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Activity at a Glance
Mission: Moon!
Purpose
Children compare environmental conditions using data collected from previous lunar missions at four locations on the Moon to select the site that could serve as a possible future lunar base. The children learn that more data will be collected by the LRO instruments to help scientists and engineers make similar decisions.
Overview
Teams roll a Lunar Cube to determine the type of information they will collect during a particular turn; they strategize as to which location to visit and, ultimately, which site to recommend for possible future human habitation.
Concepts
- NASA will send a reconnaissance orbiter, the LRO, to the Moon in 2008
- The LRO is a science mission that will collect data using a suite of high-tech instruments to determine the location of resources and the best site for landing subsequent missions and bases
- The Moon is an extreme environment; it has no atmosphere or liquid water, its temperatures are much colder and much hotter than Earth’s, radiation from the Sun poses a danger to the human body
- Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSR) exist near the lunar poles and these regions may have water ice that can be used as a resource for water and for fuel
- Different lunar locations contain different resources, based, in part, on the types of rocks and lunar regolith present
- Different lunar locations offer opportunities to undertake different scientific and engineering investigations
- Each potential future habitation site on the Moon has strengths and weaknesses; selection of a site will be a balance between risk, resources, and mission objectives.
Age Level
This activity is primarily intended for children ages 12–13
Time
45 minutes
Materials
For the group:
- 4 to 8 sheets of poster board or butcher paper to cover a section of the wall
- 1 copy of Site Information sheets for each station
Amundsen
Aristarchus
Tranquility
Smithii
- 4 copies of the Cover sheets – one for each station
- Tape or glue
- Scissors
- 1 Moon map
For each team:
Correlations to National Standards
Earth and Space Science – Content Standard D (Grades K–4)
Objects in the Sky
- The Moon has properties, movements, and a location that can be observed and described
Science and Technology – Content Standard E (Grades K–4)
Understanding About Science and Technology
- People have always had questions about their world. Science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
- Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations. They help scientists see, measure, and do things that they could not otherwise see, measure, and do.
- Scientists and engineers often work in teams with different individuals doing different things that contribute to the results. This understanding focuses primarily on teams working together and secondarily, on the combination of scientist and engineer teams.
Grades 5–8
- Science and technology are reciprocal. Science helps drive technology as it addresses questions that demand more sophisticated instruments and provides principles for better instrumentation and techniques
- Scientific inquiry and technological design have similarities and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations. Technological solutions are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot contravene physical or biological principles; and technologies cost, carry risks, and provide benefits.
- Perfectly designed solutions do not exist. All technological solutions have trade-offs, such as safety, cost, efficiency, and appearance.
- Technological designs have constraints. Some constraints are unavoidable, for example, properties of materials, or effects of weather and friction; other constraints limit choices in the design, for example, environmental protection, human safety, and aesthetics.
Language Arts Focus
- Understand scientific terms and descriptive scientific language
- Students use a variety of information resource (e.g., libraries) to gather and synthesize information
Activity
Mission: Moon!
Before You Begin
- Determine five locations in the library, one for each of the four Lunar Sites and one for Mission Control. Site locations should be large enough to be used as a discussion place by one or two teams. Mission Control should be large enough for all the children to gather, roll their cubes, and discuss their information.
- Print the Site Information and Cover Sheets for each Lunar Site on different colors of paper. Tape the Site Information sheets for each Lunar Site to one or two poster boards or attach them to a bulletin board or butcher paper that can be hung on the wall. Place the appropriate Lunar Site name with the Site Information sheets
- Tape the Cover Sheets over the appropriate Site Information sheets. Use tape only at the top of the cover sheet to allow the children to lift the page to see the information below.
- Hang an image of the Moon at “Mission Control.”
Note: Mission: Moon! can be played a variety of ways. Instead of grouping the information for a single possible landing site at a station (for example, all of the information for Amundsen Basin etc.) you could place the environmental information for all sites in one place (for example, all of the radiation information could be grouped at a single station, temperature information for all of the sites could be grouped together at another station, etc.). This may make it easier for the children to compare sites.
Mission: Moon!
- Introduce the children to the challenge! In 2008 NASA is sending a spacecraft — the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) — to orbit the Moon for a year and collect science information that will help them learn more about the Moon and identify possible locations for future lunar bases. The LRO carries several instruments aboard, each designed to collect different information about the lunar environment, including temperature, topography (elevation), and radiation.
