Year 7 Quest ‘mission2mars’ Nears Completion

During Term 2, Year 7 classes have been collaborating on a project that’s out of this world.  Their ‘mission2mars’ project has seen teams of budding explorers, designers, and scientists developing concepts and models for a mission to the red planet.  Project teams have explored a wide range of issues (a selection are described below), which will be presented at the end of Term 2, before embarking on a whole new project theme in Term 3.

Rocket launch: Students have been producing water rockets to decide which features are necessary on a water propelled rocket, to achieve the greatest heights on launch.

Rocket design: Using the “Kerbal Space Program” students have assembled virtual rockets with a full suite of customisable features, necessary to successfully propel a spacecraft carrying eight crew on their journey to Mars?  This interactive software challenges students with models for rocket mechanics, flight simulation and most importantly, navigation.

Spacecraft Design: The crew of eight travelling to Mars have certain needs.  The teams are designing the functional interior of the spacecraft for their Earth orbit.  Scale designs of the interior have been made with some of the ‘creature comforts’ of home, modified for space.

Planetary exploration: Teams will send ‘rovers’ onto Mars to collect information about the planet. Students will using coding to program a series of maneuvers for the droid “Sphero”, to follow a pre-set course and investigate the Martian landscape while collecting data for scientific research.

Plant Life of Mars: The conditions on Mars are different to Earth. Students need to know whether plants can grow on Mars, so will be researching growing conditions by conducting experiments on plants in enclosed environments.