Start the lesson showing this video with narration from NASA engineers
7 Minutes of Terror: The Challenges of Getting to Mars (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/)
Script: Welcome to another day at the Ingenia Space Camp. As aerospace engineers, your mission for today is …. landing. Yesterday you learned how to launch a spacecraft. Once the spacecraft reaches its destination, it needs to land safely. As you saw in the video, designing a lander for a spacecraft is a complicated engineering process. Today, you will use the engineering design process to create your own spacecraft lander. Are you ready for the challenge?
Script: The first part of the engineering design process is to understand the challenge, the criteria and the constraints. Your mission is to build a space lander that will safely land a spacecraft with an astronaut inside. In this model, your spacecraft will be a cup (show the cup). Your astronaut will be a giant marshmallow (or a ping pong ball. Show it to the students and place it inside the cup).
The criteria for success is that when you drop the aircraft, it slowly and safely lands without harming the passenger. (Take the cup and drop it from a height and observe with the students what happens) Notice what happened when I dropped the cup and the marshmallow from this height. If the marshmallow was a person, what do you think could have happened to that person? Do you think the craft would be damaged if it landed without a lander to slow it down and soften the fall? The criteria is that the spacecraft should land without tipping over and the passenger should remain inside the craft.
Your constraints are your limitation for this project. Engineers often face limitations or constraints when they work. They have a budget that limits the amount they can spend on materials. They have a deadline that they have to meet. You are limited to the following materials (show the materials they will use: mini marshmallows, paper, tape and pipe cleaners). How could you use these materials to make the landing safe for the spacecraft and the passenger? Another constraint you have is time. You are limited by the time we have today to design, build and test your lander. Finally, you can not put lids on the cup. The cup shall remain open, without a lid. What will your design look like? How can you keep the passenger inside the craft? Remember, no lids. How can you make sure the craft lands upright?
Any questions? (give students the opportunity to ask any questions they have before going to the next step)
*This activity was inspired by NASA’s Lunar Landing challenge.
Script: You have 10 minutes to brainstorm and draw some ideas of designs for your lander. Remember that it is important for the spacecraft to land gently. Stand up and jump. Notice that as you land after jumping, your knees and your back bend to absorb some of the shock of the landing. This is called shock absorption. You need something that can soften the fall. Which materials could help soften the fall? How would you use them? When you have your designs ready, you can show them to me in order to get your building materials. Make sure to label your designs with the names of the materials you will be using.
Once students have drawn a design, give them access to the supplies so they can start building, testing, evaluating and redesigning.
*If possible, use a yardstick or a ruler so students know how high to drop their landers. Otherwise, it might be useful to have testing areas in the room where heights have been pre-measured and marked so students can test their landers.
Give each student the opportunity to show their lander and explain their design and their results. They should also share any problems they had and the changes they made to solve the problems.
Script:
You can choose one or both of these activities as an extension, as time permits.
Script: Engineers can learn from other engineers so now we will watch a video showing us how other engineers solved the problem of designing the moon lander:
Lunar Lander Challenge - NASA - 2019 | Different Types of Designs (www.youtube.com/@STEMActivities)
Students will take their spacecraft home and do a demonstration of how they work to their families. They can also continue the engineering design process and make other changes with materials they have at home that can improve them. For example, they can use packing peanuts, rubber bands, cotton balls, balloons, straws, crumpled newspaper or bubble wrap if they have them at home.
