This document outlines an assignment for students to plan and present a mission to Mars. It provides context and requirements for the assignment. Students will be divided into teams of four to plan their mission. Each team must create a 10 slide PowerPoint presentation covering the following mini missions: 1) Describing the characteristics of Mars including temperature, atmosphere, surface features, and why it is known as the "Red Planet". 2) Determining the type of clothing required to survive on Mars and its necessary qualities for heat retention. 3) Choosing materials to build a shelter from 5 allowed options and justify the selections as well as power sources and insulators for equipment without fossil fuels. 4) Select

1. Mission to Mars Project
Mr. ILKO – NASA Control
Mission Launch
Welcome, you and your crew have been selected to take part in mankinds’ greatest venture into space. You and your crew
will be responsible for being the first groups of people on Mars and it will be your job to gather information and create a
lifestyle for the ones that will follow in your footsteps.
Problem
To reach our destination, how must we prepare for our mission to Mars?
In this web quest, we will investigate what is necessary for space travel within our solar system by using what we have
learned from the heat and temperature unit and present this information using Microsoft PowerPoint.
Assignment
Our class will be divided into mission teams of four. Each team will be responsible for planning a mission to Mars and
presenting it to the class using Microsoft PowerPoint.
Your presentation should consist of at least 10 PowerPoint slides.
These required slides and their order are shown below:
Introduction/Title Page 1 (required) include the names of team members
Mini Mission 1 2 (minimum)
Mini Mission 2 2 (minimum)
2 (minimum)
Mini Mission 3
2 (minimum)
Mini Mission 4
Conclusion 1

2. To help you plan your Mars mission and presentation, you will complete four separate mini missions. Each mini mission
requires you to answer a basic question. You should produce at least two PowerPoint slides for each mini mission. These
questions are designed to guide your search for information and are underlined and bold.
Mini Mission 1
Where are you going?
Describe the characteristics of the planet Mars.
Temperature
Atmosphere
Surface Features (ice caps)
Why is Mars known as the "Red Planet"
Mini Mission 2
Clothing
What type of clothing will be required to survive on Mars? What qualities must this clothing have to be effective? (heat
loss)
What would be the best choice for colour of your clothes? IS solid colours more effective than multi-coloured?
Create an example of what your clothing choice may look like. What positive features does your clothing have to help
ensure your survival? (reflects/absorbs, colour, etc)
Mini Mission 3
How will you survive on Mars?
What types of materials will your shelter be made from? You can bring up to 5 different materials to build your shelter?
Justify why you choose those?
How will all of your equipment be powered since there are no fossil fuels?
What kind of insulators/conductors will you use for you shelter?
Mini Mission 4
How can heat be managed during the different temperature changes on Mars?
What type of heating will you use? (Active, passive, central, local, or a combination?) Explain how it will benefiticial
your survival
How will you regulate the temperature to make living comfortable? (local, central, forced-air, hot-water) Why do you feel
this one is the best choice?
In your shelter you must use at least one of the heat transfers we have studied in class (conduction, convection,
radiation). Which are you using and how is it effective?
Conclusion
What are the most important factors that lead to a successful mission? Why?

3. We will be building your structure at the end of our presentations. Keep your designs simple!!!!