Read an article, and use the article to jump-start your thinking about designing your very own space mission. Think about what you want to explore in the solar system (and why!) and how you might get there. Click on the link below to read the Science NetLinks article “Planning My Own Mission.” Planning My Own Mission
2. When you have a sense of where your mission will take you, revisit the Make a Mission: Build a Spacecraft to Explore the Planet Mercury interactive to get a sense of how NASA designs spacecraft for specific missions. Use the interactive to help you determine which kind of vehicle you will need to complete your space mission. (Note: the interactive was designed to explore the planet Mercury; you can simply use the interactive to collect information about different vehicles and their components.) Once in the interactive, click on the How to Play button for information on how to navigate through the interactive. Click on the link below to view the Make a Mission: Build a Spacecraft to Explore the Planet Mercury interactive from the Science NetLinks website.
Make a Mission: Build a Spacecraft to Explore the Planet Mercury
3. Develop a simple outline of your planned space mission, and review it with your Learning Coach to ensure you have taken enough time to adequately plan your mission. When your Learning Coach has approved your outline, complete the activities below.
Activities:
1. Explain where your space mission will take you and why you wish to explore that particular feature of the solar system. List what you hope to learn from your mission.
3 points
2. Identify any challenging conditions that you may encounter on your mission; this may include near vacuum conditions, extreme temperatures, and microgravity. Explain how you will overcome these challenges with the design of your spacecraft.
3 points
3. Design: Describe, using specific details, the spacecraft that you and/or other explorers will use to travel to your destination. In addition, make a detailed sketch of the spacecraft and its components that you will submit to your teacher for grading. You may create a sketch by hand and photograph it or create a digital sketch using appropriate software.
3 points
Sketch: 5 points
4. Explain the data you will want to collect on your mission, and list the instruments that you’ll need so that you can collect and store samples while on your mission. Describe how any collected data will be used when you return from your mission.
3 points
5. Identify the benefits that your space mission might provide for modern society. Explore the possibility of connecting your space mission with satellites that are already gathering information as they orbit Earth.
3 points