Audience
Educators, Students
Grade Levels
Grades K-4, Grades 5-8, Grades 9-12
Subject
Physical Science, Space Science, Waves, Chemistry, Light, Solar System and Planets, Missions to Planets and Moons, Jupiter, Planetary Moons
Type
Educator Guides, Lesson Plans / Activities
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will travel 1.8 billion miles to explore Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. Bring the excitement of the mission into the chemistry classroom with these lessons and activities.
In the Spacecraft Materials and the Chemistry of Space Exploration activity for grades 2-12, students become materials scientists for a day. When designing a satellite or rover, NASA scientists carefully consider the conditions that their mission will encounter. What types of metals and materials are best for exploring an icy, underwater place like Europa? The answer can be found in chemistry!
In the Using Light to Study Planets activity for grades 6-11, students build a spectrometer using basic materials to observe light emitted and absorbed by several sources. This activity models research that NASA scientists conduct to determine the nature of elements found on Earth, other planets, and moons.