Rocket lander project planning stage

1. Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Rocket Lander Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw0jvqx1mNU&feature=related
Challenge
You are engineers for the European Space Agency (ESA).
It is your job to find a way of safely landing delicate
instruments on Mars.
Your challenge is to prove that you can land the payload
safely.
BUT the ESA have limited budget and so request that you
use as little materials as possible.

2. Your Team’s Mission
How can we drop a delicate object
without causing damage?
Your team’s task today is to design a lander for
an egg.
The lander should be able to open out when it reaches the
ground to enable the egg to roll out without breaking.
You will firstly design your lander and consider how many
tokens you will need to purchase the materials needed to
build it (shop prices on your table).
These tokens will be recorded on your team score card and
please note that some items are in limited supply.

4. How can we drop a delicate object
without causing damage?
You should
• Plan your design
• Involve each person in the team
• Think carefully about what you will use
• Choose the best ideas and possibly draw your
design
• Build it
• Be prepared to justify using the ideas of forces
and materials why it did or did not work.
• Think about the speed of your lander just before it
hits the floor.
• Also think about the distance it will move on, after
it begins to touch the floor.
• Present a report evaluating why it did or did not
work using the idea of forces.

5. Team work
• You will be working in
teams of 4.
• Each of you has a role
and responsibility in
the team:
– Diagram manager
– Resources manager
– Construction manager
– Operations manager

6. Materials have properties – Give examples of
properties

7. Diagram and Justification Apparatus
Notes
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8. To finish off with…
Swap your groups planning sheet with another
groups planning sheet.
• List 3 things that you like about their plan.
• Make 2 suggestions of ways they could
improve it.
Read the suggestions that another group has
made about your teams plan.
• Circle the suggestion that you like the best.

9. Your Report should include...
Level Task
3 I have included a basic description of the experiment we carried out.
4c I have used some of the keywords we learnt like accurate, reliable, method etc.
4b I have shown I understand the terms I have learnt.
4a I have included a diagram of the lander we built.
5c I have included a detailed report of the method we used and our results.
5b I have described what the results show me but only taken one variable into account.
5a I have labelled my diagram in detail and given reasons for using the materials we used and the
forces acting on the lander.
6c I have explained why one lander was the best referring to both the variables involved.
6b I have reflected on what I learnt while building, working in a group and how to carry out a
scientific investigation.
6a I have compared my lander to the best lander and explained why the best one was the best
referring to the scientific properties of the materials used and linked to the forces acting on
the lander.
7 I have used ideas from various topics to help explain what is going on when the lander falls and
reflected in detail on what I have learnt.