Mission Library

Mission to Mars
CTE: Space Engineering
Grades 4-12

The Mission
45 min

Storyline

Created in collaboration with Hill Air Force Base. To learn more about HAFB STEM careers, click here.

On a mission to Mars, the crew will assess their route, find a safe landing point, and build their first shelter on the planet's surface.

After entering orbit of Earth, the crew will need to assess multiple routes to Mars and are forced to choose one that minimizes risk and travel time. When the navigational computer is damaged, the crew must quickly determine a safe and worthwhile landing point on the surface of Mars. After a rough crash landing, the crew must use the Perseverance Rover to recover the most essential supplies before they are hit by an intense dust storm.

3-Dimensional Science

Phenomenon

With space exploration, there are many variables that need to be taken into consideration.

Science and Engineering Practices

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

  • Make observations and/or measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution.

  • Make predictions about what would happen if a variable changes.

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

  • Construct an explanation of observed relationships (e.g., the distribution of plants in the back yard).

  • Use evidence (e.g., measurements, observations, patterns) to construct or support an explanation or design a solution to a problem.

  • Identify the evidence that supports particular points in an explanation.

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

  • Construct and/or support an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model.

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

  • Students routinely identify and test causal relationships and use these relationships to explain change. They understand events that occur together with regularity might or might not signify a cause and effect relationship.

Resources
Timeline
Skills in Action