- LRO will gather new information about the Moon. Some information exists from previous missions — other orbiters and the Apollo Missions when humans visited the Moon — and this information will help to guide where scientists concentrate their efforts to increase and improve the information using the LRO instruments.
- Just like NASA, each team’s mission is to gather information about different lunar locations so that they can determine the most promising site for a future human lunar outpost. Picking one site on the Moon is a balance between the resources available, really cool science, ability to move around the site, and safety considerations. No one site is perfect — and we have technology to help us. The Apollo missions explored equatorial regions — their equipment helped to shield them high temperatures and radiation for the few days they were there. They brought water, food, and fuel with them. We do have the technology to work in such areas, but to work and live there for a long time is more challenging! For a long-term human habitat on the Moon, we need to use the lunar resources to our best advantage!
- The children will recommend the site they believe best balances all of the considerations and where the LRO should go to gather more information on its future journey.
- Divide the children into teams of 3 to 4. Have each team give themselves a mission team name. Provide each team with one Mission Overview card, one Moon Matrix card, colored dots, colored pencils or markers, scissors and a Lunar Cube. Invite the children to color and prepare their Lunar Cube with their Team Name. Each side of the Lunar Cube has a different type of information about lunar features or environment.
- Each team starts by rolling their Lunar Cube. The side that faces up is the type of information the team will collect (for example, temperature). The team selects one site and goes to (“orbits”) the site location to gather only the information indicated on the cube (for example, temperature information at South Pole Amundsen Basin).
- Together the team reviews the Site Information card for the site they selected. They determine if the data support a possible human lunar outpost, do not support future human activity, or if more data are needed from future missions before they can decide. The teams mark their Matrix accordingly — one color of dot if the site is a “go;” another if it is a “no,” and a third for “more data needed.” The LRO Mission is going to collect more data to help scientists and engineers make these determinations!
- When finished with a particular set of information at a particular a site, the team should re-roll the Lunar Cube and select the site at which they want to gather data using the newly identified information.
An alternative is to have the children roll and then go to each site to gather the information indicated on the Lunar Cube (for example, if they roll “Topography” they can examine the terrain at each site during that turn). This may make it easier for the children to compare and contrast the information.
- Teams must gather at least 4 different types of environmental information for each site before they determine which it is the best site for a possible human lunar outpost.
- Once a team has made a decision about which location appears best for a possible future human habitat, they should share their ideas with the facilitator. They should explain their reasoning. If water ice is not present, how will they get water to survive (perhaps they are going to mine the rocks for oxygen and hydrogen)? Where do they need more data? What kind of science are they interested in? Is radiation a concern? How will it be dealt with? Where will they get energy? Where do they want the LRO to concentrate it’s orbit to provide more information?
- Once all the teams have finished, invite them to share their selections and reasoning. Does their reasoning stand up? There is not necessarily a “correct” answer — each site has advantages and disadvantages. The community of space scientists and engineers is having a similar debate about some of these sites as well as others!
Looking for a bigger challenge? Invite the teams to find information about other sites for which they may want to propose a lunar base.
Facilitator Key
Proposed Site: Amundsen Crater
(88S / 60 E) |
Site Information |
Cover Sheet |
Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSR) in Amundsen Crater stay cold all the time.
Comet impacts may have delivered water ice to the Moon!
This ice, if easily extracted, can be used for water at a lunar outpost; the hydrogen and oxygen it contains can be used for fuel.
Rocks at Amundsen Crater may have high amounts of aluminum, iron, and titanium - these elements can be mined and used for building a base. The rocks also have lots of Oxygen that can be extracted.
LRO’s LAMP instrument will use ultraviolet light from “star-shine” to “see” into the PSRs. Scientists can then map the PSRs as possible sites for lunar bases. The LAMP and LEND instruments will provide information about whether or not ice is here. |
Water and Other Resources
“Go” |
Amundsen Crater lies near the South Pole. It is a little over 100 km wide.
The topography is very rugged and flat areas are rare; landing at this site and getting around will be challenging and more details are needed.
While this site is in the dark, LRO’s LOLA and LAMP will still be able to provide much more information about the shape of the surface and the features. LOLA will collect a topographic information using lasers. LAMP will collect “star-shine” that is reflected off the lunar surfaces to provide a detailed look at the features. |
Topography
“More Data”
|
Temperatures in the dark regions can be more than 380 degrees below zero (F) all the time.
