STEM Challenge - Project: Inhabit Mars - Build a Landing Device for Mars

Looking for a flexible, multi-day activity that gets your students “doing science?” Every STEM Challenge offers a hands-on, inquiry-based, student-led project designed to allow them to step into the roles of researchers and engineers.

STEM Challenge projects are ideal for use at any time throughout the school year, between units, before breaks, or during afternoons when testing weeks occur.

For teachers, there are presentations and step-by-step guides to facilitate pacing and lesson plans that align with standards. Students utilize the included notebooks to guide them through activities (both individually and in small groups), challenge them to learn new information, and reflect on and apply the information they have learned.

The Challenge:

In order to land a delicate probe on Mars, scientists have to consider a variety of things, including how to slow down the probe as it enters Mars' very thin atmosphere, and where the probe will actually land. You are an engineer at JPL, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Your team has been tasked to build a prototype landing device that will protect an egg when it is dropped from 3 meters. This challenge is not as easy at it sounds though. You will be asked to stay within a budget and will also be judged by the accuracy of your landing to a set target. Leaving the Earth is a critical step in ensuring the survival our of species in the long run. The project may seem like a small step in the process, but your prototype will be help guide the future projects that JPL is working on. The ultimate goal is to one day build a sustainable living environment on another planet. Failing this challenge is not an option for humanity’s sake. Good luck!

What’s in a STEM Challenge?

• a video explaining the engineering challenge and setting the context for the project
• a BIG Question to guide the inquiry
• teacher presentation in PPT (Google-compatible) and Keynote
• a teacher's guide on what the teacher and students should be doing along the way
• student notebook offers
  • questions to provide the students with a framework for their inquiry throughout the entire project
  • opportunities to absorb new information and reflect on ways to use it to complete the challenge
• Using the LAUNCH process, students brainstorm with their peers and reflect on failures and opportunities, with the prospect of sharing their ideas with the world. This holds students accountable, and they will put forth the best effort, knowing that other students could critique the project.
• Each STEM Challenge contains a list of suggested supplies for its project. We were very cautious about choosing inexpensive items, and the supply list is dynamic, allowing for adjustments to individual situations. Suggested supplies include:
  • cardboard (2'x2')
  • glue
  • toilet paper/paper towel tubes
  • pipe cleaners
  • scissors
  • paper
  • tape
  • plastic baggies
  • bubble wrap
  • styrofoam peanuts - sandwich bag full
  • saran wrap
  • string
  • yarn
  • egg carton
  • 6" fabric squares
  • tissue paper
  • paperclips
  • rubber bands
  • toothpicks
  • popsicle sticks or tongue depressors

NGSS Standards

Aside from the engineering components of this project, students will be learning about accuracy and precision, the effects of gravity, and how the effects of unbalanced forces (air resistance) change the speed or direction of an object.

NGSS: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4, 3-PS2-1, MS-PS2-2