For teachers
Three programmes, every mission week bound to a mission that runs today. Print this, or open any week straight into the lesson.
8 weeks · One class, one grade · runs at Grade 7 · 7–9 hours of teaching time
From launcher to first contact.
Opens with the whole mission in one view, so later weeks have somewhere to belong. No comparison yet — reading evidence comes first.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the weakest link
Can you trust what the spacecraft tells you?
Introduces the idea the rest of the course depends on: what is true, what was measured, and what the spacecraft concluded are three different things.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the wrong clock
Point it where you want it.
First controlled comparison of an action rather than a reading. Follows the sensing week so learners already separate doing from knowing.
Home follow-up: Home mission: stopping on a line
Stop the tumble.
Extends control to the case where the target is zero motion, and shows a setting that makes things worse before better.
Point the spacecraft. Change the power.
Turns from what the spacecraft does to what it costs. Pointing is already familiar, so attention is free for the energy argument.
Home follow-up: Home mission: find the angle
Survive the dark side.
Power under the hardest condition: no sunlight at all. Builds directly on the previous week's energy reasoning.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the energy budget
Find the pass. Plan the contact.
Moves outward to where the spacecraft is and who can reach it, and re-states the truth line that anchors the whole course.
Home follow-up: Home mission: three honest steps
Find out what went wrong.
Closes by diagnosing a mission that failed, which requires every idea from the previous seven weeks at once.
A sustained mission strand that sits alongside the existing science scheme.
12 weeks · One class, Grades 9-10 and above · runs at Grades 9–10 · 11–14 hours of teaching time
From launcher to first contact.
Opens with the whole mission in one view, so later weeks have somewhere to belong. No comparison yet — reading evidence comes first.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the weakest link
Can you trust what the spacecraft tells you?
Introduces the idea the rest of the course depends on: what is true, what was measured, and what the spacecraft concluded are three different things.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the wrong clock
Point it where you want it.
First controlled comparison of an action rather than a reading. Follows the sensing week so learners already separate doing from knowing.
Home follow-up: Home mission: stopping on a line
Stop the tumble.
Extends control to the case where the target is zero motion, and shows a setting that makes things worse before better.
Point the spacecraft. Change the power.
Turns from what the spacecraft does to what it costs. Pointing is already familiar, so attention is free for the energy argument.
Home follow-up: Home mission: find the angle
Survive the dark side.
Power under the hardest condition: no sunlight at all. Builds directly on the previous week's energy reasoning.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the energy budget
Find the pass. Plan the contact.
Moves outward to where the spacecraft is and who can reach it, and re-states the truth line that anchors the whole course.
Home follow-up: Home mission: three honest steps
Working hard gets hot.
Second thermal mission, driven by the spacecraft's own workload rather than by darkness. Pairs with week 6 as a contrast.
Home follow-up: Home mission: nowhere to put the heat
Take the picture. Get it home.
Introduces the payload and the constraint that decides its value: what reaches the ground, not what was captured.
Home follow-up: Home mission: what fits
Make the budgets close.
First mission requiring several budgets to hold at once. Not disclosed below Grades 9-10, which is why it sits in this programme only.
Home follow-up: Home mission: four constraints at once
Find out what went wrong.
Diagnosis, now with enough subsystem knowledge to locate the cause rather than guess at it.
Did you watch it long enough?
Ends on verification: whether the evidence gathered all term was ever enough to support what was concluded from it.
A vertical STEM pathway using one spacecraft model, ending on verification.
16 weeks · One cohort, Grades 11-12 and above · runs at Grades 11–12 · 15–19 hours of teaching time
Consolidation week — no new mission is run.
A semester cohort arrives expecting a spacecraft course. Establishing the truth line — simulated, estimated, measured — before any mission runs means every later week can lean on it instead of re-arguing it.
From launcher to first contact.
Opens with the whole mission in one view, so later weeks have somewhere to belong. A chain of steps, not a score.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the weakest link
Can you trust what the spacecraft tells you?
What is true, what was measured, and what the spacecraft concluded are three different things. Everything after this depends on holding them apart.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the wrong clock
Point it where you want it.
First controlled comparison of an action rather than a reading, and the first cost attached to an improvement.
Home follow-up: Home mission: stopping on a line
Stop the tumble.
Extends control to the case where the target is zero motion, and shows a setting that never settles at all.
Point the spacecraft. Change the power.
Turns from what the spacecraft does to what it costs. Pointing is already familiar, so attention is free for the energy argument.
Home follow-up: Home mission: find the angle
Survive the dark side.
Power under the hardest condition: no sunlight at all. Builds directly on the previous week's energy reasoning.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the energy budget
Working hard gets hot.
The same thermal runtime driven by workload rather than darkness. Pairs with week 7 as a contrast in cause.
Home follow-up: Home mission: nowhere to put the heat
Consolidation week — no new mission is run.
Half a semester of runs produces enough evidence to audit. Learners revisit their own conclusions and mark which were supported, which were assumed, and which they would now bound differently — the habit mlx-14 formalises in week 15.
Revisits: Truth and measurement, Sunlight to energy, Power through the shadow, Surviving the environment
Find the pass. Plan the contact.
Moves outward to where the spacecraft is and who can reach it, and re-states the truth line the orientation week opened with.
Home follow-up: Home mission: three honest steps
Take the picture. Get it home.
Introduces the payload and the constraint that decides its value: what reaches the ground, not what was captured. Needs the contact window from week 10.
Home follow-up: Home mission: what fits
Make the budgets close.
First mission requiring several budgets to hold at once, which is only tractable once power and payload are both familiar.
Home follow-up: Home mission: four constraints at once
Find out what went wrong.
Diagnosis, with enough subsystem knowledge to locate the cause rather than guess at it.
Write the rule before you need it.
Turns last week's diagnosis into a rule written in advance. Not disclosed below Grades 11-12, which is why this is the only scheme that reaches it.
Home follow-up: Home mission: the rule you already follow
Did you watch it long enough?
Whether the evidence gathered all semester was ever enough to support what was concluded from it.
Consolidation week — no new mission is run.
Each team states a single engineering claim about the spacecraft, cites the runs supporting it, and writes the bound it will not exceed. No new evidence is produced; the week is assessed on the honesty of the bound.
Revisits: Configuring the spacecraft, Diagnosing the mission, Proving it against evidence
The complete mission catalogue over one semester, ending on a bounded engineering claim.