Welcome to the Fire Scene Investigation: Tranquility Base live simulation web site. Here you will find everything you need to run this simulation effectively in your classroom.

The program is an innovative way to engage students in grades 5-8 in the power of math and science in real-life situations. The mission is based on authentic space science and math. During the mission students connect live to a Flight Director with the help of computers, the Internet, and video conferencing equipment.

Tranquility Base
The year is 2037. NASA has established an outpost named Tranquility Base on the moon. It’s named after the historic landing site of the Apollo 11 mission July 20, 1969. The base is part of an international effort to enable lunar and Martian exploration, mining, and astronomical observations of deep space.

The base is composed of several modules. There is a solar storm shelter, living quarters, laboratories, a greenhouse, a gymnasium, medical facilities, and supply and storage modules. Construction of the modules began in 2020 with automated landers. They collected data and brought samples of available resources back to Earth. Beginning in 2022, four-person crews began rotating in six-month stays on the moon. Those crews began assembling the base. They used an automated crane from the lander spacecraft. By 2026 the base crew increased to five astronauts. That’s when the base began to recycle water and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

The ten astronauts now living at Tranquility Base perform a wide variety of research, such as testing fuel efficiencies for upcoming space travel.

The Mission
Students begin the mission expecting to assist astronauts during a routine fire drill on the lunar base. During the drill astronauts discover an actual fire in progress within a storage module. During the past 17 years of construction and existence of the base, no such incident has ever occurred. Although this is an unpleasant surprise, the astronauts and mission control realize that the fire is an excellent opportunity to conduct fire suppression research. Several sensors had been installed when the module was constructed, so there is ample data to analyze.

Getting Ready
Students join as members of specialist teams here on Earth and use the data provided by the astronauts to evaluate the situation and make recommendations. They will make use of an online fire simulator to model fire outcomes based on possible initial conditions. Students will use math skills they learned during pre-mission preparation to calculate the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations as the fire progresses and to plot the data in box-and-whiskers graphs to analyze the cause of the fire. Recommendations on extinguishing the fire are made from final analyses. The mission will need members on the Investigation, Communication, Oxygen, and Carbon Dioxide Specialist Teams.

An Adventure Brought to Your Classroom
FSI: Tranquility Base joins the lineup of innovative distance learning programs offered by the Challenger Learning Center and the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future. Simulations are an interactive method for you to effectively use technology in the classroom. Research indicates that this way of learning leads to improved problem-solving and critical-thinking skills and teaches students the importance of teamwork and communication. Shifting to digital learning is critical to the success of education in America. FSI: Tranquility Base creates an opportunity for you to apply various technologies and provides necessary digital content lacking in so many computer classrooms. The program's interactive nature also gives students a chance to experience distance learning through simulations, no matter how remote the school. Good luck on your mission!

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