Back to Artemis II – Unit 3: Living and Working on the Moon

Artemis ROADS II – Unit 3 Lesson 1: Building Habitats on the Moon

In this lesson: Students will start by considering how and why structures on Earth are built, and then consider the needs of astronauts living and working on the Moon. They will experiment with simulated Moon regolith as a building material, then design and build a scale model of a habitat to meet the astronauts’ needs. Finally, they will document what they did in this lesson.

Lesson Level Question: How can we design and build a functional habitat using resources available on the Moon?

30 minutes

Engage

Students will compare and contrast various structures used for human habitation from a materials and purpose standpoint. 

30 minutes

120 minutes

Explore

Students will explore two articles about how NASA designs, builds, and tests scale model habitats and then test the properties of regolith as a building material.

120 minutes

90 minutes

Explain

Students will create design plans for their habitats.

90 minutes

90 minutes

Elaborate

Students will build their scale model habitats.

90 minutes

30 minutes

Evaluate

Students will document their efforts during this lesson.

30 minutes

Extend (optional)

Option 1: Understanding Floor Plans

Option 2: Analog Tests

Standards Alignment

Each lesson includes standards alignment information for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).  Many lessons also include information on alignment opportunities for: CCSS Mathematics, CCSS English, WA State Learning Standards in Computer Science, WA State Standards in Social Emotional Learning.

In these documents, you will find an alignment summary, followed by details for each lesson: