Algebra Applications: Functions and Relations: A Voyage to Mars

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

Title: Functions and Relations

Title: A Voyage to Mars

Title: A Voyage to Mars

Narrator: The year is 2030 and the US is venturing on its

first trip to Mars.

Over sixty years separates its first moon mission to this

manned mission to Mars.

The Ares rocket, descendent of the Saturn rocket that

propelled astronauts to the moon, carries its crew.

It will take nine months to reach Mars.

As it ascends over the surface of the earth the rocket goes

in a curved orbit that is parabolic in shape.

A parabola is known as a conic section.

There are four conic sections: the circle, the ellipse, the

parabola, and the hyperbola.

Scientists rely on these curves when launching rockets

into space.

This trip to Mars allows us to investigate these

conic sections.