That’s COOOOOOOOOLD!
Because Amundsen Crater is a deep crater there are Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) that do not get heated by the Sun — the temperatures stay cold all the time!
How to warm it up? At the Moon’s north and south poles there is constant daylight (though the Sun stays low on the horizon); solar panels can be placed on the high areas around the crater to provide power for heat, light, and other operations.
LRO’s Diviner instrument will help provide more exact information about the temperature ranges. |
Temperature
“Go”
|
Because possible bases in Amundsen Crater are in Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSR), damaging radiation from the Sun will be low.
LRO’s CRaTER will provide more precise measurements of lunar radiation. |
Radiation
“Go”
|
Amundsen Crater has some cool geology. Because it is a crater, scientists will be able to study how craters form, different features of craters, and how impacts from asteroids and comets create lunar soil.
The crater sits in the lunar highlands — some of the oldest lunar rocks that formed when the Moon was covered by a deep magma ocean 4 ½ billion years ago. Scientists will be able to understand how the Moon has changed through time.
The South Pole is not such a hot site for astronomy; only the southern sky will be visible and the crater walls will restrict the view.
While solar power is possible, from solar panels placed on the crater edges, LRO’s LAMP technology may also be used to lighten things up! |
Science
“Go”
|
While solar power is possible, from solar panels placed on the crater edges, LRO’s LAMP technology may also be used to lighten things up!
Earth will be in constant view from this site; this means that communications between Earth and this lunar outpost will be easy. |
Special Considerations
“Go”
|
Proposed Site: Aristarchus Plateau
(23 N / 48 W) |
Site Information |
Cover Sheet |
Unfortunately, Aristarchus is not sheltered from the Sun’s heat and there are no water ice resources.
Titanium and iron are available in the rocks and could be mined to be used for building bases. The rocks also contain lots of Oxygen that could be extracted and used.
Loose lunar regolith — lunar soil — could be used to make “lunar bricks” for building and to cover a lunar habitat to protect it from radiation.
Aristarchus Plateau gets lots of sunlight and solar energy could be captured and stored for power. |
Water and Other Resources
“No Go” |
The area around Aristarchus Plateau is rugged, but has large flat areas that could be used for landing.
More mapping is needed to select the exact sites for landing and building.
LRO’s LROC will provide photographs that will help to select landing sites and LOLA will provide information about the topography |
Topography
“More Data” |
Temperatures range from very hot (123 C) to very cold (-153 C) with the lunar day and night.
These are the same temperature extremes experienced by the Apollo astronauts. The protection of a space suit or a habitat will be needed to work here for a long period of time.
LRO’s Diviner instrument will help provide more exact information about the temperature ranges. |
Temperature
“Go” |
Damaging radiation from the Sun will be a problem, especially for astronauts working outside for long periods of time.
One solution may be to create lunar habitats in lava tubes that exist at the site, or to cover habitats using loose lunar regolith — lunar soil — to create a protective blanket.
LRO’s CRaTER instrument will provide measurements of lunar radiation. |
Radiation
“No Go” or “Go” |
This is a very exciting location as both of the main types of lunar terrain are within reach: the old, cratered, light lunar highlands (terrae), and the younger, dark volcanic basalt lunar lowlands (maria).
There are several volcanic features in the region, including ancient explosive volcanoes, lava flows, and lava tubes, as well as impact craters.
Scientists can study how the Moon’s ancient crust formed, how large asteroid impacts created big basins on the Moon, and the volcanic activity that later filled the basins. They can compare volcanoes on the Moon with those on Earth and build a picture of the history of the Moon. |
Science
“Go” |
Earth will be in constant view from this site; this means that communications between Earth and this lunar habitat will be easy. |
Special Considerations
“Go” |
Proposed Site: Sea of Tranquility
(4 N / 39 E)
Mare Tranquilitatis |
Site Information |
Cover Sheet |
Because of its location, Tranquility is not sheltered from the Sun’s heat there are no water-ice resources.
The rocks contain lots of titanium and iron. These elements can be mined and used in building lunar habitats. The rocks also have oxygen that can be extracted and used.
Loose lunar regolith — lunar soil — could be used to make “lunar bricks” for building and to cover the habitat to protect it from radiation.
