Space Exploration Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 3)

Rocket Science: How High Can You Send a Payload?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Rockets are definitively an engineering challenge. These amazing gravity-defying machines have lifted test material, people, and even animals into space. Feel like building one yourself? In this science project, you will transform a water bottle into an aerodynamic bottle rocket with two compartments, one for the fuel and one for a payload. You will then test how well it performs when lifting mass vertically up into the air. Ready, set, soar! Read more

Solid Motor Rocket Propulsion

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What does it take to launch a robot to Mars or for a satellite to explore our outer solar system? In this project you will explore the physics of a rocket as you predict its performance, launch it, and measure the actual results. This is rocket science! Read more

How Big Are the Planets in Our Solar System?

STEM Activity

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149 reviews

Did you know that there are more planets than stars in our galaxy? All of these planets circle around a star, but only eight of them—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—circle around the Sun—the star in our solar system. This activity explores the relative size of these eight planets. Is one bigger than the others, or are they all about the same size? Read more

A Model of Gravity in Our Solar System

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Why do the planets orbit the sun without flying off into space? Do they move in perfect circles or do their orbits take a different shape? And how could you possibly do a science project about any of this—you can't do an experiment with the planets! However, you can build a model of our solar system that demonstrates the concept of gravity, using balls of different sizes to represent the sun and planets. Watch the summary video for an excellent introduction to the model. Think about how… Read more

Build a Two-Stage Balloon Rocket

STEM Activity

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If you have ever watched a rocket launch on TV, you might have noticed that rockets have multiple stages. Some parts of the rocket fall off and burn up in the atmosphere whereas the rest of the rocket keeps going. Why does this happen? Try this activity to find out and build your own two-stage rocket using balloons! Read more

Make a Spacecraft Motion Simulator!

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

How do you practice landing a spacecraft on another planet or docking it with a space station? With a spacecraft motion simulator here on Earth! In this engineering project, you will design and build your own cable-driven spacecraft motion simulator that lets you move a model spacecraft around in three-dimensional space. Read more

Ion Thruster: Build an Ion Wind Rotor

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Ion thrusters, also called ion engines (Figure 1), are a type of electrically-powered spacecraft propulsion. While they provide very low thrusts (and thus low accelerations), they can do so for very long periods of time using a very small amount of fuel. So, while not appropriate for escaping Earth's gravity like chemical rockets which are less efficient but generate higher thrusts, they are useful for deep-space probes or making small adjustments to satellite orbits. You can read more about… Read more

Make a Model Rocket Land Vertically

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are dramatically lowering the cost of space flight by designing reusable rocket boosters that land back on Earth. Getting a rocket to land vertically without any damage - and without using a parachute to slow it down - is quite a tricky physics problem! In this project you will modify your own model rocket so it can land vertically. Read more

Model the Distances between Planets in our Solar System

STEM Activity

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Did you know that the Voyager 2 spacecraft took 12 years to travel from Earth to Neptune, the furthest planet in the solar system? This sounds like a really long time! Maybe not that long if you consider what distance the spacecraft had to travel to get from Earth to Neptune. In this activity, you will make a model of the planets in the solar system and specifically model their distances to scale. Will it explain why the Voyager 2 took so long? Try it and see! Read more

NASA Asteroid Database: What Can You Learn About Our Solar System?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Did you know that in addition to the Sun and planets, our solar system is filled with millions of asteroids, which are chunks of rock left over from the early days of its formation, or from collisions between larger objects like planets? Agencies like NASA track asteroids, not only because they might pose a threat to humanity by colliding with Earth, but because they can provide us with information about the history of our solar system, and even be useful for mining raw materials in space! In… Read more

Space Exploration Projects, Lessons, Activities (93 results)

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