P1_8 Escaping the Moons of Mars using a Pogo Stick

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to investigate the gravitational field strengths of the Martian Moons; Deimos and Phobos’ effect on a pogo stick and it’s rider. It was hypothesised that spring required to escape Deimos would be smaller due to the gravitational field strength being lower. This hypothesis was tested using Hooke’s Law and the Newtonian Laws of gravity to calculate the spring size needed to propel the pogo stick and its rider to a point where it was no longer under the effects of the respective moons gravitational pull. We found this value for the spring decompression to be 1.56 m on Deimos and 5.1 m on Phobos. These values confirmed the hypothesis we made and therefore it would be possible to use a pogo stick to escape the Martian Moons’ gravity.