Students will enter the project as engineers by analyzing a mission brief, noticing habitat scale and survival systems from NASA and museum materials, identifying key hazards, and recording initial questions and criteria that will guide later research, design, testing, and revision.

Students will analyze habitat needs and off-Earth conditions, turn research into measurable design criteria, compare multiple colony concepts with evidence, and revise a selected blueprint before moving into construction.

Students will build and test a Moon or Mars colony prototype, collect evidence tied to mission criteria, revise weak systems after critique, and prepare mission documentation that explains how testing improved the design before the final showcase.

Students will present their final Moon or Mars colony as engineers, explain how testing and revision improved the design, demonstrate one survival system with evidence, make one last improvement after mission review feedback, and complete a final self-assessment tied to mission criteria.