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A squiggly path flows from the Jezero Crater floor to Hawksbill Gap and down to Enchanted Lake where the rover's current location is starred.
Mission to Mars Student Challenge.

Education Plan: Surface Operations

After safely touching down on the surface of Mars, it's time for students to start operating their spacecraft. Amila Cooray, a mechatronics engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, talks about his job on the Perseverance Mars rover mission and what goes into operating a mission on the surface of the Red Planet. Watch en Español: Seleccione subtítulos en Español bajo el ícono de configuración.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mission This Week

Having safely landed on Mars, students' rovers are now ready to explore. This week, students will identify areas of geological interest and put scientific instruments to use.

Tips This Week

  • Encourage students to follow their curiosity and engage with lessons and activities in their areas of interest, whether it's rocks, volcanoes, the interior of the planet, or the search for life.

  • Encourage students to engage in engineering activities to understand the technology that enables exploration.

  • When students find the answer to a question they have, ask them if that answer makes them think of other questions they might want to try to answer.

This Week's Education Resources

Use these STEM lesson plans, projects, videos, and articles to get students learning how scientists and engineers operate rovers on Mars. Lessons and projects are standards-aligned. These assignments can be done in any order and in part or in full as schedules allow.

More Education Plans

A spotlight shines on the Perseverance rover in a dark chamber as an engineer covered in white protective clothing works on the rover.
Education Plan

Introduction

Learn about the challenge and how to help students create their very own mission to Mars.

Channels, mountains stretch across this overhead view of Jezero Crater overlaid with an oil-slick of colors representing science data.
Education Plan

Learn About Mars

Before they can launch to Mars, students need to learn more about where they're going and why.

A dotted line shows a landing capsule entering Mars' atmosphere, curving to the right, releasing a parachute, then curving down and dropping a rover on Mars.
Education Plan

Plan Your Mission

Once we have some knowledge about our destination, it’s time to plan our mission to Mars.

Three people in white smocks position the head-like masthead of the Perseverance Rover with a design schematic on a screen behind them.
Education Plan

Design Your Spacecraft

Students must use creative thinking to brainstorm a design for their Mars spacecraft.

A rocket blasts off, spewing clouds of smoke across a green landscape intersected by roadways and backdropped by a blue ocean.
Education Plan

Launch Your Mission

Students will learn about Newton’s laws of motion and brainstorm a rocket design.

An overhead view of the rover suspended on cords and tethers shows the dark brown surface of Mars as exhaust from the sky crane sweeps dust to the side of the frame.
Education Plan

Land on Mars

Landing on Mars is tricky, and NASA engineers have to do a lot of designing, testing, and redesigning to make sure spacecraft can land safely.

10 photo strips show sample tubes deposited on a rocky brown surface, the rover casting its shadow over each view.
Education Plan

Sample Handling

Students learn how we sample rocks on Mars and package these samples for return to Earth sometime in the future.

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