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Locate "Mars" powerpoint presentation from "Nasa" folder on disk

Present play in conjunction with slide show

**From Wrights Brothers to the Mission to Mars**

(Slide 1)

**Narrator:**

Today we are going to take you on a trip through space and time to
analyze and understand the links between the Wright brothers' quest of
flight and our mission of flight to Mars.

We will discuss three of many problems they needed to solve in order to
achieve success.

History has proven that scientific ideas have always been considered
follies or some wild-eyed romantic's vision of what they like this world
to be. Not until these ideas have gone through exhaustive
experimentations and changes that the general public has given an iota
of support. There are scientists who have spent their own money to
further their dreams while others of course will spend yours and my tax
dollars to maybe provide a better future for our little world. Here is a
story of two of these visionaries; Orville and Wilbur Wright and the
many scientists in an organization called "**NASA**."

So now I will take you on a trip to revisit these two *earth-shaking*
events.

**Wright Brothers and Mars Scientists**-(Choral reading):

*What were we thinking about when we thought about FLYING **(SPACE
TRAVEL**). All our friends called us crazy but we didn't listen to them.
They said we were wasting OUR **(NASA's**) money with these experiments.
Even our family had their doubts. We spent hours, days, years working on
a theory and another problem pops up. We're almost ready to give
up*................. Nahhhhhhhhhhhhh

**Narrator:**

The Wright brothers faced many problems in their quest to soar like the
birds. One of these was the "power to weight ratio" so that they were
able to get off the ground.

*(Slide 2)*

**Wright Brothers:**

*Soaring was not a problem. Kittyhawk, North Carolina gave me more than
enough wind to stay aloft like a kite but when there **is no** **wind**
to fluff my sails, I need something to help stay up....so POWER is what
I need. A light weight engine will give enough thrust to get off the
ground and stay in the air. Engine makers couldn't ...or wouldn't make
it... it was too small a job... so I had to make it myself.*

**Narrator:**

The other scientists had about the same problem.

*(Slide 3)*

**Mars Scientists:**

*Power to weight ratio is always a problem. I needed to get tons of
equipment out of the earth's gravitational pull and send it on a course
millions of Kilometers away. So a rocket called "Delta" was developed
which gave me enough thrust and longevity to start on the course to the
stars.*

**Narrator:**

Problem 2... Flying straight was good, but I need to get to Chicago for
my morning Star Bucks. Dayton to the windy city was not a straight line.
So here's what the boys did.

*(Slide 4)*

**Wright Brothers:**

*Control.... Hitting a tree is not good. I need to turn. How can I do
that? Warp the wings. I found that if I twist the wings a certain
direction, the flyer would drift that way. Wonderful... I'll do that.*

*(Slide 5 Wright video- follow the link)*

**Narrator:**

And our good ole scientist discovered the same problem....

*(Slide 6)*

**Mars Scientists:**

*Mars is a looooooooong ways on the other side of the moon so I need to
control my flight. If I don't, I'll end up on Pluto. So control of my
trajectory from launch throughout the flight is mandatory. I hope my
partners are better at math than I am.*

*(Slide 7)*

**Narrator:**

##  Now that getting up in the air is solved. How about getting down... 

### SAFELY

*(Slide 8)*

**Wright Brothers:**

My first flyers had the tail in the front and that worked well. It kept
my chin from being scraped on landing but my flights became harder and
harder. As I flew faster with power flight, the pitch changes so much
that flying became very difficult. Scientist later decided to put the
tail at the rear of the plane...That made flying and landing so much
more predictable.

*(Slide 9)*

**Mars Scientists:**

*Now I have to solve the problem of landing these rovers. We tested the
drops over and over again using a parachute system initially to slow the
decent. Not knowing how a parachute will react from Mar's gravitational
pull, we decided on a secondary landing strategy.*

*(Slide 10)*

*An airbag system designed by our team will cushion the impact of the
landing. We have to make the airbags surrounding the landers strong
enough so the equipment does not break. The rovers may be bouncing
around for a while.*

*(Slide 11 -- video Mars landing - follow the link)*

*(Slide 12), (Slide 13)*

*Once landed, if it is on its base, the sides of the tetrahedron will
open fully and the rover will start its mission. If it landed on any of
its sides, the process of opening will upright the unit. I can hardly
wait.*

**Narrator:**

Many reasons have been given for spending billions of dollars on the
Mars mission:

How is the earth similar to Mars?

What might have been Mars' history?

What is Mars' geological composition?

Can Mars be colonized?

The Rovers should find out many of these facts.

But one thing has puzzled us over and over again. Is there or was there
ever life on Mars?

(Slide 14)