Back to Artemis II – Unit 2: Preparing for Launch
Artemis ROADS II – Unit 2 Lesson 2: Getting to the Moon
In this lesson: Students will first learn why tests are important in the Engineering Design Process by learning about the various tests that NASA conducted before the Artemis I mission. Next students will complete a set of three hands-on activities to learn about concepts that are relevant to rocket flight, including the center of mass and rotation, the center of pressure and stability, and the forces of gravity, thrust, and drag. Finally, students will use the Engineering Design Process to improve on their water bottle rocket design. Students will be asked to build several designs (changing a single variable) and then analyze flight data to determine the most successful design.
Lesson Level Question: How can the engineering design process help us create a rocket safe and powerful enough to take astronauts to the Moon?
Engage
Students will discuss how they have learned a new activity or improved their ability to do an activity through an iterative process. Then they will relate this to the process that NASA used to test the SLS rocket before, during, and after its successful Artemis I mission.
Explore
Students will complete three hands-on activities to discover the physical science concepts that are relevant to designing a successful model rocket: center of mass, center of pressure, thrust, drag, and mass.
Explain
Students will use what they learned about the physics of rocket flight during the Explore portion to design and construct an initial water bottle rocket.
Elaborate
Students will use the Engineering Design Process to adjust their design while also taking careful measurements during flight to evaluate how their changes to the rocket’s design affected its flight.
Evaluate
Students will analyze the test using the test data from their flights to determine the most effective design of their rocket.
Extend (optional)
Students will produce safety procedures for the launch of their water bottle rockets and/or use online simulations to further analyze how design changes affect the flight of a rocket.
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: