Martian Colony Proposals

Summary: Students will design a proposal for a Martian colony to be presented to a group of their peers.

Keywords: Mars, planet, simulation

Category: Application, review, simulation, cooperative learning, debate

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will review their knowledge of Mars.
2. Students will apply what they have learned about Mars in previous lessons.
3. Students will work in cooperative groups.
4. Students will propose their projects to a board of their peers.
5. Students will evaluate for themselves which of their classmates proposal best fits their criteria.

Materials:

• Martian Mathematics
• Butcher paper or other oversized paper
• Colored pencils/markers

Sequence and duration of each part of lesson:
General description:
This activity is designed as a culminating activity to test how well the students can apply what they know about Mars, however, it could be any planet. First the students answer the questions on the "Martian Mathematics" handout. Not only will this handout review much of the information about Mars (especially the numbers involved), it will lead directly into the brainstorming activity.

Next the class will brainstorm how Mars is different than the Earth and what a human colony would need to survive. In addition they will brainstorm what things the colony would need to be a comfortable place to live, work and recreate.

At this point the teacher will introduce the idea of "Martian colony proposals" and work with the students to determine (list on the board) what criteria their colonies must meet such as: how well it is adapted to the extreme conditions on Mars, would their Mars colony be a fun place to live, does the colony take advantage of local resources, how do they plan to address aspects such as crime, overpopulation, food, water, air, heat...? The students will then work in groups to draw and design, on paper, a Martian colony that best meets the needs of the "Martians" and is adapted to the conditions that exist on Mars. In addition to their Martian colony pictures they will need to write as a group an explanation of how and why their colony meets the criteria set up by the class.

Once the students have finished their proposals they will present their projects to the class at which time they will defend all aspects of their colony. After the students have determined the "best" proposal through debate and discussion, the teacher will need to lead a short discussion bringing closure to the activity.

Four to five 60 min. classes

1. Martian mathematics: 45 minutes
2. Brainstorming/class discussion: 20-30 minutes
3. Proposal design and write-up: 60-80 minutes
4. Class presentations/debate: 60-75 minutes
5. Class debrief/closure: 10-20 minutes

Martian Mathematics:

1. The distance between the Earth and the Sun is 1 astronomical unit (93 million miles). It takes light (traveling at 300,000,000 meters/second) about 8 minutes to make that journey. How long does it take light from the sun to reach Mars, which is at 1.52 astronomical units from the sun? Answer: 1.52 x 8 = 12.16 min (12 min 10 sec)
2. How long would it take for light to travel between Earth and Mars at their closest orbits?
   Answer: 12 min 10 sec - 8 min = 4 min 10 sec
3. How long would it take light to travel between Earth and Mars at their farthest orbits?
   Answer: 12 min 10 sec + 8 min = 20 min 10 sec
4. The distance between the Earth and Mars is 48,940,000 miles at their closest orbit, how long would it take for a spacecraft traveling 25,000 miles an hour to reach mars from Earth?
   Answer: 48,940,000 / 25,000 = 1958 hours or 81.6 days
5. If each mile between the Earth and Mars was represented by a single sheet of paper and each ream (package) of paper has 500 sheets of paper in it, how many reams would be needed to represent the distance between Earth and Mars?
   Answer: 48,940,000 / 500 = 97,880 reams
6. If each ream is 1.8 inches thick, how many inches of paper are needed to represent the distance between Earth and Mars?
   Answer: 97,880 x 1.8 = 176,184 inches
7. Be it that there are 12 inches in a foot, how many feet of paper would be needed to represent the distance from Earth to Mars?
   Answer: 176,184 / 12 = 14,682 feet
8. A typical ceiling is 10 feet high, how many stories of a building would be required to represent the distance between Earth and Mars?
   Answer: 14,682 / 10 = 1468 stories
9. A mile is 5,280 feet, how many miles of paper would be needed to represent the distance between the Earth and Mars?
   Answer: 14,682 / 5,280 = 2.8 miles of paper!
10. We add about 93,000,000 people to our global population each year and the rate of population increases each year. To maintain our current population, we would need to send 93 million people into space each year. To maintain our current population, how many people would we need to send into space each day?
    Answer: 93,000,000 / 365 = 254,795 people/day
11. How many people would we need to send into space each hour?
    Answer: 254,795 / 24 = 10,616 people/hour
12. Assuming 7 people per mission on the space shuttle, how many space shuttle missions would it take to get all 93 million people up into space?
    Answer: 93,000,000 / 7 = 13,285,714 mission
13. How many space shuttle missions would need to depart per minute?
    Answer: 13,285,714 / 365 / 24 / 60 = 25 missions/minute

Class Discussion Questions:

1. Why do some people want to colonize mars?
   Possible answers: exploration, population control, technological spinoffs, conquering new land...
2. Why do some people say colonizing Mars is not a good idea?
   Possible answers: cost, distance, technological limitations
3. What obstacles must we overcome in order to colonize mars?
   Possible answers: distance, conditions, cost, needs (air, water, food, shelter)
4. How could we overcome these obstacles?
   Possible answers: research, new energy sources, using Martian resources
5. Instead of colonizing mars, what alternatives do humans have to solving our Earth's problems such as overpopulation, human extintion, ect.?
   Possible answers: population control, take care of the Earth, continue to advance technology, recognize the value of research.
6. What is your personal opinion about setting up a colony on Mars?
   Answers may vary.

Background Information:

Average distance to the sun: 228 Million km
Diameter: 6794 km
Length of day: 24.5 hours
Length of year: 1.88 Earth years
2 Moons: Phobos 25 km diameter and Deimos 15 km diameter
High temperature: -31 Celsius
Low temperature: -130 Celsius
Orbital velocity: 24.2 km/sec
Gravity: 0.38 Earth's gravity

Unique Characteristics:

Fourth planet from the Sun
Southern Polar icecaps made out of dry ice
Pink sky (carbon dioxide)
Rust colored surface (iron oxide)
Four huge volcanoes - Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system (3 times the size of Mt. Everest)
Surface channels - may have been caused by running water
All water is frozen into the the soil and Northern polar icecaps
Two Viking spacecraft landed there in 1976
Huge Canyon system called Valles Marineris, 240 km wide, 6.5 km deep and
would stretch the length of the United States
Up to 200 km/hr wind storms can turn the atmosphere dark pink

Extensions:

• Have the students build a 3-D model of their station.
• Have the students read articles on Martian cononization (after the activity)
• Suggestions: "The Martian Chronicals" & "The Phobos Factor"- U.S. News & World Report Sept. 26, 1988
• How do you go to the bathroom in space? William R. Pogue

Evaluation:
Successful completion of this activity will be determined by participation, quality of the end product and written explanation. Specific factors that might be evaluated on a group or individual basis are: meeting class criteria, participation, visual presentation, depth of knowledge on subject, defense of project, participation in presentation and participation as an audience member.