Tranquility gets lots of sunlight and solar energy could be captured and stored for power. |
Water and Other Resources
“No Go” |
This site has wide smooth areas for landing sites and for future building sites.
LRO’s LROC will provide pictures that will help engineers select specific landing sites and LOLA will provide information about the topography. |
Topography
“Go” |
Temperatures range from very hot (253 F/123 C) to very cold (–243 F / 153 C) with the lunar day and night.
These are the same temperature extremes experienced by the Apollo astronauts. The protection of a space suit or a habitat will be needed to work here for long periods of time.
LRO’s Diviner instrument will help provide more information about the temperature ranges at this site. |
Temperature
“Go” |
Damaging radiation from the Sun will be a problem, especially for astronauts working outside for long periods of time.
One solution may be to create habitats in lava tubes that exist at the site, or to cover habitats using loose lunar regolith to create a protective blanket.
LRO’s CRaTER instrument will provide more information about lunar radiation at this site. |
Radiation
“No Go” or “Go” |
A lunar outpost would sit in a major basin on the lunar surface.
There are several volcanic features in the region, including low shield volcanoes and volcano chains and many different lava flows both old and young. Scientists could get to craters and ancient lunar crust for their studies.
At this site, scientists can study how large asteroid impacts created the big basins on the Moon. They can also learn about the different types of volcanic flows that later filled the basins. Scientists can build a picture of the history of the Moon. |
Science
“Go”
|
This was an Apollo landing site; rocks from this site provide information about the resources.
Earth will be in constant view from this site; this means that communications between Earth and a lunar habitat will be easy.
Because Tranquility is close to the equator, the Southern and Northern skies can be observed with telescopes. |
Special Considerations
“Go” |
Proposed Site: Smythii Base
(2 N / 86 E)
Mare Smythii |
Site Information |
Cover Sheet |
This location is not sheltered from the Sun’s heat. It gets too hot for water-ice to exist here.
The rocks have lots of titanium and aluminum that can be mined as building materials for a lunar base. There is also lots of oxygen in the rocks.
The loose lunar regolith — lunar soil — is thick on the highland rocks. Regolith could be used to make “lunar bricks” for building and to cover the habitat to protect it from radiation.
Smythii Base gets lots of sunlight and solar energy could be captured and stored for power. |
Water and Other Resources
“No Go” |
Much of Smythii Base is covered by dark, volcanic basalt rocks that have been broken into big, angular rocks.
There also are large flat areas that could be used for landing and for building.
More detailed images are needed to select the best place for a base.
LRO’s LROC instrument will provide pictures that will help engineers select specific landing sites and LOLA will provide information about the topography.
|
Topography
“More Data are Needed” |
Temperatures range from very hot (253 F/123 C) to very cold (–243 F / 153 C) with the lunar day and night.
These are the same temperature extremes experienced by the Apollo astronauts. The protection of a space suit or a habitat will be needed to work here for long periods of time.
LRO’s Diviner instrument will provide more information about the temperature ranges at Smythii Base. |
Temperature
“Go” |
Damaging radiation from the Sun will be a problem, especially for astronauts working outside for long periods of time.
The base will need to provide protective cover. One solution may be to cover habitats using loose lunar regolith — lunar soil — to create a protective blanket.
LRO’s CRaTER instrument will provide more information about lunar radiation at Smythii Base. |
Radiation
“No Go” or “Go” |
This is a very exciting location for science!
Both of the main types of lunar terrain are within reach: the old, cratered, light lunar highlands (terrae), and the younger, dark volcanic basalt lunar lowlands (mare).
The soil on the highlands is very thick.
There also are craters of different sizes that happened at different times in the Moon’s history.
Scientists can study how the Moon’s ancient crust formed and how large asteroid impacts created the big basins on the Moon. They can explore the flows of volcanic rock that filled the basins. They can investigate how asteroid impacts change the surface of a planet, and how impacts may have changed through time. Scientists will be able to build a picture of the history of the Moon. |
Science
“Go”
|
This is a good site for lunar astronomy as the whole sky is visible and the Earth stays just at the horizon. Telescope arrays could be placed on the flat areas.
Depending on exactly where the base is placed, there may be times when Earth is not visible from the base. This means that communications between Earth and base will need some other way to communicate; relay stations or a satellite network will need to be put into place. |
Special Considerations
“Go” |
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Last updated
February 24, 2006
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