PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE EDUCATION BY MATHEMATICA DEMONSTRATIONS: LUNAR PROBE PLANNING, INSTRUMENTATIONS AND FIELD OPERATION SIMULATIONS FOR

By the interactive Mathematica Demon- strations of the Wolfram Research instrumentation, mechatronics and field operation simulations of a lunar and Martian space probe were studied focusing on our Surveyor type educational space probe model: Hun- veyor. Introduction: Planetary science education unifies the Math, Science and Technology subjects. The new Mathematica Demonstrations program strengthens both fields by visualization of various functions and helps simulations. They are effective if a simultaneous activity of space probe model construction and build- ing up controls the ideas. Both various spatial motions, realized in modification of functions Mathematica through the parameters and the built mechatronical instruments add new perspectives of planetary science education. We used this style of work for Hunveyor, the university space probe model based on Surveyor robots of the 60-ies of NASA (1-2). The mechanical constructions: The profoundly simple but stable skeleton of the spacecraft was a tet- rahedral structure. In a stable position of the tetrahe- dron the Surveyor was a tripod and on the fourth tetra- hedral vertex hold the pair of two sheet-like objects: the solar panel and antenna. At the ends of the tripod there were the three footpads. In our first study 8 pa- rameters of this skeleton, the tripod with the footpads were varied as shown in Fig. 1.: deploy legs, level pad, platform height, elevate junction, shift junction, pivot width, frame width, top joint.