Write a spending plan.
Record the starting budget, equipment cost, launch and operations cost, and reserve. Predict the amount left after launch. Explain why a possible future award cannot fund today’s purchase.
TransitSatellite Education · Space Explorer
Your mission starts here.
Build a spacecraft plan. Make the mission decisions. Bring the science home. Travel from Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars while learning how science, resources, and budgets work together.
3 guided missionsSuggested grades 6–12Free · no student account
Explorer training
Three missions. One growing skill set.
0 of 3 mission badges earned · Refreshing or restarting the course clears progress.
TransitSatellite · Space Explorer
Our planet, a new perspective
Current stage
Preflight review
Fuel units45/45
Power units60/60
Science points
0game score
Starting funds
335credits
Your mission brief
Complete three decisions about orbital motion, imaging, and a resource-aware downlink.
Science focus
Gravity + sideways motion
A spacecraft in an ideal orbit can coast without continuous thrust. Gravity keeps curving its path around Earth.
- 1Hold the orbit
- 2Choose the observation
- 3Return your observations
01 / Mission planning
Build a flight-ready plan.
Launch your first classroom spacecraft, investigate orbital motion, and return a set of Earth observations. Start with the suggested equipment, or change the plan and check the tradeoffs.
A compact fictional spacecraft with a small payload bay and a modest resource supply.
Records images of surface features. A small payload suited to the first mission.
A reserve is money kept available, not a fee. Reserves round up to a whole credit.
Preflight budget · fictional credits
- Starting funds
- 335
- Scout
- 80
- Visible-light camera
- 35
- Launch and transfer
- 40
- Preflight operations
- 15
- Base cost charged at launch
- 170
- Reserve kept available
- 34
- Total base + reserve
- 204
- Unallocated funds
- 131
Potential completion award: 90 credits. It is earned after the mission and cannot pay for launch.
Equipment and budget pass preflight checks.
Classroom model: routes, travel time, equipment capabilities, credits, resource units, and scores are simplified or fictional. The diagram is not live navigation. Your choices and course progress are held in this tab and are cleared on refresh.
Flight instructions
Plan. Decide. Review.
- Plan your equipment. Choose a spacecraft, a payload, and a reserve. Resolve any equipment or funding warnings before launch.
- Make three decisions. Read each checkpoint, choose a command, and watch the scene and resource report update. Feedback helps you correct misconceptions.
- Review the mission. Compare starting funds, actual spending, the completion award, and the closing balance. Finish the mission to unlock the next destination.
A model with clear limits
This is a guided, turn-based strategy activity. The route illustration, travel time, spacecraft capabilities, fuel and power units, mission credits, and rewards are classroom game rules. They do not represent live positions, real flight trajectories, prices, or engineering feasibility.
The science explanations use the reference sources below. The Moon distance is an average; the Mars communication delay is a selected example. Completing a mission earns a game badge, not a qualification.
Choices and progress stay in the current tab. Refreshing or restarting the course clears all progress. Restarting a mission resets that attempt. This activity does not create a student account or save quiz answers.
For teachers and families
Turn the mission into a discussion.
Suggested activity time: 25–40 minutes, depending on discussion and replay. Work individually or in pairs with a calculator and paper for a mission log. Adjust the reading and arithmetic support for your learners.
Explain each decision.
Take turns as mission planner and science lead. Ask what the instrument measures, which resources a decision uses, and which parts of the scene are simplified. Revisit a mistaken answer using the feedback.
Compare two outcomes.
Record spending, science points, and closing balance. Replay with the alternative final decision. Does collecting more science always leave more credits? Explain the tradeoff using your two reports.
Explore the real science.
These NASA and ESA references support the science concepts. The missions, equipment specifications, credit amounts, and scoring were designed for this activity.