The ROADS on Asteroids challenge gives teams of students grades 3–12 a chance to tackle a mission to the asteroids. Teams will plan and simulate a mission to the “snowman” feature on the asteroid Vesta (see image to the right). The mission will include an impactor from height onto the surface, drone landing and takeoff, and robotic navigation across potentially hazardous surfaces to look for the building blocks for life.
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Mission Objectives (MOs) quick overview
MO-01: Mission Development Log (MDL) (All teams) Every mission starts with an idea, often sketched out on a scrap of paper. To make it a reality, details are added and modified through discussions with all your team members. Those discussions and decisions need to be documented. Your Mission Development Log is the record of your mission that tells us about your activities. Document what you planned and tried, what worked and what didn’t. MO-02: Crater formation and evolution(Astrogeology Team) [Checkpoint challenge #1]Vesta’s snowman feature is formed by three craters in a line. Did they form at the same time or at different times? Research the processes that form craters and come up with an experiment(s) to prove your hypothesis. Are there examples of craters on Earth? MO-03: Search for signs of life (Astrobiology Team) [Checkpoint challenge #2]Asteroids and comets contain carbon compounds that are some of the building blocks of life. First, use gas detectors to survey your environment for some of these building blocks. Then, take a sample from the area and use a microscope to find living and non-living things. What adaptions have these creatures made to survive in these environments? MO-04: Team mission patch (Art Design Team) [Checkpoint challenge #3]All missions have a patch that represents the team’s and the community’s values. Engage your creative side to design a patch that symbolizes your mission, your team, and your community. MO-05: Make your map (Robotics/Drone Team?) This one’s for the geometers and set designers! We’ve provided the overall dimensions of the map and positions of key features. Teams will build their own version of this map, including at least some portions of the crater walls over which their robotic system must navigate. In building this map, students will become familiar with coordinate systems. Teams will need to include a ramp system mimicking the slopes of the craters so that their robotic system is able to move between the different craters. MO-06: Drone / satellite flight (Drone Team) For the ROADS challenge, we can’t use a rocket (alas!) to travel to the asteroid site since the challenge is indoors. Instead, we’ll use a drone to simulate spaceflight and delivery of a satellite. MO-07: Impactor drop (Drone Team) Teams will build an impactor, representative of the technologies used in Hayabusa 2 and Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), and deploy it at the snowman feature. The impactor will rest on a pedestal and must be triggered by your drone/satellite such that the impactor falls and hit the marked target. MO-08: Map navigation (Robot Team) With the drone/satellite landed safely on the rover, navigation begins. Navigating across all three of the snowman craters, the rover must retrieve one sample and the team’s impactor. Both objects must be cached in the small crater at the head of the snowman feature. MO-09 (DART division teams only): Expanded map navigation (Robot Team) In addition to MO-08, DART/high school teams must also travel outside the craters to collect an additional sample from the plains. Teams are required to use an auxiliary motor on the robot when collecting the plains sample. |