Mars Sample Return Coding Challenge
Students design and code a microdeviceCopyright NASA/JPL-Caltech
Students work as part of an engineering team to help complete a simulated Mars Sample Return mission. Like real engineers at NASA, each group designs and codes a microdevice to accomplish one essential task, such as loading samples, generating power, sending signals, checking systems, or launching the return rocket. Groups may use multiple coding languages simultaneously, allowing students at all experience levels to participate meaningfully. After building their individual systems, the class collaborates to integrate all components into one fully functioning mission.
In space missions, aerospace, systems, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineers work together to design, build, test, and integrate complex systems. Aerospace engineers design the spacecraft and mission architecture, while systems engineers ensure that all subsystems function together seamlessly. Computer and electrical engineers develop and program the embedded systems, sensors, and communication networks that allow the spacecraft to operate autonomously, and mechanical engineers design the physical mechanisms responsible for movement, sample handling, and deployment. By working in specialized teams and integrating their designs into a unified mission, professional engineers engage in the interdisciplinary collaboration, problem-solving, and tradeoff analysis essential for large-scale projects such as NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain how complex engineering missions rely on interconnected subsystems.
- Design and code a functional subsystem model using sensors, inputs, and outputs.
- Test, debug, and revise code and circuitry to meet design constraints.
- Collaborate across teams to integrate multiple subsystems into one working system.
- Reflect on the challenges and tradeoffs of real-world engineering teamwork.