Moon, Mars, and Beyond Background Photo

The class is organized into 5 planet teams to help NASA locate and rescue a lost space ship that is orbiting one of the outer planets.

Teacher Site

Educational Categories:

  • Science
  • Math
  • Language Arts

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e-Missions.net: Moon, Mars, and Beyond

The class is organized into 5 planet teams to help NASA locate and rescue a lost space ship that is orbiting one of the outer planets. Each planet team consists of Cargo, Navigation and Transmissions Specialists. The Cargo Specialists calculate the number of days for a round trip to their planet and the amount of food, water and oxygen needed for the rescue trip. The Navigation Specialists will plot coordinates to help get some location information on the lost space ship. The Transmissions Specialists decode messages which give them clues about the location of the space ship over the last 5 days. All teams work together using information they receive to determine where the lost ship is located. The Communications Team relays all information to Mission Control so that a rescue ship with all the loaded cargo can be launched from our base on Mars to that planet. Your class will locate and rescue the lost ship.

Standards

X-Y graphing, graph interpretation, team problem solving, math in everyday life, multiplication (using units), objects in the solar system.

 

Technical Requirements

  1. Videoconferencing system with monitor or LCD
    •  An extra computer equipped with a webcam, microphone, speakers, and videoconferencing software, such as Google Meet™.
    • The videoconferencing system should be connected to a large screen (either a monitor or an LCD projector). The image should be displayed in the front of the room so the students can see the mission commander and video clips.
    • The Communications Team uses the videoconferencing system.
  2. Five computers
    • Each Planet Team has one computer — The computer will be shared among the different team specialists.
  3. Internet connections for the above computers and the latest version of Internet Explorer installed
  4. Optional Skype, Zoom, Google Meet  (available on the Internet, some videoconference software programs are free)
  5. Printer (network, optional)
  6. A camera (optional). A camera is valuable for recording the excitement of the mission.

Mission Sponsors

Logo for Mission Sponsor https://www.nasa.gov