To lower cost JURBAN is going to land on the Moon the easiest way possible. Airbags baby! Using lessons learned from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover (MER) airbag system, we will bounce our way in. Like NASA, we are using a synthetic material called Vectran for the airbags. Vectran has almost twice the strength of other synthetic materials*, such as Kevlar, and performs better at cold temperatures. Our goal is to hit the surface at less than 3.1 m/s, and this is where you come in.
JURBAN will be giving away a $15 cash prize to the first student (K-12), to determine the max height our air bag landing system can fall from (starting with zero velocity), and the hit lunar surface at less than 3.1 m/s Hint: constant acceleration equations. We will announce the winner and give weekly hints (on Fridays) via our Facebook Page**, so please ”like” us. See the following Youtube video for the general mission timeline. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvGUxAwDeUg)
Please email us at JURBAN@solarsystemexpress.com to submit your answer and for problem clarification. Note: You may submit your calculated distance in feet or meters.
* (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=547)
** (http://www.facebook.com/TeamJURBAN)
*** (http://vintagespace.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/03pd1227.jpg)
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