Agency Moon Camp Challenge: Be part of the future of space exploration by designing a Moon base 23/07/2018 10451 views 66 likes

The Moon Camp Challenge is a new interdisciplinary school project that invites students, aged 8 to 19, to team up and design their own human base on the Moon, a ‘Moon Camp’. The project will allow students to use exciting and innovative learning technologies, such as 3D modelling, to explore the extreme environment of space, in particular on the Moon, to better understand how environment affects habitability.

The first Moon Camp Challenge will run in the school year 2018/19. It will be launched during World Space Week 2018 and it will continue throughout 2019, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. In the future, to enable astronauts to stay on the Moon for long periods of time, new infrastructures have to be developed to solve important challenges; protection from radiation and meteorites, energy production, the extraction and recycling of water, food production and much more. The Moon Camp Challenge invites students to become Moon explorers and decode some of the complexities future astronauts may face. The Moon Camp Challenge is an educational and inspirational programme run in collaboration between ESA and the Airbus Foundation, featuring preparatory classroom activities that focus on learning-by-design and science experimentation. Students will have to develop a number of scientific experiments related to the Moon and apply their acquired knowledge to design their own Moon Camp using a 3D modelling tool (Tinkercad or Fusion 360). The participating teachers and students will be invited to participate in webinars with space experts and then share their designs online. A jury of experts will select the best projects.

Who can participate? Participation is open to teams of students aged 8-19 through two entry paths: ESA Member States or Associate Member States1, and worldwide. Teams will also be able to choose between two different difficulty levels. Teams must be supported by a teacher or an educator. Detailed guidelines for the challenge will be published soon.

Supporting Resources The ESA Education Office in collaboration with the ESEROs(European Space Education Resource Office), is preparing new classroom resources for primary and secondary school teachers on subjects such as protection from radiation and meteorites, food, water, energy, landing on the Moon, communication with Earth, the Moon environment, finding the best location for a Moon base, and others.

Airbus Foundation has developed a set of 18 animations to introduce the topics mentioned. Stay tuned for registrations, the first edition of the Moon Camp Challenge is just around the corner.

Questions? For questions regarding the project, please email moon.camp@esa.int