Space Colony Project. Introduction

Transcription

1 Space Colony Project Introduction. This is a hands-on project to create a space colony. This effort will use knowledge learned in previous mission plans and should provide a continuing theme throughout the Galaxy Explorers program. Each Mission Team will be divided into groups of four to five members. Each group will present their results in a ten-minute presentation. The activity will be largely a guided effort. Specifically the Galaxy Explorers will answer a series of questions framing the issue and will be given time to polish their results and present it. The activity is outlined as follows... Introduction. Give your Colony a name. What is your colony's mission? Where will your colony be located? What things does your colony need? How do you get to your colony? What types of companies does your Colony work with? What jobs will be done by people and what will be done by robots? Make a flag. Pick a song which your Colony will use as it's "theme song." The head of the Colony is going to build a statue of the person who inspired them the most to be a space colonist. This person can be living or dead, someone you know or someone you know of, someone who is real or fictional. Who is that person? Presentation preparation (drawing or map) and delivery Introduction The purpose of the introduction is to spell out the expected activity associated with the colony project over the course of the week.

2 By the end of the session the Explorers will.understand that there will be Colony associated activities going on through the end of the camp.... understand that there will be a 10 minute presentation at the end of the camp to tell everyone else what they came up with.... understand that tomorrow they will need to come up with a mission and a reason for the colony to be built.... name their colony. If the Mission Team members are having difficulty with naming their colony there are a suggestions you may want to provide... Planets are named after Greek and Roman Gods and Heroes perhaps there is someone from mythology that they would like to name the colony after Famous people. Cities like Washington D.C. are named after famous people Some places are named after old places by using the word "new" in front of it. New York, New England etc... New Fairfax? The Colony Mission The purpose of this activity is to determine the purpose of the Colony. This purpose will provide the basis for follow on discussions concerning location, associations, colony needs etc.... determine the purpose of their colony.... determine how many people will love on the colony.... understand the different types of things a space colony can be used to do... understand that tomorrow they will need to come up with a location for their colony Space colonies can perform a variety of missions. The basic explorers should decide among very broad categories. For example... Science Tourism Manufacturing Service (supporting other colonies with food, water resources) Pioneering Advanced Mission Team members should take it one step further. For example Science - Astronomy Manufacturing - Medecine Service - Agriculture Likewise size may go from a couple of dozen researchers and their families to tens of thousands of families supporting a dozen factories.

3 Colony Location The purpose of this activity is to provide a location for the colony to perform its mission.... determine a location for the colony.... understand that what you want a colony to do is important in deciding where it goes.... understand some of the places where a colony might go.... understand that tomorrow they will need to decide some of the things a colony will need to do its mission. Here are some places where they may want to put their colonies. The moon - good for research, good for mining materials and oxygen, good for tourists Mars - Good for pioneers because of water and atmosphere. Research on origins of life can be done on Mars. Great for tourists (Mons Olympus - the solar systems biggest mountain) Earth Orbit - Good for manufactiuring, good for science. Low orbit is good for looking at the whole Earth. High orbits are better for looking at one spot (communications satellites) Libration points (places of gravitational equilibrium between heavenly bodies) -good for services (act as a way station for space ships going between the earth and moon for example) Asteroid belt - Good for mining Outer planets - good for exploring and doing research Building the Colony The purpose of this activity is to understand what sort of special activities a colony will need to do to work.... understand that the colony is comprised of a number of subsystems which contribute to the colony as a whole.... identify one subsystems which is especially important to support the colonies activities.... identify special equipment needed to do the colony's mission.... understand that tomorrow they will need to figure out how people come and go from the colony Colonies like cities have specific subsystems which support the whole. They include - life support - local transportation - power - water storage and delivery - sanitation - food production and storage

4 - communications - recreation - housing - weather/climate control - Protection - Mars colonies need protection from dust and wind. Lunar colonies need protection from radiation etc.... Certain activities may require that special attention be given to certain subsystems. Tourists may need extra recreation. Agricultural colonies may need more water. Miners may need power for their mining equipment. Service colonies may need lots of local shuttlecraft and space tugs to move space ships around. Space Transportation The purpose of this activity is to explore what types of transportation may be used to get to your colony and back.... understand there are different types of spacecraft... identify what type of spacecraft they want to use to go from the Earth to the colony.... understand that tomorrow they will need to identify some of the types of businesses that their colony may need to work with. The distinction being made in this activity is that there are orbital transportation systems and interplanetary transportation systems. The Shuttle only goes into orbit. The Apollo space craft could only go to the moon. The endstate should be a discussion of needs. We need to move a certain number of people between the colony and earth atcertain intervals and the trip should take this amount of time. New Fairfax needs a space ship capable of taking 100 people to the colony in orbit and earth everyday and the trip should only be an hour long. Colony Associations The purpose of this activity is to show supporting efforts needed to sustain the colony... understand that the colony is dependant on other activities to either create it or sustain it.... identify two businesses which the colony will need to help it out.... understand that tomorrow they will be which of the colonies activities will be done by robots.

5 The sole point of this activity is to identify possible space businesses and create the understanding that space activity need not reflect only scientific research. That a space colony may need artists, salesman, welders, repairmen and they may be very similar to the people in their community not all astronauts. Based on the mission of the colony identify two businesses which would support that activity. The basic explorers may come up with something like telescope repairman to help out a research station, while the advanced explorers may envision habitat construction companies in support of a pioneering colony. Robotics This activity directly supports the lesson concerning robotics. The purpose is to help explorers envision the application of robotics in support of space colonization.... understand how robotics can help the colonists... understand that robotics does not necessarily mean robots.... identify two tasks supporting the colonies missions which will use robotics.... understand that tomorrow they will need to - design a flag - pick a theme song - choose a person who inspired them to be colonists Robotics typically supports three types of activities: repetitive activities (assembly lines); very precise activities (making a computer chip); or going where it is impossible or hazardous for a human to go (mars rover). Colonists may want robots to work their crops, explore mineshafts etc.... Space Art This lesson directly supports the lesson on space art. It is designed to engage the more inspirational or artistic side of designing a space colony.... create a flag for their colony... identify a colony song... choose a person who inspired them to become colonists... understand that tomorrow they will be presenting their results in a ten minute presentation to the group and drawing a map or picture of their colony.

6 There are no limits on song or person. It could be a Britney Spears hit or the Star Wars theme. It could be Buzz Lightyear or Buzz Aldrin. This is a chance to have some fun, give their colony some personality and provide a small amount of time for thinking about why they are interested in space. Presentation The purpose of this activity is to provide a public speaking opportunity for one explorer and to share the findings of the group with the other groups.... draw a map or picture of their colony... present the results of the previous activities to the group as a whole. Presentations should be simple and formulaic. They should essentially answer the questions of each topic. For example... Our colony is named New Washington and it is a research colony on the moon. Here's a picture of it......we think think the colony will need to hire a telescope repairman to fix our equipment... the telescope will be robotically controlled... we need a lunar shuttle which can take ten people back and forth from earth... we were inspired by our science teacher Mrs. Crabtree so we have statue of her.