makes controlling Spirit a slow process.
Imagine the following simple task. Spirit has identified an interesting rock 10 metres away. Your job is to
drive the rover over to the rock, activate the camera, take a picture and transmit the picture back to Earth.
Assume it takes 30 minutes for the rover to roll to the rock but all other activities take no time to complete.
Complete the following log entry, recording the commands you send (JPL), Spirit’s transmissions (S), the
time it takes (T) for the command to reach the recipient and the total elapsed time (TET) for the mission.
The beginning of the conversation is given. (Add another page if you need more space.)
# Communication T TET
(min) (H:M)
1. JPL: Drive forward 10 metres 17 0:17
2. S: Please confirm, “drive forward 10 metres” 17 0:34
3. JPL: Confirm: drive forward 10 metres 17 0:51
4. S: drives 10 metres 30 1:29
5.
Astronomy 310 (Newbury) Summer 2007