Space is an extremely harsh environment, knowing how materials and technology will perform in these conditions is necessary for the success of future space missions.
When designing a space habitat teams need to adapt their design to the environment, consider the use of local resources and provide protection and living and working facilities for the astronauts. Access to resources is hard, make sure you consider the sustainability of your design.
Prepare your Moon Camp project using any of these tools and techniques:
Build your own interpretation of a Moon Camp with the materials you have at hand. Use your creativity and don’t forget to be sustainable.
3D design softwares can bring to life your imagination. Start with a beginners tool like Tinkercad, or choose an advanced tool like Fusion 360
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is an important technique for space applications. You can also use it for your project.
Rovers and robots are crucial in the support of human exploration space missions. Become an engineer and build your own robot.
Give an extra dimension to your 3D design with augmented and virtual reality tools.
Learn more about the space environment by preforming scientific experiments. Get some inspiration from our classroom activities.
The Moon Camp Challenge provides a platform to share your projects related to space exploration. These projects can encompass a scientific experiment, an artistic project, an engineering design, an augmented reality world and much more. But these are just examples; you can use your creative mind to design your own unique project inspired by the real world.
New technologies are being developed to support the future of space exploration. These include 3D printing using lunar soil analogues, inflatable structures, temperature regulating materials, plants research, remotely operated robots, dust mitigation technologies, new propulsion technologies, exploration of the ice discovered at the lunar poles, water purification devices, extraction of water and metals from the regolith and much more….
Be creative and start designing and creating your own Moon Camp now!
Combine space exploration, arts and crafts by building an unique Moon Camp project.
The teams can design their Moon Camp without the need of special materials or softwares, by using materials readily available to them.
Extra information: as a starting point we recommend the use of the classroom activity Moon Shelter, for 8 to 12 years old.
The future of space travel lies in the hands of designers and engineers, just like your team.
If your team would like to create a 3D design and you are a beginner, we suggest the use of Autodesk Tinkercad. Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use web-based app for 3D design adaptable for any age range.
If you would like to take your 3D design technique further we suggest Autodesk Fusion 360. Fusion 360 is a free 3D design software for students, educators, and academic institutions, follow these instructions to obtain a free educational license.
You can learn how to create an account and start designing following the step-by-step tutorials available.
We can 3D print just about anything these days, from tools and buildings to cells and even food. But that’s on Earth, where materials are readily available. What about in space or on the Moon? Could we 3D print a lunar base?
Extra information: ESA engineer Advenit Makaya walks us through the process of 3D printing for space applications in this Meet the Experts video.
In the near future, it is expected that crews of astronauts and humanoid robots will work together to exploit space making use of bionic hands, robotic arms and autonomous rovers.
These will be complex machines, with a sturdy built, able to operate in the harsh conditions of space.
Start your engineering project by creating your own robotic components. Get inspiration from the projects that other teams have developed.
Extra information: you can use the classroom activity Bionic Hand, 8 to 12 years old, as a starting point to develop a simple robotic component using cardboard and straws.
In these experiences the virtual and real worlds come together to create an enhanced experience to the users.
In these type of experiences a digital layer is superimposed on the real physical world and it generates a mix of real world and virtual world.
These experiences can be done using applications in your smartphone or laptop, and are very common on social media applications.
Is an immersive computer generated simulated environment that makes the user feel like he exists in that said environment.
Usually you need a virtual reality viewer to be able to experience fully the virtual environment. Below you can see an example of a 360-degree VR simulation showing Apollo 15’s Lunar Rover in use.
360-degree videos can give you an immersive experience without being a full interactive VR experience.
Follow the link below to travel inside the ISS. Use the interactive buttons to navigate between the different modules and to learn more about them.
Use a Google Cardboard-style virtual reality viewer, to experience how it feels to be driving on the lunar surface.
The Moon Camp project features 18 preparatory classroom activities that focus on learning by-design and science experimentation. When completing these activities students will learn curricular topics, while discovering more about the space environment.
This set of resources includes curricular topics from Physics, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Science, Technology, Arts, Computing, Social Studies and Economics. These activities are recommended from 6 to 18 years old. For more information and to access all the classroom activities visit the Resources page.
Now that you have learnt about the different design tools and techniques that you can use for your project, choose your location.
Prepare your students for their Moon Camp project with our useful educational resources. You can find 3D design tutorials for Tinkercad and Fusion 360, curricular classroom resources covering a wide range of STEM topics, videos with space experts, interesting moon animations and much more!
Resources are available in multiple languages, as well as closed captions for videos.
Visit the Resources page to find out more.
Get inspired with these amazing projects designed by teams from all over the world during last year’s edition.
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