The final day!

Today was the last day of the term and year. This is my 300th blog post over the three years 😃! Let's recap the awesome year what has happened over the year (till Term 4). It's because I hadn't posted a recap each holiday.

Term 1

In Science: Psychology - I had finished my badge.

In Cybersmart - Smart Learner

Reading

We hadn't done that much things in the first term. Below are some things that I've posted.

Me on the Scenic Railway
Not a good image because
I had taken it on one hand
while it going on

1. Blue Mountains

The post was about the trip to the Blue Mountains, Katoomba, Sydney. Here's the link to the post. I had been seen the Three Sisters (an unusual rock formation), been on the 'Scenic Railway' (a 52° railway that goes down, it is the steepest railway in the world) and went on the 'Cableway' and 'Skyway'. It was really fun.

2. The Olympics

2018 Commonwealth Games

I had posted two posts about the '2018 Commonwealth Games'. Here is the link to the post. The first post was about information about the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It included why it is held in the Gold Coast and other recommended cities. 

In my second post, it included the medal standing scoreboard. Well, Australia was first, with a lead of 72 medals. New Zealand was 6th place, with 32 medals. 

After the Commonwealth Games ended, I had made a post about the medal standings scoreboard (again) and I added in the best moments in the Commonwealth Games.

Term 2

In term 2, I had posted a lot. Most of them are from my Astronomy science badge. On the 23rd of May, I had been to the EPro 8 Challenge at Cobham Intermediate. In my team, there was Axle, Zayd, Lars and I. It was really fun, we were 6th place. We were just a few points away from 3rd place. Here is the link to the post.

For Philosophy, I had made a Powtoon about 'Why Don't we feel Earth Orbiting?'. Here is the link to the post if you want to see the video.

My most favourite moment of term 2 was making the Solar System. On the right, is an image of how it looked like. It looked really realistic and I'm really proud of it. Here is the link to the post if you want to know some facts/information.



Holidays after Term 2

I had gone on a trip to Rotorua, it was awesome and it was really fun. Here is the link to the posts. My most favourite moment was going to Wai-O-Tapu. So we went to Wellington by plane, then drove to Palmerston North and stayed there for a night. The next day, we drove to Taupo and had lunch there. After an hour later we reached Rotorua. By then, it was night time. We had reached the lodge. The third day was long, we had heaps of fun. So first we drove south (between Rotorua and Taupo) to Wai-O-Tapu (a geothermal area). First, we had been to the 10:15 AM, Lady Knox Geyser. It was really cool and we could feel the water (because of the wind blowing in our direction), by then the water had turned cold when it came to us. After the show, we went to Geothermal Park via the Visitor Centre. It was a 2.5km walk. One of the coolest parts was the Champagne Pool (not really champagne [just the name]). We had to cross a wooden boardwalk. As you can see the second image, you have to cross over a boardwalk. That time it was the winter season so the Champagne Pool was steamy and we couldn't even see anything.

Walk 2 was quite boring because there were only bushes and trees that we could see. As we go down the stairs, there were two directions to go. We had gone on the right side (starting from No.13) and we went till No.15. When we reached at the end of the Frying Pan Flat, it started drizzling. It was a good thing that we didn't go in the other direction. So we ran back, we went past the Champagne Pool, saw the Sulphur Cave and the Devil's Cave.

Below is the map of Wai-O-Tapu.

After Wai-O-Tapu, we drove past Rotorua, Tirau, Piarere, Cambridge, Kihikihi, Otorohanga, Hangatiki and arrived at Waitomo. I can remember some cool facts that the guide told us.

1. "Every time the water drops from the rock it creates the rock. Every thousand drop makes about the size of one cubic centimetre."
2. The host showed other rocks and said that that looks like a family with a mother, two kids, a dog and a tiny father. There was a big rock that looked like an elephant. The host also talking about the rock shaped Kiwi.
3. "Glowworms' food can be their family members."

We went to Hamilton for a short while and went to Rotorua. 

It was an amazing trip at Rotorua. Now, I'll talk to you about Term 3. 

Term 3

In Term 3 we had done Business and Enterprise. For cybersmart, we had done Smart Relationship.

Here's a small preview of our Business and Enterprise.

In my first post, I had included who was in my group, what we were deciding to make, writing the financial letter, making our logo/slogan, marketing plan, making our banners, listing our tasks and what we need to do on time. 

On the 22nd of August, we had gone to Cantamath 2018 competition at Horncastle Arena, after school. In the group, there were Axle, Zayd, Jeff and I. There were many schools competing in different years. Our school had about 3 teams competing, year 7s, 8s, 9s.

Also, there was another competition, it was the 'Great Christchurch Technology Challenge'. We took part in the Construction Challenge. We had to make a walking frame out of newspaper and sellotape. In the group, there were Axle, Lyan and I. After the walking frame was built in 1:30 hours, the judges had to put a wooden beam on top of the walking frame. Our walking frame could hold only one wooden beam. We got points by getting the perfect measurements right. We had come 3rd place. In the prizes, there were a VR and Bluetooth speakers. We could choose one, so I chose the Bluetooth speakers. It was really fun and I wish that I could do it again.

Holidays after Term 3

I had done my Geology badge, to finish it. Here's the link to the posts. I just had my science badge over the holidays.

Term 4

It was the final term of the year and I was so excited. I had started my Environmental Science Badge and finished it. In cybersmart, we had done Smart User. We had answered some questions from A Google A Day (Explorers, Amphibious vehicle), written a biography about Sir Peter Blake who was a famous sailor and done some Summer Learning Journey Preps (Activity 1, Activity 3).

