Ground Control Roles & Responsibllities

Science Operations: Science Operations was responsible for analyzing the samples brought back from the Martian surface to determine their mineral composition. Students measured and recorded characteristics including magnetism, density, color, and texture.

Communications: Communications was in charge of remaining in contact with the Space Station. In this role, students were challenged to code a program that would act as a Morse code translator: for example, if user typed in “••• – – – •••” the program would output “S.O.S.”)

Photo Analyst: In the weeks leading up to our mission, we teamed up with the (real) International Space Station to use their Sally Ride EarthKAM and were able to order specific photos of Earth from the exterior camera attached to the ISS. The Photo Analyst’s job was to try to match each photo to its location, given a brief description of each location.

Exploratory Rover Operator: The Exploratory Rover Operator was responsible for landing the Rover on the Martian surface and then steering it around. (One very enterprising student hand-built a simulated Mars terrain surface out of carved layers of cardboard and what must have been gallons of red paint; in keeping with our commitment to mission authenticity, we placed it out of sight, around a corner at the end of a long hallway.) This station was very tech-centered, involving use of a littleBits/GoPro Rover and an iPad which displayed the live-streamed images for navigation.

Meccano Operator: The Meccano Operator and the Rover Operator had to work together cooperatively in order to collect and retrieve a sample from the “Martian surface” and deliver it back to Ground Control.

In addition to each station, groups were presented with Disaster Scenarios, in which a piece of equipment would stop working or a major system would be disrupted, thereby cutting off Ground Control from the Space Station. Predictably, some chaos ensued, but no one panicked: all the “disasters” were handled as they happened and control was reacquired almost seamlessly.