Mission Design Challenge
Design your own space mission
Choose a destination, a spacecraft platform, a power system, communication, and science instruments — all within mass, power, cost, and risk budgets. Live meters show how each choice affects your mission.
This is an educational mission-design simulation. Scores and simplified engineering values do not represent an approved or operational NASA mission.
Grade selector
Choose the band, then pick your exact grade. Content adapts automatically.
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Grades 3–5
5 challengesExplore the Moon
OrbiterThe Moon · 2 science goals
Aligned to 5-ESS1-2
Drive a Rover on Mars
RoverMars surface · 2 science goals
Aligned to MS-ESS1-3
Photograph an Asteroid
FlybyA near-Earth asteroid · 2 science goals
Aligned to 5-ESS1-2
Study Jupiter's Clouds
OrbiterJupiter (upper atmosphere / cloud tops) · 2 science goals
Aligned to 5-ESS1-2
Observe Saturn's Rings
OrbiterSaturn ring system · 2 science goals
Aligned to 5-ESS1-2
Grades 6–8
5 challengesSearch for Ancient Water on Mars
RoverMars — Jezero-like crater basin · 3 science goals
Aligned to MS-ESS1-2, MS-ESS1-3
Fly Past Europa
Flyby (from Jupiter orbit)Europa (Jupiter moon) · 3 science goals
Aligned to MS-ESS1-2
Map the Moon from Orbit
Polar orbiterThe Moon (polar orbit) · 3 science goals
Aligned to MS-ESS1-3
Return a Small Asteroid Sample
Sample return (touch-and-go)Near-Earth asteroid · 3 science goals
Aligned to MS-ESS1-2
Build a Space Telescope Mission
Space observatoryEarth–Sun Lagrange point (L2) · 3 science goals
Aligned to MS-ESS1-2
Grades 9–12
5 challengesDesign a Mars Sample-Return Architecture
Sample returnMars — sample-cache site · 3 science goals
Aligned to HS-ESS1-4
Investigate Europa's Habitability
Multi-flybyEuropa (Jupiter moon) · 3 science goals
Aligned to HS-ESS1-4
Map Venus Beneath Its Clouds
Radar orbiterVenus (polar orbit) · 3 science goals
Aligned to HS-ESS1-4
Test an Asteroid-Deflection Mission
Kinetic impactorNear-Earth binary asteroid system · 3 science goals
Aligned to HS-ESS1-4
Design a Next-Generation Exoplanet Observatory
Space observatorySun–Earth L2 · 3 science goals
Aligned to HS-ESS1-4
Everything you design stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
For teachers & parents — Mission Design Challenge
A one-page guide with objectives, standards, materials, prompts and accommodations. Everything on this page can be printed.
Estimated time
20–45 minutes per challenge.
Learning objectives
- Make and justify engineering tradeoffs among mass, power, cost, risk and science return.
- Match instruments to explicit science goals.
- Explain design choices in writing.
Standards addressed
- 5-ESS1-2 (Grades 3–5)
- MS-ESS1-2 / MS-ESS1-3 (Grades 6–8)
- HS-ESS1-4 (Grades 9–12)
Materials
- Optional: printer for the mission report.
- Optional: sketch paper for a mission diagram.
Answer guidance
- Scoring is deterministic — the same design yields the same score.
- The disclosure that this is an educational simulation is visible on every challenge and result.
- Missing errors (red) prevent a full score; warnings (amber) do not block launching.
Discussion prompts
- Which tradeoff was hardest to make? Why?
- What would you change if the mission had to last twice as long?
- Which single instrument would you keep if you could only bring one?
Accommodations
- For younger students, focus on the platform-power-comms choices; instrument matching can be simplified.
- The mission-report print view has a black-on-white layout suitable for note-taking.
- Encourage revision — the tool invites the student to change choices and try again.
What is stored locally
Everything is stored only in this browser. No student name, email, school, age, precise location, sketches, or free-text responses ever leave the device.