We had passion projects and I chose Discovery. In Discovery, we had chosen to do food, trying to discover something and change it. If you want to see the posts, click here. It was really fun and we discovered cool things. I was in a group with Axle, Vann and Ranit. We had lots of fun trying and making new products/dishes. My favourite product was the Panna Cotta. It looked so good.

On the 27th November 2018, I had watched the landing of NASA's InSight Lander. Here is the link to see the posts. I had posted about the lander on that day. It included goals in the mission, an overview, images, a video of the landing, more other videos and why is InSight going to Mars. After a few posts later, I had posted another post about NASA's InSight Lander. It was mostly about the instruments that NASA's InSight lander has. A day later, I looked at the articles of InSight and I found out that InSight had recorded a clip of Mars' wind.

I hope you like my post about the review of this year. Be tuned to view my posts about NASA InSight, the Summer Learning Journey and I will be starting a new series, starting from today December, so be tuned. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

A Day in a Life in Japan

For our third activity for the Summer Learning Journey Prep. The task is: You and your family decide to go out and visit a local market. When you’re there you meet a student who tells you all about what it’s like to go to school in their country. The student also gives you a page from their diary that shows you what a typical school day is like for them.

So I searched up, 'Japan school timetable', and on Quora, it came that, 'In Japan school starts at 8 AM'.

The first 20 minutes, they do silent studying/reading or homeroom activities. The first period starts at 8:30-8:40. There are about 6 periods a day, there may be 5 on a special schedule day. Elementary school classes are 45 minutes long, junior high classes 50 minutes long.

There are four classes in the morning, then there is a break for lunch. Lunch is prepared and served in the classrooms, by the students. Lunch break is separate from eating time and it is about 45 minutes. Usually, after lunch, there are 10-20 minutes of cleaning. Sometimes it is at the end of the day instead or may be skipped because of homeroom activities.

Then it is the 5th and 6th period. The 6th period in junior high finishes around at 4 PM, about 3:45 PM at an Elementary school. Next, they usually have a 'going home' meeting with their homeroom.

Older Elementary school kids leave school around 4 PM. At Junior High, kids who aren't in any clubs can leave school at around 4:30 PM. Kids with club activities have a short break and then practice until around 6 pm. Junior High kids are often at school more than 10 hours a day.

So I hope you like my post about 'A Day in a Life in Japan'. Comment down below if you learnt something about time at school in Japan. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Wind Sound of Mars

Yesterday, I had posted about the update of NASA's InSight lander. I had read an article today afternoon and decided to create a post about it. If you haven't seen the post, click on the link and please comment it, I will know your opinions.

Well, today, NASA had posted about when InSight senses Mars' wind. Listen to Mars' wind blow across NASA's InSight lander. InSight's seismometer (information in my last post) and air pressure sensor picked up vibrations from 16-24 kph winds as it blew across Mars' Elysium Planitia on 1 December 2018.

Below is a video from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) about the sounds of wind on Mars, which includes a short preview of the sound. If you want to hear the sound of Mars' wind, click on this link, the clip is only 20 seconds long. If you want to download the clip, use the shortcut key, 'Ctrl + S' and your clip is downloaded.

I hope you like my post about the Wind Sound of Mars. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Update on NASA's InSight Lander

Just a few posts ago, I had posted about InSight's landing, it was called 'Touchdown!'. I have made a post of what has happened since the landing. It has facts, mission goals, images after landing and videos about InSight.

On the day that InSight landed, there were three images taken (two from Instrument Context Camera (ICC) and one from Instrument Context Camera (ICC)). Now, there are 46 images taken! The latest image is below from the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC). There are 17 images taken on Sol 10 - 7 December 2018. The image was taken on Sol 10 (day 10 on Mars = 20 Earth days), on 7 December 2018, 12:52:42 PM.

Let's know about InSight's instruments. InSight has three instruments, the first one is a Seismometer.

InSight's Seismometer, SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) is a round, dome-shaped instrument that sits on the surface of Mars, which takes the pulse or seismic vibrations of Mars. The measurements provide information about Mars' internal activity. The Seismometer waits to sense the marsquakes (mars instead of earth - earthquakes) and seismic waves. SEIS measurements inform scientists about the nature of the material that formed the rocky planets of our Solar System. This reveals what is beneath Mars, also, the Seismometer might even inform if there are active volcanoes, liquid water or plumes which are underneath the surface of Mars. The main job of the Seismometer is to measure the pulse of Mars, by studying waves created by Marsquakes.

Below is a video from National Geographic. Knowing about InSight taking Mars' pulse.

Did you know that the SEIS seismometer is so sensitive, it can detect surface movements smaller than a hydrogen atom!?

Here are five facts that you need to know:

1. The seismometer can sense weather phenomena like, dust storms that produce seismic waves.
2. Scientists expect from the seismometer to detect five to ten meteor impacts over the InSight mission.
3. The InSight lander delivers the first seismometer to Mars in the first 40 years. The last time seismometers travelled to Mars was with the Viking landers.
4. InSight's SEIS seismometer is like a doctor's stethoscope, like a doctor listening to the patient's heartbeat, SEIS listens for marsquakes.
5. The SEIS is ultra-sensitive that can tune in to tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom!

So these are some five amazing facts about the SEIS. We all know what are Earthquakes, right? But, do you know what are Marsquakes? Here is a video from JPL from the series, Mars in a Minute, about Marsquakes. It's just only a minute long.

The next instrument is called the Heat Probe. The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe, (HP3). Which makes a hole down to almost five meters. The HP3 takes Mars' temperature, which reveals how much heat is flowing out of the inside of the planet. The mass of HP3 is just over 3 kilograms. The maximum power of the HP3 is about 2 watts while digging underneath the surface.

Here are five facts that you need to know about the HP3.

