Welcome to the Moon, Mars and Beyond live simulation website. This website provides everything a teacher would need to run this simulation effectively in his or her classroom.

 

This program is an innovative way to engage students in grades 3-5 in the power of math and science in real world situations. The mission is based on authentic space science and math. During the mission, students connect live to a flight director with the help of computers, the Internet, and a small video camera.

 

The year is 2080 and NASA has permanent research bases on both the Moon and Mars. From these bases astronaut scientists can study stars and planets and continue to search for possible life outside Earth.

 

Exploration vessels routinely take off from the Moon and Mars to conduct research. Flybys of planets and moons yield valuable information and will tell us if the establishment of more research stations is possible. The exploration missions also look for and track any comets, asteroids, or meteoroids which may potentially harm the Earth or our bases.

 

On mission day, the students are in Mars Mission Control anxiously awaiting the arrival of a space ship that is launching from the lunar base. The space ship is on a rescue mission. It has been five days since a research vessel exploring the outer regions of our solar system has checked in with the Mars base. They are thought to be lost or having communication problems. The rescue ship just launched from the Moon will hopefully bring the two astronaut crew back to the Mars station safely. The rescue ship will have to stop at the Mars base to pick up the supplies needed for the rescue of the astronauts and for the trip back to Mars.

 

 

Advances in technology and connectivity allow our Wheeling Challenger Learning Center (CLC) to offer new programs that bring Challenger missions into your classroom. These programs - called "e-Missions" -use the Internet or other distance learning technology to create a live link between the students and our flight directors at "Mission Control." Before each live simulation Mission, students complete studies, hands-on activities, and practice that open doors into science and math discovery. On mission day, they form teams of "experts," examine real-time data, analyze it, and make their recommendations to Mission Control. Challenger's flight directors guide the students to a successful solution of each crisis situation.

 

During the e-Mission: Moon, Mars, and Beyond, students help rescue an exploration vessel in the outer solar system. The vessel has not been heard from in five days and they may be lost and experiencing communication problems. Students must decode messages that allow them to plot the course of the vessel and plan supplies for the vital rescue mission to bring the astronauts safely back to the Mars base.

 

With one Internet hook-up and five computers, this program can be conducted in classrooms everywhere across North America and the World. The number of missions available is unlimited. We can reach into every elementary, middle, and high school classroom.

 

Developed by the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling Jesuit University, e-Missions offer teachers and students a chance to use their classroom technology in new ways. Science teachers, educational researchers, and subject matter experts designed the programs and teachers and students from New York to Ohio to South Dakota have participated in these live simulation learning experiences.

 

 

Please enjoy the pictures below from this exciting event.  Click on any photo to enlarge it and start the slideshow.