This Mars Lander activity is aimed at 6th form students to show them that is takes many  disciplines to work together and collaborate in order to solve problems, the fundamental nature of the I-Sceicne degree of problem based learning. It is based at the univeristy to allow the students access to all the equipment in the various departments that they will attend throughout the day.

The students are presented with the following problems:

• where to land on Mars
• what type of planetary rover would they need
• how would they test for the chemical compostion of samples found on the planet
• how do they test for life on Mars

Outline for the day:

• 9:30 – 9:50              Students Arrive
  
• 10:00 – 10:45          Introduction, 1^st Session: Physics & Astronomy Department
• 10:45 – 11:00          Students Walk over to Engineering
  
• 11:00 – 11:45          2^nd Seesion: Engineering Department
  
• 11:45 – 12:30          Lunch
  
• 12:30 – 13:15          3^rd Session: Chemistry Department
  
• 13:15 – 13:30          Students move to GENI Labs
  
• 13:30 – 14:30          4^th Session: GENIE Labs
  
• 14:30 – 15:00          Wrap up and Close

Departmental Sessions

Session One – Physics and Astronomy

The students will begin the day in the physics and astronomy department where they will be given a brief introduction to the activity. They will learn about the physics and maths behind sending a mission to Mars with worked examples of escape velocity, launch windows, sling shot methods and duration of flight.  They will then go on to look at the surface of Mars, its composition, structure and gain some idea as to the best places to land a rover. We will then get the rovers out onto the Martian surface to start exploring the idea behind what type of structure is best for a Mars Lander.

Session Two – Engineering

Once in Engineering the students in their teams will start brainstorming the ideal Mars Rover. They will have to think about such questions as: what do we want it to do? How do we communicate back to earth? How long would it take? How will your rover collect a soil sample and what would be the best way to do this? Using PowerPoint slides, models and equipment they will learn more about the mechanics and engineering behind planet lander missions. Finally they will use a vacuum suction robot to gather up some Martian soil ready for sampling.

Session Three – Chemistry

The students will then take their soil samples to chemistry for testing. Once in the chemistry labs they try the following on their soil samples:

 1. Flame tests and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy for metal ion analysis.

2. FTIR spectroscopy - will see amino acids - building blocks for life

3. NMR spectroscopy - will see amino acids - building blocks for life

4. GCMS spectrometry - will see amino acids - building blocks for life

The discovery of the amino acids in the soil will lead them on to the possibility of life on Mars and thus on to the GENIE lab for more testing.

Session Four – Genetics Lab

In the GENIE (Genetics Education Networking for Innovation and Excellence) lab the students will test for DNA within the samples.  

Guest Lecture

A speaker from the Space Research Centre will end the day by given a talk on what is involved in a planetary mission.  

Close