1. HP3 tells scientists how heat flows inside Mars.
2. HP3 takes the temperature of the interior of Mars.
3. Information from the heat flow reveals if Earth and Mars are formed from the same stuff, also, how active Mars is.
4. HP3 package has a probe that digs down up to 5 meters below the surface. That's deeper than previous instruments to any other moon, planet or asteroid, which have only dug up the upper inch of rock or soil.
5. HP3 pulls the ribbon-shaped cable behind it, that's jam-packed full of temperature sensors.

Our third and final instrument is called the Radio Science Experiment. The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE), 'tracks the location of the lander to decide just how much Mars' North Pole wobbles as it orbits the sun.' This observation will include detailed information about the size of Mars' rich core. The main job of RISE is an apostrophe. The location of RISE is two Medium-Gain 'horn' Antennas (MGAs) on InSight's deck. The mass is about 7.3 kilograms. The antennas are about 1.4 kilograms. 

Here are five things that you need to know:

1. RISE tracks the location of InSight lander every day, which also knows its location to within a few centimetres.
2. RISE simply sends back the signal sent to the lander from Earth, via the Deep Space Network, revealing InSight's location.
3. As the seasons change on Mars, carbon dioxide controls and shortens at the poles, causing tiny changes in the rotation rate of Mars, affecting the length of Mars' day. RISE will be able to measure these changes.
4. RISE will help control if Mars has a solid metal core, like a hard-boiled egg, or a molten, liquid metal core, like a soft-centred, raw egg.
5. RISE uses the same principle that causes the sound from a fast-moving siren to change as it moves away, to study Mars' core.

That's a lot of information about instruments that InSight has and I hope you learnt heaps of information about InSight's instruments. If you want to see how the instruments work. There is a 3D view of InSight by NASA named 'Experience InSight'. You can move the camera and more other fun things.

NASA has a press-kit which shows information that I don't have. The press-kit includes the following:

• Introduction
• Media Services
• Quick Facts: Landing Facts
• Quick Facts: Mars at a Glance
• Mission: Overview
• Mission: Spacecraft
• Mission: Science
• Mission: Landing Site
• Program & Project Managment
• Appendix: Mars Cube One Tech Demo
• Appendix: Gallery
• Appendix: Science Objectives, Quantified
• Appendix: Historical Mars Missions
• Appendix: NASA's Discovery Program

The press-kit has heaps and heaps of information, that you might even don't know about.


If you haven't seen the landing of InSight. It had streamed one week ago. Below is a 1 hour, 30-minute live stream video about the landing. It's a long video, right? Below the live stream, there is a video, which is just only 1 minute 38 seconds long.

So before I wrap it up, I will tell what I've learnt and it is a lot of information that I've learnt.

What I've Learnt

• Now there are 46 images taken since the landing.
• The latest image is below from the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC).
• There are 17 images taken on Sol 10 - 7 December 2018, 12:52:42 PM.
• InSight has three instruments: Seismometer, Heat Probe and Radio Science Experiment.
• InSight's Seismometer, SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) is a round, dome-shaped instrument that sits on the surface of Mars, which takes the pulse or seismic vibrations of Mars. The measurements provide information about Mars' internal activity.
• The Seismometer waits to sense the marsquakes (mars instead of earth - earthquakes) and seismic waves. 
• SEIS measurements inform scientists about the nature of the material that formed the rocky planets of our Solar System.
• This reveals what is beneath Mars, also, the Seismometer might even inform if there are active volcanoes, liquid water or plumes which are underneath the surface of Mars.
• The main job of the Seismometer is to measure the pulse of Mars, by studying waves created by Marsquakes.
• The SEIS seismometer is so sensitive, it can detect surface movements smaller than a hydrogen atom!?
• The seismometer can sense weather phenomena like, dust storms that produce seismic waves.
• Scientists expect from the seismometer to detect five to ten meteor impacts over the InSight mission.
• The InSight lander delivers the first seismometer to Mars in the first 40 years. The last time seismometers travelled to Mars was with the Viking landers.
• InSight's SEIS seismometer is like a doctor's stethoscope, like a doctor listening to the patient's heartbeat, SEIS listens for marsquakes.
• The SEIS is ultra-sensitive that can tune in to tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom!
• The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe, (HP3).
• Which makes a hole down to almost five meters.
• The HP3 takes Mars' temperature, which reveals how much heat is flowing out of the inside of the planet.
• The mass of HP3 is just over 3 kilograms. 
• The maximum power of the HP3 is about 2 watts while digging underneath the surface.
• HP3 tells scientists how heat flows inside Mars.
• HP3 takes the temperature of the interior of Mars.
• Information from the heat flow reveals if Earth and Mars are formed from the same stuff, also, how active Mars is.
• HP3 package has a probe that digs down up to 5 meters below the surface. That's deeper than previous instruments to any other moon, planet or asteroid, which have only dug up the upper inch of rock or soil.
• HP3 pulls the ribbon-shaped cable behind it, that's jam-packed full of temperature sensors.
• The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE), 'tracks the location of the lander to decide just how much Mars' North Pole wobbles as it orbits the sun.'
• This observation will include detailed information about the size of Mars' rich core.
• The main job of RISE is an apostrophe. 
• The location of RISE is two Medium-Gain 'horn' Antennas (MGAs) on InSight's deck.
• The mass is about 7.3 kilograms.
• The antennas are about 1.4 kilograms. 
• RISE tracks the location of InSight lander every day, which also knows its location to within a few centimetres.
• RISE simply sends back the signal sent to the lander from Earth, via the Deep Space Network, revealing InSight's location.
• As the seasons change on Mars, carbon dioxide controls and shortens at the poles, causing tiny changes in the rotation rate of Mars, affecting the length of Mars' day. RISE will be able to measure these changes.
• RISE will help control if Mars has a solid metal core, like a hard-boiled egg, or a molten, liquid metal core, like a soft-centred, raw egg.
• RISE uses the same principle that causes the sound from a fast-moving siren to change as it moves away, to study Mars' core.
• There is a 3D view of InSight by NASA named 'Experience InSight'.
• The press-kit includes the following:
  
