Solar System!

Students are introduced to our solar system—the planets, our Sun and Moon. To begin, students learn about the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding of Newton's third law of motion.

Engineers apply their understanding of science (laws of motion, energy transfer, solar energy, water cycle, moon phases, gravity, spectroscopy, materials science, human body, chemical analysis) and math (geometry, data collection, velocity calculations, navigation, satellite tracking, fuel efficiency, calculating spacecraft maneuvers) to creating the spacecraft vehicles, equipment, tools and methods to explore our solar system.

If students are interested in astronauts, space walks, rockets, rockets and images of the distant universe, they might want to pursue their dreams and become engineers. More than just aerospace engineers work in the space industry. Biomedical, chemical, mechanical, electrical and computer (and other) engineers work together to make spacesuits, design life support systems, create new materials for spacecraft, and design control systems, cameras, communications, etc. The space industry provides endless opportunities—requiring a wide range and depth of study and expertise. Teams of engineers follow the steps of the engineering design process to create telescopes, deep space antennas, spacecraft, planetary rovers and even how to eat in microgravity, as well as conduct research and cultivate international cooperation.

The following schedule provides a suggested order of the lessons and activities. However, you may choose to only teach some of the activities – as your time and priorities permit.

• Destination Outer Space lesson
• Rocket Power activity
• Blazing Gas lesson
• Our Sun and Heat Transfer Basics: Heat It Up! activity
• Mercury and Venus lesson
• Spacecraft Design: Beat the Heat activity
• Our Big Blue Marble lesson
• The Great Gravity Escape activity
• What Happened to the Water? Designing Ways to Get and Clean Water activity
• Moon Walk lesson
• Lunar Lollipops activity
• Mars and Jupiter lesson
• A Roundabout Way to Mars activity
• Are We Alone? activity
• Edible Rovers activity
• The Outer Planets lesson
• Slingshot to the Outer Planets activity
• Life in Space: The International Space Station lesson
• Lunch in Outer Space! activity
• Muscles, Muscles Everywhere activity
• Beyond the Milky Way lesson
• Building a Fancy Spectrograph activity
• The North (Wall) Star activity