Astronaut Touch Down

You and a friend have been invited to take a trip to the moon. However, there have been
reports that it is not always a place to land softly. You will be required to work as a team and
build a shock-absorbing system that will land you safely and free of injury.
Today you will build a shock-absorbing system that can land safely when you travel down five
metre above ground. As you test, you will find ways to make it work better.

Challenge: Design and build a shock-absorbing system that will protect astronauts (You and a
friend) when they land on the moon.
Material provided:
• Cups
• Cardboard
• Sticky tape
• Alfoil
• Pop sticks
• String
• Cling wrap
• Small plastic bags
• Marshmallows (used as the astronauts)

Brain storm and Design (10minutes):

What kind of shock absorber can you make from the materials provided to ensure a soft
landing?
How will you make sure you and your friend will not tip out?

Build, Test, Evaluate and redesign (35 minutes):

Ensure a fair test. Test your space craft three (3) times.
Both astronauts have to land safely. Demonstrate teamwork and build together.

Final test:
Pairs test their space craft against the rest of the class.

Discuss what happened:

What affected your space craft as you landed?
What changes did you make after testing?
What did you learn?

Use the Ipads provided to document the process of designing and building the product and
the testing process.

Best of Luck on your safe landing.