  
  • Introduction
  • Media Services
  • Quick Facts: Landing Facts
  • Quick Facts: Mars at a Glance
  • Mission: Overview
  • Mission: Spacecraft
  • Mission: Science
  • Mission: Landing Site
  • Program & Project Managment
  • Appendix: Mars Cube One Tech Demo
  • Appendix: Gallery
  • Appendix: Science Objectives, Quantified
  • Appendix: Historical Mars Missions
  • Appendix: NASA's Discovery Program

  
  

I hope you like my post about the update on InSight Robotic Lander. Comment down below if you've learnt something on my post. Stay tuned to see my posts in the holidays (starts from 17 November) about the Summer Learning Journey 2018-19. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Our Reflection

For cybersmart, we had to do a reflection about what we had done in cybersmart this year. So I will be reflecting on what I've done all year. So let's start with term 1.

Term 1: Smart Learner

On our first lesson of the year was about protecting our Chromebook. Next, we had learnt about passwords and keeping them secret so no one can go on your account. Our third lesson was about shortcut keys and learning them. Afterwards, we had learnt about private information and public information, by how to keep your private information, private. On the last week, we had made a DLO (Digital Learning Object) about vlogging, making your videos engaging for the audience by not making it long, have a good background audio, and more.

So I what I learnt on term 1 for cybersmart was that: making a strong password that only you, your family know the password - it should be at least 8 letters long, having a mix of letters, numbers and symbols.

Term 2: Smart Footprint

We didn't do much on term 2 - only one lesson.

We had to find information about other people. So we used Miss Morgan's dog, Cooper. So we found that Cooper had a blog and an Instagram profile page. Also, Cooper told his game username and password.

Term 3: Smart Relationships

We had done the Commenting Challenge. The cool thing was that I had 85 comments! We had done it until the end of the term.

Term 4: Smart User

We had a few weeks on the Research Challenge and some on the Summer Learning Journey Prep.

We had learnt about understanding search results, by learning about the search bar, filters, advertisements and natural results. For the next few weeks, we had done the 'A Google A Day' questions. There were questions that we had to answer by searching on Google. I had made a blog post about the first question, it was, 'Explorers from Kushiro, Pevek and Namsos arrive at the North Pole and check their watches. If they arrived at 11:42 am., 12:17 pm., and three am., respectively which team was first?'. So according to my search, team Pevek had reached there first.

I had also posted about the question 'This invention was initially created as a walking machine and then was tweaked in 1932 to become amphibious. But neither of these are its main purpose now. What is the invention?'. I had posted about this post named, 'What's the Answer?'. Here's a short preview of the post (which includes the answer).

The answer was quite weird. But, let's know what is amphibious? An amphibious is a vehicle which can travel on land and water.

After a few weeks later, we had done the Summer Learning Journey Prep, which was just a practice for the Summer Learning Journey. We had just done it for only one week. There were ten countries and we had to choose one of them, we had to answer: why we want to visit the place, the capital city, the population of the capital city, what is the temperature in January in the capital city, what languages are spoken are there, we also have to include two fun facts. Here's the link to the blog post. 


My favourite part: the Commenting Challenge. - which makes people come to your blog and make your blog more popular.

What I've learnt from cybersmart: researching challenge.

Well, every activity was fun. I hope you like my reflection about cybersmart. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Finale

After a lot of planning and cooking, we've come to the end of our practical work and making our products. It was tiring and our group is proud of finishing our work on time, and our work was harder than we thought, but, it was worth (for most of the dishes/products). Now, on Monday we are going to present what we are going to make. We had made the dishes as best as we could. We had made dishes that the teacher loved it. So, we made pannacotta, cheese sticks, synonym rolls and mango shake. We had made changes on what we've made last time. Also, we added cinnamon and mango puree on top of what we call cinnamon-synonym rolls. We fried the cheese sticks and baked them with more cheese. The cheese sticks was almost perfect.

The plan wasn't as we want for the mango puree. It's because the mango didn't break down so it became lumpy and we didn't use ice (because we didn't have ice).

We think that there are a few things that we need to change next time; the texture of the pannacotta with the grated cheese wasn't a good idea (it didn't taste good), the mango puree didn't break down that much (my fault 😢) so it became lumpy.

Overall, most of the work overreached our expectations. This is not the end of our discovery project, we had to make a presentation in front of teachers and students which are in discovery. I hope you like my posts about our time in discovery. Comment down below if you want to make dishes what we've made. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Roadshow!

Today, there was the Science Roadshow at our school. It was really fun and I really enjoyed it. There were people from Hornby Primary School which came. My role was to be the explainer and explain what's there. So, here's what happened...

At Morning Tea (10:40 AM), I went to the Learning Street (where the roadshow was). There was the second part of the first show going on and the explainers were wearing name badges. But I wasn't. Here's why...


The teachers had planned Surfing for today. But, the forecast changed and it should be raining, so it cancelled. So, Mr Stock had crossed my name out for the explainers because of Surfing, but he didn't know that it was cancelled. I had told him about the cancellation on Monday and he said that "... if someone pulls out to be an explainer, then you can be in... I had crossed your name out for Tuesday and Wednesday...", so I was quite sad that I wasn't the explainer and I wanted to be one. But, he called me to look at the show. 

