Learning Goals
Students will be able to define the criteria and constraints for a Moon or Mars colony design using habitat survival needs, available resources, safety hazards, and environmental limitations.
Students will be able to analyze scale, gravity, distance, and hazard data from the solar system and museum exhibits to choose a realistic colony site and justify that choice with evidence.
Students will be able to model and test water recycling or filtration systems to explain how a colony can conserve and reuse resources in a closed environment.
Students will be able to design and revise a colony blueprint that includes living, laboratory, energy, and food modules connected to support crew health and function.
Students will be able to communicate engineering decisions through a mission manual, sketches, reflections, and a NASA-style video tour that explains how evidence improved the final colony design.
Products
Moon or Mars Colony Design Portfolio with Mission Manual and Video Tour
Each student creates a personal engineering portfolio that includes site-selection evidence, two or more concept sketches, a decision matrix, a revised blueprint, a 4-page mission manual, and a 3-minute NASA-style video tour. The portfolio proves individual mastery of habitat science, design reasoning, and evidence-based revision.
Tested Space Habitat Prototype and Engineering Briefing
A small team builds one functional colony prototype, tests it against the design criteria, revises it at least once from data, and presents the results in a short engineering briefing. The briefing must show trade-offs, limitations, and how the final solution came from evaluated ideas rather than preference.
No rubric has been generated yet.