Space Exploration WebQuest
Name______________________________
Mission
This mission is designed for you to practice and challenge your space exploration knowledge.. Enjoy and good luck!
Task #1
Space investigation tools have come a loooong way! Skim (briefly read) the Space Tools book.
Supercool Space Tools
1) What were the patterns that people saw in the sky long ago?
2) What tool splits light into color and why is this useful?
3) Other than light, what else do telescopes use to investigate space?
4) What is a lander?
Task #2
The international space station orbits Earth every 92 minutes! Other satellites also rely on Earth's gravitational pull to keep them in orbit. Practice putting
cannonballs into orbit yourself!
Orbit Game
5) How many bags of gunpowder are needed and why do you need that amount (no more and no less)?
Task #3
Astronomers use telescopes to "see" objects in outer space. Refraction telescopes use lenses to "see" and reflection telescopes use mirrors to "see".
How Telescopes "See"
6) Which type of telescope – reflection or refraction - is better and why?
Task #5
One of the most famous telescopes is the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble orbits Earth every 96 minutes and is even more effective than its Earthly
counterparts because it is outside of Earth's atmosphere.
Watch Hubble Videos Here!
7) Watch the video “Where Can You #Spot Hubble and summarize what the video was about.
Watch the video “Hubble Explores the Final Frontier” and explain what the video was about.
Task #6
Visible light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Telescopes across the Electro Magnetic Spectrum
9) What are the five other types of radiation that telescopes can detect other than visible light?
Why do radio telescopes need to be large?
Which types of telescopes work best if they are located in Space and not here on Earth?
What is a unique problem / situation for Gamma Ray telescopes?
Task # 7
James Webb Space Telescope
10) What is the Webb telescope and what is so special about it?
11) What will the Webb telescope be looking at?
Task #8
Living in Space
12) List 3 ways that day to day life in space is different than life on Earth.
Task #9
Satellite Insight
Sometimes it is just easier to keep our feet on the ground and rely on satellites to send us information.
13) What is the GOES-R satellite?
14) What kinds of information is the GOES-R satellite going to collect?
Task #10
Link Up and Listen!
To have spacecrafts and satellites, there must be powerful antennas on Earth to receive the data that the spacecrafts transmit.
15) Briefly explain how the DSNs uplink with the many NASA spacecrafts that are out exploring the solar system.
16) Why do we need three DSN antennas?
Task #11
NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
17) Explain in your own words what the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office does.
18) But really, what are the odds that one of us will be hit with space junk? (Read the section titled “Reentry” to find out what these odds are.
Task #12
Debris In Motion
Watch the video Debris In Motion.
19) Describe clearly what the video shows after you have watched it all the way through. Where are the faster satellites and where are the slower
satellites?
20) What is a reason so many satellites go around the Equator?
21) What percent of the objects shown in this video are working satellites?
Task #13
NASA TV
Sit back, relax and watch a few minutes of NASA television.
21) What was the show about? List two things that you learned.
Task #14
Build a Satelite
Build two separate satellites. List the type of satellite, draw a picture of what the data might look like and summarize
what the data might reveal by reading carefully the text below the graph of your data
1st Satellite
Graph
2nd Satellite
Graph
Task #15
NASA Budget up to 1999
Take a look at NASA’s budget.
22) From what you can tell, overall, does the country and the average American really spend that much on the space program?
23) In what year did the United States give the most funding to NASA? Why did they give so much at this time?
24) How much more did the government give to education in 1999?
25) In your opinion, do you think that what NASA does is worth the cost? Why or why not?