So, that is what happened.

As I told you, I went to the Learning Street and there was the show going on. Mr Stock met me and said, "you will be an explainer." I was happy in joy. Also, he said that I can be an explainer for Wednesday too. But, I didn't know what to do. By then, the show had finished, people were taking their bags and going to class. Mr Stock said to come back at 12:20 (period 4). Later, I went back to class.

12:20 PM

I had told my teacher that I had to go to the Roadshow at the Learning Street. The teacher agreed and sent me off to the Learning Street. When I went there, Mr Stock said to go back to class and said to meet at the start of Lunch (1:20 PM).

1:20 PM

Science Roadshow at Northland College

I rushed off to Learning Street. I had met the other explainers. Next, I went to look around at some experiments in the science rooms. After looking at some experiments in the Biology and Chemistry room the year 6 students from Hornby Primary School came. There were some people who I knew from last year. So when the show started it was repeated from the show on Morning Tea. The first show was called, I am Living. It talked about digestive (how our bodies work) and plants. There are some facts that I've learnt:

• An average human produces about 66 kilograms of poop every year!
• Adults grow 9 meters of small intestines, which contain a hundred trillions of bacteria.

After the show had ended, the students went to the experiment exhibits. There were experiment exhibits like Cycling Skeleton (where you have to cycle and see how your bones are moving inside your body), Spinning Chair (where you spin around in a chair and if you take your hands out you will get slower, if you take your hands in you will spin faster), Uphill roller, Dioxide Glass, Phases of the Moon, True Star Positions, Lock and Key, and more. There were many exhibits to look at and have fun. After looking at every exhibit it was time for the second show, 'Fire and Ice'. I also learnt more information from the show:

• You need three things to make fire:
• Oxygen
• Heat
• Fuel
• Water and Ethanol have no reaction - if you mix water and ethanol and you dip the paper in. Next, you put the paper on top of the fire and the paper is dry.

We also learnt that how different things expand and contract according to temperature. The explainers left at 2:30 PM back to class.

It was an awesome time at the Science Roadshow and I am going to post about the Science Roadshow after school, so check it out. I hope you have a cool day!! Comment down below if you have learnt something new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Touchdown!

NASA's Insight Lander as landed on the surface of Mars. It landed at 9:00 AM, New Zealand Daylight Time (3:00 PM, Eastern Time). Let's know some facts and information about the spacecraft.

• Launch Date: 5 May 2018, 11:05 PM NZST (New Zealand Standard Time)
• Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
• Landing Site: Elysium Planitia, Mars
• Cost: 828.8 million USD
• Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin Space Systems
• Contractor: United Launch Alliance
• Insight has launched to study Mars.

Here is an image which shows facts about NASA's InSight.

• There are two goals in the mission 
• To understand how rocky planets have formed and involved and know about the structure:
• The size of the core, what it is made of, if it is liquid or not.
• Thickness and structure of the crust.
• Structure of the mantle and what it is made of.
• How warm the structure is and how much heat is still flowing through.
• How tectonically active Mars is today, how often meteorites impact it. It would measure:
• How often meteorites hit the surface of Mars.
• How powerful and frequent internal seismic activity is on Mars. Where it is located within the structure of Mars.

Some people might be thinking, why Mars? Why is the spacecraft viewing Mars?

Well, spacecraft which have been to Mars have investigated the history of Mars' surface by features like volcanoes, canyons, soil and rock. Comparing other terrestrial (rocky) planets, Mars has been never too big or too small. This could mean that it could have a record of the formation and how terrestrial planets formed. Landers like NASA's InSight can reveal how active Mars is.

InSight Overview | JPL



Landing

NASA's Insight had landed 7 minutes and one second before prediction, 9:52:59 AM (New Zealand Daylight Time), 11:52:59 AM (Pacific Time), 2:52:59 AM (Eastern Time). The mission is going to last for 1 Mars year; 709 sols (the name for 'day' in Mars), that means ~ 2 Earth years; 728 Earth days.

Images

There are three images taken, from the landing.

First image token after landing - Instrument Context Camera (ICC)

Instrument Context Camera (ICC)

Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC)

Below is a video from SciNews about the Landing. Watch the whole video.

Landing Video | SciNews




NASA's InSight landing - Explained? | SciNews




What I've Learnt

• The spacecraft launched on 5 May, 2018, 11:05 PM.
• The spacecraft was launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
• The spacecraft's landing location: Elysium Planitia, Mars
• The cost is 828.8 million USD.
• The manufacturer was Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
• The contractor was the United Launch Alliance.
• There are two goals in the mission 
• To understand how rocky planets have formed and involved and know about the structure:
• The size of the core, what it is made of, if it is liquid or not.
• Thickness and structure of the crust.
• Structure of the mantle and what it is made of.
• How warm the structure is and how much heat is still flowing through.
• How tectonically active Mars is today, how often meteorites impact it. It would measure:
• How often meteorites hit the surface of Mars.
• How powerful and frequent internal seismic activity is on Mars. Where it is located within the structure of Mars.
• The spacecraft which have been to Mars have investigated the history of Mars' surface by features like volcanoes, canyons, soil and rock.
• Comparing other terrestrial (rocky) planets, Mars has been never too big or too small.
• This could mean that it could have a record of the formation and how terrestrial planets formed.
• Landers like NASA's InSight can reveal how active Mars is.
• NASA's Insight had landed 7 minutes and one second before prediction, 9:52:59 AM (New Zealand Daylight Time), 11:52:59 AM (Pacific Time), 2:52:59 AM (Eastern Time).
• The mission is going to last for 1 Mars year; 709 sols (the name for 'day' in Mars), that means ~ 2 Earth years; 728 Earth days.

