SHELL AND SECOND YEARS SCIENCE AFTERNOON

Shell and Second Year Science Afternoon

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. A dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere.

Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past. Mars is one of the most explored bodies in our solar system, and it's the only planet where we've sent rovers to roam the alien landscape. Perseverance is car-sized rover which was designed to explore the planet Mars. It landed safely on the surface of Mars on February 18 2021, and it has been sending lots of images back to Earth. Pupils worked in a team to design and construct a Mars rover using a limited number of materials.

Perseverance had to ace its touchdown inside Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18 2021.

There was no guarantee that the rover would survive this harrowing ordeal; over the years, just 40% of all Mars surface missions have landed successfully. In the second task, pupils tried to safely land their Mars rover on a target placed on the floor. To do this effectively they had to slow the decent of their Mars rover using a parachute.