The Big Picture
This unit will provide more than just the core academic requirements it will expand students to think about how creating a Martian environment relates to research done here on earth. We are not growing Martian plants we are growing earth plants on Mars therefore studying the earth's environment is the prerequisite to any research. Also, students will gain an understanding of teamwork as this mission is too big for one person or even one country. It’s a worldwide cooperative effort involving 13 space agencies. who are using the Moon as a "crawl-walk-run" testbed to perfect these systems before we head to the Red Planet.
- NASA (United States): Leads extensive Mars missions, including the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, and is the lead for the "Moon to Mars" architectural roadmap.
- ESA (Europe): Operates the Mars Express orbiter and the Aurora exploration programme, and collaborates with other nations on missions like ExoMars.
- Roscosmos (Russia): Collaborates on the ExoMars program and maintains ambitious national projects for Mars exploration.
- CNSA (China): Has developed ambitious national projects to explore Mars and was the third country to launch its own astronauts.
- ISRO (India): Launched the Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission) and is involved in international coordination for future exploration.
- JAXA (Japan): Participates in global coordination and has ambitious national projects for Moon and Mars exploration.
- Canada (CSA): Provides specific expertise in space robotics.
- France (CNES), Germany (DLR), and Italy (ASI): Discussing future national missions and providing instruments for international missions.
- United Kingdom (UKSA): Involved in discussing future national missions and strategic planning.
- Australia (CSIRO), Republic of Korea (KARI), and Ukraine (NSAU): Listed as participating members of the ISECG framework for coordination.
- The Global Exploration Strategy (GES): A voluntary, non-binding forum where these 13 agencies share strategies to reach exploration goals more effectively.
- International Mars Sample Return (MSR): An international objective to return samples collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth for analysis.
- The Artemis Accords: NASA-led collaborations with international partners to ensure a safe and peaceful future in space exploration.
This is a long-term project, and my students are not tackling all aspects simply the soil. The social commentary and discussion that they have around topics that are not directly related are the questions that fuel inquiry. Mastery of this lesson is demonstrated when a student can take the synthesized characteristics in the physical chemistry of regolith with the biological requirements of terrestrial plants to propose a viable, engineered growing system. By the conclusion of the unit, students will understand that the transition to Mars requires not just a change in location, but the active creation of a "living machine" in the soil that makes human life possible. This mirrors the three-dimensional learning expectation of the Oklahoma Academic Standards, integrating Science and Engineering Practices with Crosscutting Concepts like "Stability and Change" and "Energy and Matter". By the time students finish this unit, they won't just be students, they will be part of a global movement to turn another world into a home.
Student Lab Activities
Building soil on Mars is a process of transforming sterile, toxic weathered rock into a "living machine" capable of sustaining plant life. The following student labs are designed for an 8th-grade science curriculum, moving from the geochemical baseline to a managed holistic ecosystem.
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