About

A planetary rover is a robotic vehicle built to explore and learn about the planets and other objects in our solar system. Planetary rovers are scientific devices with equipment such as sensors, robotic arms with tools, cameras, antennas, solar panels, thrusters, batteries, and fuel. Planetary rovers are purely machines, they do not carry humans because it is expensive and dangerous to explore space with humans on board. A rover can feasibly explore a place for years on end, working tirelessly without pause.
 

Your task

Design a planetary rover to explore and learn about our solar system. Your planetary rover will be designed to explore the surface of one of the planets, a moon, or other object, such as an asteroid or comet, as you wish. Decide what your planetary rover will study, and what equipment it will need to do its mission. Construct a scale model of your planetary rover to demonstrate it. Work on this project as a team with your classmates.
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The design thinking stages

Follow the five design thinking stages to ensure that you think of everything and do everything necessary in order to succeed in your design project. First, you must UNDERSTAND the design topic and the needs of the users. With that understanding, you can DECIDE what is important to your design solution and what is not so important. Then you CREATE to come up with ideas and improve them. Then you BUILD your chosen design idea in a physical form and improve it through trial-and-error. Finally, you TEST your built design idea to get the opinions of users. ​​​​​​​Use the methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website as you follow the design thinking stages.
 

Note for teachers

​​​​​​​Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the BUILD Stage for Level III to safely supervise this design project.