Inter-Teambot Communication: Letter to Mission Control - Montreal

October 26, 2011

Dear Students in Montreal,               

     We really like the machine you created to help clean up the atmosphere. We liked how you used different resources for each season. We didn’t know that you could use dog and cat poop as a resource. Some students are investigating its use in “biomass.” We also didn’t know that you could use dead grass or snow as a resource. We think that your machine is a good way to generate energy.

     I hope that one day your machine can help us generate energy for our machines. That way we won’t use as much natural resources or have pollution. We think that’s a great idea.  We hope we can use your machine to help Laika get home, too.           

     We love your machine! We hope that we can see it in person one day. We’d love to meet you guys, too. Maybe, we could keep writing and sharing ideas in the future.

Sincerely,

Caitline M, Zachary S, & Ali F

Toluca Lake Elementary School

From: Mission Control / Science Team Los Angeles

Innovative Alternative Propulsion Systems

Laika, we know that you need a way to power yourself back to your home. We’ve been investigating different ways to get you home without using fossil fuels or harming earth’s environment. Here are some of our ideas:

• Laika, I think you should try geothermal energy. It’s good because it is eco- friendly, very reliable, and also very sustainable. The bad thing is that it’s limited to certain areas where water does not lay near hot magma. Still, I think that you could use geothermal energy to help power you journey.        - Gianna C

• Laika, I think you should try wind energy. It’s a good idea to use wind energy because it is friendly to the environment and you won’t ever have to refill anything. There are not many things that are bad about wind energy. It’s a type of energy that is a reusable resource so we can never run out of it.     - Hunter R        

• Laika, I think you should try solar wind energy. It’s good because it isn’t a fossil fuel so it won’t pollute the Earth. A bad thing is that it could cause a magnetic storm and mess up our electrical appliances. I still think it would be good for you to use to help you get home. -Gabriel C        

• Laika, I think you should try biodiesel energy.  It’s good because it uses less fossil fuel. The bad thing about it is that it’s not easy to get. You have to mix diesel fuel with leftover animal products like vegetable oil and bacon grease.  If you do get biodiesel, it’ll be good for you to use it.                     - Ali F

• Laika, I think you should try nuclear energy. It’s good because it doesn’t release carbon dioxide. The bad thing about nuclear energy is that it releases radiation and is radioactive waste that is deadly to humans. On the other hand, radioactivity doesn’t sound too healthy; maybe nuclear energy isn’t the best energy out there to power you. – Edward R               

• Laika, I think you should try maglev power to get you home. It’s a good source of energy because it uses magnetism instead of fossil fuels. The bad thing is that they need a rail, and I don’t know how easy it’ll be to make one of those going into outer space. I think there may be some way for you to use it to help you on part of your journey home. - Gabriel A

From: Montreal Mission Control / Communications Team

Dear Laïka, 

We have been informed that the noise and waste caused by the utilisation of our energies have been putting your mission at risk.

To help you achieve your mission, we are trying to design a machine that could clean these energy wastes and at the same time suggest new alternative energies.

Here is a sketch of the machine we have been thinking about and we are trying to develop:

The Recycled Seasonal Wastes Cleaning Machine

The machine would be made of wood, and would run with seasonal alternative and natural recycled energies, meaning the dead leaves in Fall, the snow in Winter, the dry grass in Summer, faded flowers and animal feces in Spring. 

Chère Laïka,

Nous avons été informés que le bruit et les déchets produits par l’utilisation de nos énergies sont en train de mettre ta mission en péril.

Pour t’aider à réussir ta mission, nous essayons de concevoir une machine qui pourrait nettoyer ces gaspillages énergétiques, tout en proposant de nouvelles énergies alternatives.

Voici une esquisse de la machine à laquelle nous avons pensée et que nous allons essayer de développer :

La Machine à détritus saisonniers recyclés 

Une machine faite de bois, qui fonctionnerait grâce a des énergies alternatives naturelles saisonnières, c’est-à-dire les feuilles mortes en automne, la neige en hiver, le gazon en été, les fleurs fanées et les excréments des animaux au printemps.

From: LA Mission Control / Science Team

Dear Laika, Hello Laika!