I hope you like the post. Comment down if you have learnt anything new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Our Update - 2

Rolling the dough

Just a few posts ago, I had posted about the update of our passion projects. If you haven't seen the post, "Our Update", please check it out.

Synonym Rolls with Raspberry Jam on top

So the thing is that we perfected the sweetness of the pannacotta because last time it was too sweet. But, today it wasn't that sweet. We hadn't made cheese sticks (because we perfected it) and mango shake (because I had forgotten it, again). Instead of making cheese sticks we made synonym rolls with raspberry jam on top. We are not making PanDeSal because it takes time and it is not that advertising.

On Thursday, is our last day making our dishes. We had made changes in what we are doing, first of all, we need to put our mango puree on the pannacotta. Talking of pannacotta, today, we had put raspberry jam on top of the pannacotta.

 

It had been a busy time working together, so far it was really fun working together as a group and I hope that it would go well until the end. So this was our update for today. I hope you like my post about the update. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

A letter to Emma

Hi Emma, my name is Khush and I am a year 7 at Hornby High School. My form class is 7DS, and my teacher is Whaea Raewyn. My favourite subject is Maths and Science. I like to watch, NASA, National Geographic and Discovery. My favourite sport is Football (Soccer) and Cricket. I also like watching sports like Tennis, Cricket, Golf and more. What is your favourite?

If I'd won the Summer Learning Journey, I would like to have, a camera and an iPhone. 

I hope you like my post, Emma. I would like to win the Summer Learning Journey and win these prizes. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Sea Highers its Level

For today's post, we are going to look at Sea level. If you haven't seen my last post, 'What are they?', please check it out. In my Geology badge, I had referred about the sea level in my 'Earth's Records' post. I had told you that Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in altitude. Manua Kea is shorter in altitude, but including the sea level, Manua Kea is above 10,000 meters tall. But this is different of what I'm going to talk to you today.

What is Sea Level Rise caused by?

One of the reasons for sea level rise is rising because of glaciers and ice sheets. Second, it is caused by thermal expansion caused by warming up the ocean. The ocean has absorbed more than 90% because of the atmospheric heat connected with emissions from human activity. When the sea gets warmer, places with ice like Antarctica and the Arctic, the ice melts and water starts to come in the ocean.

Facts from the video

• Earth absorbs for than 90% of the heat from global warming.
• A child born today can expect the ocean to rise between 30 centimetres and 1.2 meters in their lifetime.
• Only in the United States, nearly 5 million people live near within 1.2 meters of the local high tide level. That could mean increased flooding from storm surges.
• As the ocean rises, the salt water (water from the sea) can get mixed with rivers and groundwater. Which people can get fresh water for drinking and farming.

Here are a few videos about the sea level rise. The first one is about the contributors to the sea-level rise | European Space Agency (ESA) and Sea level rise accelerates over time | NASA Climate Change. 

In the first video, it shows places where sea level is rising and a data graph of the sea level rise.

  

Now, this is a video about sea level rise, rising over time.

Let's have some fun! I've got a quiz from NASA Climate Change, about Sea Level Rise.

This is a small (but big)
infographic from
NASA Climate Change
which shows data, facts,
information and more.
Credit: https://climate.nasa.gov/

If it didn't work, go on the quiz link.

How was your quiz? Did you get more than 6 correct answers? If you did, "congratulations"! Now, this is the end of my post. Before that, I'll tell you what I've learnt.

What I've learnt

• One of the reasons for sea level rise is rising because of glaciers and ice sheets.
• It is caused by thermal expansion caused by warming up the ocean.
• The ocean has absorbed more than 90% because of the atmospheric heat connected with emissions from human activity.
• When the sea gets warmer, places with ice like Antarctica and the Arctic, the ice melts and water starts to come in the ocean.
• Earth absorbs for than 90% of the heat from global warming.
• A child born today can expect the ocean to rise between 30 centimetres and 1.2 meters in their lifetime.
• Only in the United States, nearly 5 million people live near within 1.2 meters of the local high tide level. That could mean increased flooding from storm surges.
• As the ocean rises, the salt water (water from the sea) can get mixed with rivers and groundwater. Which people can get fresh water for drinking and farming.

I hope you like my post about Sea Level Rise. Comment down below if you have learnt something new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Our Update

A few posts ago, I had posted about our new topic, Passion Projects. If you haven't seen the post, here's a preview.

On Monday, we started our new topic called "Passion Projects". It is every Monday period 3 (11:40 AM) to 5 (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM) and Thursday period 2 (9:40 AM) to period 5. There were different options to choose from. The teachers had sent a google form about what topic to choose, Music Theatre, Outdoor Education, Discovery, Move to Improve, Community, Maths Craft, Digital World, Wearable Arts and Stone Sculpting. We had to choose three topics, I had chosen, Discovery, Digital World and Maths Craft. The teacher had shared a spreadsheet of what everyone had chosen and what the teacher put us on. Luckily, I was in Discovery, and I was with my friends, Vann, Axle and Ranit.

Read more...


At the end of that post, I had said that I'll reveal what we are making and our plan. We started making our plan on Monday (19 November), which was just a practice/test of what we've done well and what to do next. The teacher had said to bring ingredients for our practice. First, we decided to make Buratta and mozzarella cheese sticks. We had practised making our own mozzarella. But, it didn't turn out well, we had to throw them in the bin, so we chose to make cheese sticks instead of Buratta.

Secondly, the idea was to make "PanDeSal", which is a Filipino bread. We had rolled the dough for a long time and we put the dough in the oven.

Meanwhile...

We had leftover dough from the cheese sticks, so we all decided to make synonym rolls, which had sugar and dough. We waited for the PanDeSal to bake.

