Mission to Mars

Portals
Call

Mission to Mars is one of the many elective options students can select as part of the Year 9 EXPLORE Program. It aims to get students thinking about whether life on Mars could be possible and how we could get there. The Victorian Space Science Education Centre in Strathmore has programs for students to experience the types of research and activities that are crucial in space exploration. Following are the experiences from three students who attended.

Recently those participating in the EXPLORE elective Mission to Mars had the privilege of attending the Victorian Space Science Education Centre, where for the day we assumed the roles of astronauts on our way to Mars. We were split into two groups; one would be the astronauts suiting up and going to the red planet. The others would be remaining on ‘Earth’ and in mission control. Those in mission control all had different roles to make the mission run smoothly, such as engineers who monitored wind speed and looked out for incoming storms or bio scientists kept an eye on astronauts' vitals. We got to give the astronauts instructions and talk to them through microphones and headsets. The astronauts got to explore Mars’ surface and collect samples and scan zones. Nearing the end of the day, we had one last activity. Using the evidence we had gathered, we had to research how Mars was shaped as a planet, as we all needed to work together using the materials we had. Experiments included sanding off parts of rocks and testing them in a special machine to see what there made of. We were researching the samples to see how old the layers of Mars were, so we could see how we could live on Mars and so we could see what eras Mars went through (eg, oceans, rivers, volcanoes). - Kaan A, Jacque D and Lyla W.

All students were able to experience first-hand some of the topics covered in the Mission to Mars elective and gain an appreciation of the types and nature of work to get people to Mars.

Anthony Schepis
Curriculum Leader (Innovation and Growth)