Did you know human-bots have fuel sources? We human-bots are omnivores. We get our energy from meat and vegetables. Animals that eat meat are called carnivores. Animals that eat plants or vegetables are called herbivores. Plants get their energy from the sun during a process called photosynthesis. They need the sun’s energy, water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients from soil. Then, the plants release oxygen; which is what all animals need to live.

Unlike living organisms, our machines don’t eat food. They usually get their energy by burning fossil fuels. Some types of fossil fuels are coal, gasoline, and natural gas. They come from underground. Digging them up is bad for the habitats of plants and animals that live there.

Another problem with burning fossil fuels is that they release chemicals that cause the air to be dirty. We call that dirty air “smog.” Burning fossil fuels gives off carbon dioxide. That’s bad because it goes into the atmosphere, and the sun’s heat get’s stuck there because of the “greenhouse effect.” That makes our world’s climate change.

As the earth gets warmer, it’s causing a lot of problems. For example, more severe weather like thunderstorms, droughts, snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornados. There are also more destructive wildfires, and insects that spread diseases. Also, ice caps are melting causing the sea level to rise. We saw a play called “ Water Is Rising”. It was about people that live on islands in the South Pacific. These islands are at risk of being covered by water, which would force the people to leave their homes as refugees.

Since fossil fuels cause so many problems, we should use different sources of energy. For example, solar energy, biomass, animals, magnetic, wind, geothermal, ocean currents, and ocean tides. We will try to use a clean source of energy to get you home!

Sincerely, The Students of Toluca Lake Elementary (Room 17) featuring Gabriel C, Naomi M, Kayla M, Anthony G, & Angel M

From: Montreal Mission Control / Communication Team

This is the shelter the Montreal Communication team is suggesting for Laika:

‘The Living Source Factory’ (Portable) The portable factory would run with solar energy. It would be fully equipped in order to be a real shelter for Laika. The factory would produce every necessary energy and contain a telescope for Laika to be able to observe her home from the Earth. The place would produce smiles, love, food and would provide an education program to help Laika to learn how to communicate.

L’abri proposé par l’équipe pour Laika

‘L’Usine Source de Vie’ (Portative) Une usine portative qui fonctionnerait grace a l’énergie solaire, qui serait aménagée de telle sorte que Laika serait a l’abri, et qui produirait toutes les énergies nécessaires a la vie. L’usine serait munie d’un télescope pour que Laika puisse observer sa maison depuis la Terre. Elle produirait des sourires, de l’amour, de la nourriture et serait munie d’un programme éducatif pour lui apprendre a communiquer.

From: Montreal Mission Control / Communications Team

Dear Laika,

The essential elements in order to survive on Earth I couldn’t live without…

- food, sleep

- smiling

- education and learning to communicate

- feeling good in my own skin (in the case of Laika in her own metal)

- love

- some friends

- videogames

- getting some exercise otherwise i would get fat and explode

Chère Laïka,

Les éléments nécessaires a la vie sur Terre

Je ne pourrais pas vivre sans…

- nourriture, sommeil

- sourire

- éducation et apprendre à communiquer

- me sentir bien dans ma peau (dans le cas de Laika dans son propre métal)

- un amoureux, une amoureuse

- amis

- jeux vidéos

- faire de l’exercice sinon je deviendrais gros et j’exploserais

From: LA Mission Control / Science Team

Dear Laika,

We are very happy that you are going to land in Los Angeles. We are going to tell you some of the things we do here.

One thing is we eat food like tacos, pasta, bread, soup, and steak. Do you consume oil? We don’t drink oil over here! What do you like to do for fun? We play at parks and beaches. We have to go to school to get an education and to get a job when we are adults. We have to learn in order to have more skills and knowledge. Our teacher says that we’re capable of excellence … when we try our best!

The weather here in Los Angeles changes a lot. Sometimes the sun comes out, and sometimes it doesn’t. It goes from hot to cold and cold to hot. It doesn’t rain that much here, either. We think in order for you to land here, you’ll have to send us messages so we can keep up with what you’re doing.

We hope you have a great trip to Los Angeles! We’re doing some scientific research to help you find the correct fuel to make it back to your home!

Yours Truly, The Students from Room 17 (Rashel A, Caitline M, & Alessandra R) ps - different kids will be writing to you also!