Spaced Out

​Alexandra Siy

​“STEM through the lens”

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     Do you ever feel spaced-out before you take a test? Yes or no, let’s go!
 
1.     TRUE or FALSE? 
It’s possible for a spacecraft to fly from Earth to Venus, to Mars, back to Earth, then to Saturn, out to Pluto, back to Jupiter, and come home to Earth on one tank of fuel.
 
 
2.     It’s possible for a spacecraft to fly all over the solar system on one tank of fuel because of:
 
a.      the sling-shot effect
b.     gravity assist
c.      swing-by
d.     all of the above
e.      none of the above
 
            The sling-shot effect, also known as a swing-by or gravity assist, is used to accelerate a spacecraft. Acceleration means to change the speed and/or the direction of a moving body. A spacecraft that is speeding up, slowing down, or following a curved path is accelerating.
            Gravity accelerates objects everywhere in the Universe. When you ride your bike up a hill it takes a lot of effort to make it to the top because the Earth is massive compared to you, and gravity pulls you toward its center. When you coast down the other side, gravity is your friend!
            Spacecraft can use the gravity of a planet to accelerate. Picture a spacecraft falling toward a planet. The spacecraft will crash unless it steers away.
 
3.     As a spacecraft accelerates toward a planet, the motion of the planet is also affected by the gravity exerted by:
 
a.     the spacecraft
b.     the Sun
c.     cosmic rays
d.     both (a) and (b)
e.      both (b) and (c)
f.       all of the above
g.      none of the above
 
            All bodies in space, no matter how big or small, exert gravity on each other. Planets stay in orbit around the sun because of gravity. A planet is also affected by the tiny mass of a spacecraft. Gravity assist was used to increase the speed of Voyager 1 by 36,000 mph on its swing by Jupiter, which sling shot it to Saturn.  And Jupiter slowed down infinitesimally, at a rate of 12 inches per one trillion years.
           
4.     The person who discovered the math for using gravity assist to accelerate a spacecraft from planet to planet to planet…was:
 
a.      Aristotle (384 B.C. to 322 B.C)
b.      Galileo  (1564-1642)
c.      Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
d.      Katherine Johnson (1918- )
e.      Michael Minovitch (1936- )
 
 
END OF TEST!
DON’T STOP WORKING.
START TALKING.
ASK QUESTIONS.
GO TO THE LIBRARY TO FIND THE ANSWERS.

​​In this drawing a spacecraft gets an assist from Jupiter as it "slingshots" toward Saturn. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 used gravity assist to fly by the outer planets. Image courtesy of NASA

The twin Voyagers have no people on board on their interstellar journey, but carry The Golden Record, which contains messages, music, and pictures from Earth. Image courtesy of NASA/Alexandra Siy

 In case you didn't make it to the library:  In 1961, UCLA graduate student Michael Minovitch used math and the new IBM 7090-7094 computers to invent gravity assist trajectories for space flight. Used with permission of Michael Minovitch

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Alexandra Siy's Voyager's Greatest  Hits  tells the story of the twin space probes that traveled to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, a journey beyond our solar system into interstellar space, where no probe has ventured before. Siy tells the fascinating story of how the Voyager probes work, where the probes have been and what they’ve seen, and what they carry on board.

Alexandra Siy is also a member of Authors on Call.  You can bring her to your classroom via interactive videoconferencing and learn more from her and ask her questions.  To find out more go here.

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​MLA 8 Citation
Siy, Alexandra. "Spaced Out." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 2 May 2018,
     www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/Spaced-Out.