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Activity (Hands-On)Grades 5 - 7

E.T. Phone Home: Fact or Fiction?

An artist’s drawing in yellows, golds and black shows a dozen varied sketches of the sun, one with a grumpy face, all on a pale gray background. The artist’s statement: “I don't get much real sun, so I drew all the images I could find. We named an entire day after it. Simple tribute to the big star.”Detail of “Any Given Sunday,” artwork by Kiel Johnson.

A favorite movie, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” provides the backdrop scenario for students to discover how harnessing the sun’s energy provides unlimited power for many purposes, including the operation of thousands of satellites in orbit today and communication over long distances. In the movie, E.T., an alien life form, is stranded on Earth and befriends Elliott, the little boy who rescues him. As E.T. becomes gravely ill, Elliott realizes that E.T. needs to return home in order to survive. To arrange for transport, E.T. must “phone home.” Teams engage in an interactive quest to answer the question: E.T. phone home—fact or fiction? They must discover four clues in order to unlock four padlocks on a box that contains the answer. This requires them to watch a one-minute online video, complete a crossword puzzle, scan three QR codes for articles to read, and put together a cut-apart puzzle with an invisible ink clue. They watch short online movie excerpt videos to kick off and wrap up the activity.

Since Russia launched Sputnik 1 into space in 1957—the first satellite in orbit—researchers and engineers have continued to develop innovative technological capabilities to support exploration into the vastness beyond our planet, deeper and deeper into space. Fast-forward to 2017, more than 1,100 active satellites orbit Earth, in addition to the 2,600 satellites still in orbit that are no longer operational.

A photograph shows the sun shining on the two solar panel wings of an orbiting satellite with the wide arc of the Earth in the distance below.Powered by solar energy, the Jason-2 satellite orbits Earth, carrying tools and sensors that help researchers study the oceans.

What do satellites have to do with photovoltaics? Satellites are powered by sunlight using the solar cells built into them, transforming the sun’s energy into electricity, a useable form of power. These satellites enable so many benefits to people on Earth, such as widespread communication, photographs for storm tracking and weather predictions, as well as capturing and relaying images from far beyond our universe in the human quest to discover life beyond Earth. The innovations that engineers have developed in order to power the thousands of satellites in orbit today might prove to be the very innovations that help us improve our electricity-generation challenges on Earth.

After this activity, students should be able to:

  • Explain how solar (photovoltaic) cells transform the sun’s energy into a useable form of power, electricity.
  • Explain how solar (photovoltaic) cells are used to power satellites.
  • Explain how satellites enable communication over long distances.

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