Rendezvous
with a
Comet
Research Tasks
The Process
Post-Mission Activities
Assessment
Research Tasks
You must make a presentation to the United States Congress in Washington, DC, to explain why you believe that your comet rendezvous mission should take place. This mission will cost plenty, and you need to make your case that space travel - especially travel to a comet - is well worthwhile. If you can state your case well, your mission will be funded and you will soon Rendezvous with a Comet. Remember, you are part of a team of teams. Each team must contribute a small part of the puzzle so that the Congressional leaders can get the "big picture." There are eight teams scheduled to go on the Rendezvous mission if it is funded. As a group and as individuals teams, you must present information and then answer questions about the mission asked by the Congressional committee. (One representative from each team will be asked to make a general presentation.) Then, each team (including all team members) will make its own presentation dealing with its part of the mission.
GENERAL PRESENTATION OUTLINE:
- What do we know about comets?
- What more do we need to learn about comets?
- Why is it important to study comets?
- Why is this Rendezvous with a Comet mission important?
TEAM PRESENTATIONS OUTLINE:
- What is your team?
- What are your team responsibilities during the mission?
- How will you accomplish those responsibilities during the mission?
- What equipment will you use?
- How will you work as a team?
- What knowledge/skills do you now have that shows you are ready for your part of the mission?
- Why is your team so important to the success of the overall mission?
- Why do you need to go on the mission with the rest of the crew?
- What will happen if nobody is on the mission to do the work of your team?
PREPARATION:
To prepare for your presentation before Congress, all teams are require to work together as a single group to find answers to the following background questions based on different degrees of difficulty and the work of different teams. Basic questions are designed for all students in grades 5-8; intermediate questions are designed primarily for students in grades 6-8; advanced questions are designed primarily for students in grades 7-8.
Basic Level: Find answers to all these questions:
- What are comets?
- Where do comets come from?
- What are the 3 main parts of a comet?
- What does a comet look like?
- Why do comets have tails?
- How are the tails of comets formed?
- What are the main ingredients of a comet?
- What are the names of 5 famous comets?
- Where do comets get their names?
- What is a comet's path around the sun like?
- What is magnitude?
- What is eccentricity?
- What is pulse?
- What is blood pressure?
- What is humidity?
- What is pH?
- What is an electrical circuit?
- How are probes used during space missions?
- What is meant by “density"?
- What is the mathematical formula for finding density?
- What is chlorophyll?
- What is radiation?
Intermediate Level: Answer all questions above plus the following:
- When were the first comets discovered?
- What famous superstition is related to a comet?
- How can we determine the orbits of comets?
- How do comets come to our solar system?
- How do comets form?
- Why do comets have two tails?
- Why are the two tails of comets different colors?
- What are sun-grazing comets?
- How do astronauts describe the position of objects in space? (Hint: They don’t use latitude and longitude, but they have a different system of numbers.)
- What is triangulation?
- How do the pulse and blood pressure of astronauts change when they are in space?
- What happens when humidity gets too low?
- What could happen when humidity gets too high?
- Why is air pressure very important to astronauts in space?
- How could you find the volume of an irregularly-shaped object?
- List 3 sources of good radiation and 3 sources of harmful radiation.
- List 3 insects that would be beneficial to plants in a greenhouse. Then, list 3 insects that would be harmful to plants in a greenhouse.
Advanced Level: Answer all questions above plus the following:
- How do we study the composition of comets?
- What is the difference between perihelion and aphelion?
- Why are comets more likely to break apart at perihelion than at aphelion?
- Why are comets generally brighter a few weeks after passing perihelion than a few weeks before passing perihelion?
- How do comets change over time?
- What evidence do we have that the moon, earth, and planets are sometimes hit by comets and asteroids?
- Formulate a hypothesis which could connect comets with water in our oceans.
- Some people thought that if Earth passed through the tail of comet, it would have deadly effects on human health. In 1910 the Earth passed through the tail of Comet Haley. Construct a scientific argument in favor of or not in favor of this concern.
- If you wanted a probe to collect particles from a comet and then return to Earth, which part of the comet would you want the probe to go through? Why?
- Why is it important for astronauts to have acceptable visual and auditory reaction times while in space?
- Why is it extremely important to test the drinking water of the astronauts aboard the Space Station to make sure it is clean? (Hint: Where does their water come from? What happens if they run out of water?)
- What is the difference among: meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids?
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Support for program number HST-ED-90285.01-A was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Copyright (c) 2007 Challenger Learning Center at Prairie Aviation Museum and Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana. Staff of Challenger Learning Centers and instructors of classes involved with Challenger Learning Center missions may reproduce this WebQuest guide for classroom and educational purposes. Otherwise this work may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. This page is based upon the WebQuest model. |