Mission to Mars 2013

21 Year 9 students attended the ‘Mission to Mars’ excursion today at the Victorian Space Science Centre. The students had the opportunity to work both in the ‘Mission Control’ centre and on the ‘Martian Surface’. On the Martian surface, they were assigned roles such as commander, geobiologist, geochemist and engineer and carried out a range of tasks such as rock sampling, radiation & weather monitoring, permafrost sampling, surveying and chemical analysis (all whilst wearing space suits). In the mission control centre, students communicated with astronauts on the Martian surface using the head sets and also had to monitor conditions such as solar flares and oxygen levels using computer software. After lunch, students worked in the lab and carried out a range of experiments on the samples collected during the day. Here’s some photos from the day.