Spacecraft Design: Beat the Heat!
To understand the challenges of satellite construction, student teams design and create model spacecraft to protect vital components from the harsh conditions found on Mercury and Venus. They use slices of butter in plastic eggs to represent the internal data collection components of the spacecraft. To discover the strengths and weaknesses of their designs, they test their unique thermal protection systems in a planet simulation test box that provides higher temperature and pressure conditions.
Students design and create their spacecraft modelsCopyright Wikimedia Commons http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Artist's_Conception_of_Space_Station_Freedom_-_GPN-2003-00092.jpg
To continue the exciting ventures of space exploration, engineers design and create instruments, satellites and spacecraft and send them to the unknown areas of the universe to gather information about places that are too far and too dangerous for people to go. These creations return to Earth important information about local conditions, so we can learn more. Building these instruments and spacecraft is anything but routine; teams of engineers with a variety of specialties construct these devices to withstand the extreme conditions they might encounter.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Discuss why it is important to study other planets and discover more about our solar system.
- Describe the engineering challenges associated with sending a spacecraft to either Mercury or Venus.
- Explain how engineers protect spacecraft from the harsh conditions found on Mercury and Venus.