Introduction
This is when we began figuring out how our design would work in real life. We first started by thinking about what we could actually test in real life. Then we carried out those tests and recorded the results. With those results we began modelling our prototype with the adjustments from what we learned from our tests.
Detailed Experiments and Tests
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These are our detailed experiments and tests, here we chose to do different durability tests on ice due to ETFE and aerogel not being obtainable. The first test was about how well ice stood up against rocks and time since this dome will be out for a while and will be facing outside force from Mars. The second test we blew sand at the dome at different strengths to mimic a sandstorm since those happen on Mars. We also designed an experiment if we had some sort of ETFE simulator to test how the material would react in different temperatures.
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Lab Report
This is our Lab Report which holds the results of our 2 tests.
Reflection
Overall this Design Step was very hectic because as we were creating the molds to make our domes the 3D printer broke, and then we spent a lot of time trying to fix the printer which ended up going no where. Then as we were making the ice domes with bowls either the ice dome would break from the force of pulling it out of the bowls, or the bowls would break. It took a long time to get enough tests done but it was eventually finished. I do not have high hopes for this project.