PPT Slide
Explorer’s Mars Millennium Design
When Lockheed-Martin issued a design challenge for various teams to design a Mars Colony, our science teacher, Mrs.. Hoffner, asked 6th grader John to head the Explorer Team. John asked for help from the 5th graders, and when Jason, Jimmy and Beau answered his call, the Explorer Design Team was born. We met weekly, and during our many group discussions and project design times, we created drawings, models, and written descriptions of our Mars colony. Our community would include designers, engineers, scientists, mechanics, farmers, builders, pilots, 2 doctors (a surgeon and a pediatrician), and a head astronaut who would oversee the town meeting-style government. Members would be multi-talented to cover all the areas of expertise we would need.
We also designed a rover with Jason as the supervisor and graphic designer. The rover will be sent on the supply mission prior to the colony mission. The rover is preassembled on earth and self-contained in a module which will be released from the orbiter as it revolves around Mars. When this module is released, it will inflate cushions to protect the rover. The impact will allow the module to roll or hop to a location near the colony site. Once the motion stops, the module will protect the rover until the crew activates it for exploration or use during colonization.