A rover is a small, mobile robot that scientists send to moons and planets to land on their surfaces and explore. Rovers can take pictures and collect information about the planet by taking temperature readings, rock, and soil samples.

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Rovers

You need to know the laws of motion and gravity discovered by English physicist Isaac Newton, and the laws of orbital motion discovered by German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

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Newton's Law of Motion

How does Newton's Law of Motion connect to rockets?

Like all objects, rockets are governed by Newton's Laws of Motion. The First Law describes how an object acts when no force is acting upon it. So, rockets stay still until a force is applied to move them. Likewise, once they're in motion, they won't stop until a force is applied. Newton's Second Law tells us that the more mass an object has, the more force is needed to move it. A larger rocket will need stronger forces (eg. more fuel) to make it accelerate. The space shuttles required seven pounds of fuel for every pound of payload they carry.  Newton's Third Law states that "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". In a rocket, burning fuel creates a push on the front of the rocket pushing it forward. This creates an equal and opposite push on the exhaust gas backwards.

Three Types of Rocket Fuel

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Robert Goddard, the Father of Modern Rocketry, developed and launched the first liquid-fueled rocket.

He was born on October 5, 1882 in Massachusetts, attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and later Clark University in Worcester earning his doctorate, teaching physics, and carrying out rocket experiments.

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Robert Goddard

​In 1925 Dr Goddard tested a liquid-fueled rocket, and in 1926 the world’s first flight of a liquid-fueled rocket took place on a farm near Auburn, Massachusetts, achieving a brief lift-off. He received support and financing from the Smithsonian Institution, Charles Lindbergh, and philanthropist Harry F. Guggenheim among others. In 1935 he became the first man to shoot a liquid-fueled rocket faster than the speed of sound. He obtained patents for a steering apparatus for rocket machines, developed staged rockets to reach great altitudes, and made rocket fuel pumps, a self-cooling rocket motor, and other components.

Robert Goddard

From 1939 until the mid 1940s Dr. Goddard and his associates conducted their experiments at Roswell, New Mexico, searching for a high altitude rocket. In science fiction the space age began with novels such as HG Wells The Time Machine and the comic strips of ‘Buck Rogers’ and ‘Flash Gordon. These stories inspired Dr. Goddard who was ridiculed by the public and press throughout his lifetime. When he died in 1945, the jet and rocket ages were just beginning. Today he is considered the ‘Father of Modern Rocketry.’

Robert Goddard