After the PanDeSal baked, we added mango puree/pulp which I brought from home. It tasted good but we just needed to add milk. We perfected PanDeSal and we also perfected cheese sticks/synonym rolls.


Thirdly, we made Pannacotta. We had put it in the refrigerator for a long time. We had started making it at the beginning. We had the boiling water ready. After the pannacotta was ready, we put the bowl of pannacotta on top of the boiling water. After a few seconds, the pannacotta was ready. Axle had carefully tipped the pannacotta on a serving plate. We had made three pannacotta. The taste of the pannacotta was sweet and needed less sugar. The sad thing was that I had forgotten bringing the mango puree.

I hope you like my post about the updateabout our dishes. Comment down below if you've made something like what we've made. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Let's Travel to Japan!!

For cybersmart, we had to choose a country from the options: Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Malaysia. This activity is just a practice for the Summer Learning Journey. We had to choose one and search their capital city, the population of the capital city, the average temperature in January in the capital city, where it is located (what part of the country) and what languages are usually spoken in the capital city. Also, in our criteria, we had to include, two fun facts and why we want to visit the place.

So, I had to choose one of the countries. I had chosen, as you know by the title, Japan. Here are some facts and information about Japan.

Image of Tokyo's buildings and Mount Fuji

The Capital City of Japan: Tokyo (東京)

Tokyo Map

The Population of Tokyo: 127,185,332

Average Temperature in Tokyo in January:

Where is Tokyo located?: Middle-East

What languages are usually spoken in Tokyo?: Japanese

Fun Facts:

• One of the most famous food in Japan is Sushi.
• There are 6,852 islands on Japan.
• Japan is located in Asia.
• The tallest point of Japan is Mount Fuji which is a mountain and a volcano.
• Japan suffers 1,500 earthquakes every year.
• The world's oldest company was in Japan from 578 AD - 2006.
• Japanese Trains are the world's punctual, their average delay is just 18 seconds!
• Square Watermelons are grown by Japanese farmers.
• In Japan, there are more pets than children.
• 90% of their phones are waterproof because youngsters use them in the shower.
• There is a building which a highway passing through it.
• Most streets in Japan have no name.

Why did I choose Japan?

Because there are various tourist attractions also fun places to look and see.

Recourses

These are websites where I've collected information from.

• http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/japan-population/
• https://www.worldatlas.com/img/locator/city/070/12370-tokyo-locator-map.jpg
• https://prezi.com/tviltj1ontfy/how-many-islands-does-japan-have-and-what-are-the-popular-on/
• https://www.factslides.com/s-Japan
• https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

I hope you like my post about the practice of the Summer Learning Journey. Comment down below what you've learnt about Japan and Tokyo. Do you want to go there? If yes, why? Comment down below what is your reason for going to Japan. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

What are they?

For today post, we are going to look at types of plastic. My last science post, I had posted about 'World or Plastic?', if you haven't seen it, please check it out. This post is similar to my last science post. Here are seven types of plastic!

Seven Types of Plastic

• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET)
• High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
• Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
• Polypropylene (PP)
• Polystyrene or Styrofoam (PS)
• Miscellaneous plastics (includes: polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass, and nylon)

What I've Learnt

• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET)
• High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
• Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
• Polypropylene (PP)
• Polystyrene or Styrofoam (PS)
• Miscellaneous plastics (includes: polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass, and nylon)

Our New Topic!

On Monday, we started our new topic called "Passion Projects". It is every Monday period 3 (11:40 AM) to 5 (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM) and Thursday period 2 (9:40 AM) to period 5. There were different options to choose from. The teachers had sent a google form about what topic to choose, Music Theatre, Outdoor Education, Discovery, Move to Improve, Community, Maths Craft, Digital World, Wearable Arts and Stone Sculpting. We had to choose three topics, I had chosen, Discovery, Digital World and Maths Craft. The teacher had shared a spreadsheet of what everyone had chosen and what the teacher put us on. Luckily, I was in Discovery, and I was with my friends, Vann, Axle and Ranit.

On the first day of Passion Project, we had met in Science. Our discovery teacher was Mr Stock, he is a discovery teacher. We four had different ideas of what to do. We had to choose three ideas of what to discover. I had chosen, making a telescope, making a volcano and electrical circuits. Also, we had to find out what you want to do after sharing your ideas. After hearing Axle's idea, it was a dish called Ratatouille. I wanted to join him. Axle and I asked Vann and Ranit to join our group, they said yes. Our second idea was also from Axle, it was Mozzarella Cheese. We have discussed as a group and we've decided what to do.

To Be Continued...

Next time I'll post about our update, I'll tell you what our plan was. I hope you like my post about Passion Project. Comment down below if you like my post. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

World or Plastic?

For today's post, we are going to look at a part in ocean pollution which is ruining the ocean and making it polluted, plastic. This pollution is called Plastic pollution, which includes plastic bottles, plastic bags and more. This topic refers to two posts that I've posted, How many are there?, and It's the Sea of Garbage!!. Because it shows how polluted our oceans are. There is more plastic in the ocean than any other item. Life without plastic is impossible, right? Plastic has been a problem and we should know about the dangers. This is a video from UN Environment (United Nations Environment Programme) and Clean Seas campaign.

Data

Facts

• It is estimated that we've produced around 300 million tons of plastic each year.
• There is 9% which is recycled, 12% which is burned and 79% which is wandering in our ocean.
• According to the recent studies from Worldwatch Institute, it is estimated that there is 268,940 tons of plastic are currently floating in the world’s oceans.

What I've Learnt?

