The Mission
The year is 2022. After months of space travel, your team of astronauts finally arrives at its destination, Mars. The mission directive is to establish a base and begin building. Your first concern is finding water beneath the surface. With water you get a limitless supply of hydrogen for fuel, oxygen for breathing, and, of course, liquid for nourishment. Without water you would have to turn around and go home before the precious supplies you have on board run out.

The goal of this mission is to conduct aerial reconnaissance to find an ideal location for the first Martian base. Each team of four to six students will control the flight path of one M.A.R.S. surveyor plane. Students will use their planes to scan potential sites for two major requirements. First, they need to find a site measuring at least 10 square kilometers. Second, the site must contain high concentrations of hematite, a mineral normally formed in the presence of water.

Guided by these requirements, each team will select a flight path for its M.A.R.S surveyor plane and identify an ideal site on which to build the first Martian base. At the end of the mission, students will decide as a group on which site to recommend to mission control. To complete the mission, students link live with a flight director with the help of computers, the Internet, and a small video camera.Download Microsoft Active Accessibility.