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Mission Design Challenge

Explore the Moon

Saved locally on this device
Learning goals
  • Match instruments to the science goals of the challenge.
  • Balance mass, power, cost, risk, and communication throughput.
  • Explain your design tradeoffs in your own words.
Help & glossary
  • Meters update in real time so you can see the impact of each choice.
  • Errors are red; warnings are amber. You can still launch with warnings.
  • Your written explanation stays on this device.

This is an educational mission-design simulation. Scores and simplified engineering values do not represent an approved or operational NASA mission.

1. Briefing2. Platform3. Power4. Comms5. Instruments6. Timeline7. Explanation8. Results

Mission briefing

You are the mission designer. Build a small spacecraft to visit the Moon and send back pictures and measurements. Pick a platform, a way to make power, a way to send data home, and one or two instruments.

Destination
The Moon
Mission type
Orbiter
Environment
airless, cold-night, sunlit-day

Science goals

  • Take pictures of the surface.
  • Measure how hot and cold the surface gets.

Sources