• The global/world production has been increasing since 1950.
• Most of the plastic is used for packaging.
• It is estimated that we've produced around 300 million tons of plastic each year.
• There is 9% which is recycled, 12% which is burned and 79% which is wandering in our ocean.
• According to the recent studies from Worldwatch Institute, it is estimated that there is 268,940 tons of plastic are currently floating in the world’s oceans.

I hope you like my post. Comment down below if you've learnt something new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

What's the Answer?

For cybersmart, we had to answer a question using the filers that the teacher told us. Here's the question: This invention was initially created as a walking machine and then was tweaked in 1932 to become amphibious. But neither of these are its main purpose now. What is the invention? The answer was quite weird. But, let's know what is amphibious? An amphibious is a vehicle which can travel on land and water.

Who is this Famous Sailor?

For cybersmart (on Monday), we had to search for various things, like rovers, meaning for words, what are synonyms & antonyms, and more. It was a fun time researching things that we don't know.

Finally, the teacher had said to research about a famous New Zealander, Sir Peter Blake, which is one of New Zealand's most famous sailor (yachtsman) which has won the Whitbread Round the World and America's Cup. We had to make a biography about him.

Peter Blake
Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/

Sir Peter Blake

Sir Peter Blake which was a famous New Zealander which is born on 1 October 1948 in Auckland. Peter Blake grew up in a wooden bungalow in Bayswater near Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. He had educated in Bayswater Primary School, Belmont Intermediate, Takapuna Grammar School and Auckland Technical Institute, 1966 to 1969 - earned New Zealand Certificate of Engineering.

Center: Seamaster
Right: Peter Blake
Credit: https://www.radionz.co.nz/

Peter Blake coming back to New Zealand after a historic win
in America's Cup.
Credit: https://teara.govt.nz/

Peter Blake is famous because he was the only sailor to take part in the first five Whitbread Round the World races. He lead New Zealand by having two America’s Cup victories (1995 and 2000). He is the world's most famous sailor because he went more faster and further than any other sailor in the world. Peter Blake has participated in two events:

• Whitbread Round the World - 1989-90 - Steinlager 2 (boat name)
• America’s Cup - 1995 America’s Cup - Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (boat name)
• Location: San Diego, United States
• Dates: 6-13 May 1995
• Yacht: Black Magic - NZL 32
• Role: Sail Trimmer
• America’s Cup - 2000 America’s Cup - did not sail with the team, acting as on-shore manager.

Sir Peter Blake has won two awards, Laureus World Sports Award for Sport for Good and Laureus World Sports Award for Lifetime Achievement. Also, he has written books about his adventure:

• Peter Blake: Adventure
• The Last Great Adventure of Sir Peter Blake: With Seamaster and Blakexpeditions from Antarctica to the Amazon: Sir Peter Blake's Logbooks
• An Introduction to Sailing
• Blake's Odyssey: The Round the World Race with Ceramco New Zealand
• Lion: The Round the World Race with Lion New Zealand 
• Peter Blake's Yachting Book 
• Peter Blake: Autobiography

Peter Blake in the Amazon
Credit: https://teara.govt.nz/

After Sir Peter Blake's career in sailing, he went to do an environmental exploration trip in (Amazon) Macapá, Amapá, Brazil, South America, to fight over pollution and global warming for the United Nations (UN). Seamaster (Peter Blake's boat) was about to leave the Amazon, on the night of 5 December 2001, a group of pirates had attacked Seamaster, they were wearing crash helmets and balaclavas. One of the pirates had a gun to the head of a crewmember. Peter Blake was shot on the back while defending his crew. Peter Blake's funeral was at St Thomas à Becket Church, Warblington, Hampshire, England and he was buried there.

I hope you like my post about Peter Blake. Comment down below if you have learnt something new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Why Deforestation?

For today's post, we are going to look at a topic where there is a limit of, trees. We all know that there are many trees chopped off every day.

Deforestation in Brazil
Credit: https://www.livescience.com/

According to Quora, there are about 100 trees cut down every minute!! Every day, nearly 100,000 acres is chopped down every day. Around 15,000,000,000 trees are cut down every year.

Around 31% of Earth's land area is the forest. Forests give required oxygen and provide homes for the wildlife also people. Most of the endangered animals (giant panda, tiger, gorilla, mountain gorilla, Amur leopard, Asian elephants, Tasmanian devil and orangutans) live in forests, these forests include fresh water, food, traditional medicines, clothing and shelter.

Deforestation
Credit: https://www.livescience.com/

Deforestation can happen in many forms, fire, for agriculture, land for development for houses and urbanization, to create ingredients which are popular like, oil and palm oil.

Deforestation is one of the reasons for climate change. Here are a few videos from National Geographic, WWF and CNN. These videos explain what happens to deforestation and facts about deforestation. Hope you like these videos. 

  

Stats - New Zealand
Credit: https://www.globalforestwatch.org/

>

Land Cover



Forest Change

What I've Learnt

• According to Quora, there are about 100 trees cut down every minute!! Every day, nearly 100,000 acres is chopped down every day. Around 15,000,000,000 trees are cut down every year.
• Around 31% of Earth's land area is the forest.
• Forests give required oxygen and provide homes for the wildlife also people.
• Most of the endangered animals (giant panda, tiger, gorilla, mountain gorilla, Amur leopard, Asian elephants, Tasmanian devil and orangutans) live in forests, these forests include fresh water, food, traditional medicines, clothing and shelter.
• Deforestation can happen in many forms, fire, for agriculture, land for development for houses and urbanization, to create ingredients which are popular like, oil and palm oil.
• Information from National Geographic, WWF and CNN.
• Information from Global Forest Watch.

I hope you like your post about Deforestation. Comment down below if you've learnt something new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

WE NEED TO STOP DEFORESTATION!