8. Destination Mars: Choosing a Landing Site and Preparing for the Science Share-Out
Learners combine multiple data sets to choose a safe and scientifically interesting landing site for a Mars rover. They then prepare to share their findings with the whole group and with invited guests.
Guiding Question
Which landing site on Mars do we recommend, and why?
Activity TimingSetup: Prep Time 40 min
Several days in advance…
- Send Science Share-Out Invitations to people from the community.
*See Materials & Preparation in the Educator Guide linked above for full info.
21st Century Skills
- Communication
Science Practices
- Interpreting Data
- Constructing Explanations
- Communicating Information
Learners Will Do
- Choose a landing site that is scientifically interesting and safe.
Learners Will Know
- Scientists must consider a lot of data to understand an area.
Connecting Across Activities
- Activity 7: Using Spectroscopy to Understand Mars: Last time, learners interpreted spectra to identify the types of minerals at each of the different landing sites. These graphs are the third set of data they will use to choose a landing site.
- Activity 8: Choosing a Landing Site and Preparing for the Science Share-Out: Today, they use the various kinds of data they have collected–landform images, topographic maps, and spectra–to choose a landing site.
- Activity 9: Science Share-Out: Next time, they will share their findings.
Related Videos
Level Up!
- Have learners find out more about picking the candidate landing sites for the Artemis III mission in “NASA Identifies Candidate Regions for Landing Next Americans on Moon.” (5 min.)
