Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

45 minutes

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Space craft landing

Aims

In this session, students become Mars Curiosity Rover engineers designing, building and testing basic landing systems with household
materials to ensure a safe landing!
A Fact File with background information on the Mars Rover and
spacecraft landing systems is included, providing context and
information to help you answer students questions.

Key learning
outcomes

By the end of the activity students will:

Learn about various mechanisms of shock absorption and
reducing impact, in the context of the Mars Rover
Practice and recognise the steps of the engineering design
process used to create a landing system
Work in teams to successfully complete an engineering
challenge

PowerPoint presentation

Resources

Student worksheet (copy for each student)

Tablet/laptop/computer to access YouTube
Projector/interactive whiteboard
Newspaper to protect the drop zone
Each group of 4 students will need:
A small paper bag

Sellotape

A plastic carrier bag

Blu-Tack

3 balloons
2 paper clips

Small wooden ball or weight

for testing

2 metres of string

1 raw egg

Scrap paper and card

Resealable bag to hold weight

and egg during testing

Scissors

Prepare the egg drop zone ahead of the session and source any
other materials available that students could use to make their
landing systems.
siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

45 minutes

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Space craft landing

Before running a workshop

Read through this overview and familiarise yourself with the content and supporting resources.
Weve included a Fact File at the end of this guide to walk you through any key concepts or theory you need
to know.

Are you a Siemens volunteer?

There are plenty of volunteer resources to support you in preparation for your workshop. Start with the
Volunteer Guide available through the Curiosity Project website.
Get in touch with the teacher beforehand to discuss resources you need (equipment, print outs, access to
internet, facilities etc.) or questions you may have - theyll be happy to help.

Workshop overview
Activity steps

Time needed

You will

Students will

Starter
discussion

15 minutes

Start a discussion to introduce

various ways of reducing
impact and shock absorption,
linking to everyday application
and the Mars Rover soft
landing system, via a YouTube
video.

Discuss what they

already know about
impact reduction
systems, learn about
Siemens work on the
Mars Rover landing
system and the
challenges faced by its
engineers.

Activity

25 minutes

Challenge students to build a

soft landing system for an egg,
supporting them through the
engineer design process.

Work in teams to
complete an engineering
challenge using
the design process,
recording their learning
on worksheets.

Plenary and
reflection

5 minutes

Link the activities to the

engineering design process,
support students as they
consider what theyve learnt and
answer any remaining questions
they have about the workshop.

Reflect on the design

process, identify areas that
have been covered and
discover further resources
that might inspire them.

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

45 minutes

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Space craft landing

On
the day
On the day
Starter discussion
15 minutes

Have the second slide showing as students enter the room.

.ppt

.ppt

Slide 2

Slide 3

If youre a Siemens volunteer take a couple of minutes to introduce

yourself, what you do, and why youre here on behalf of Siemens
and the Curiosity Project.
Start with a couple of interesting facts about you/your career:
I received Cs in my GCSEs, but took a more practical education
route and now Im part of a highly skilled team that installs wind
turbines across the UK.
Ive just come back from talking at a conference in the Middle East and
my team developed a way to test the hearing of new born babies.

Learning outcomes
.ppt

Slide 4

Set the learning outcomes for the session.

What do these images have in common?

.ppt

Slide 5

Invite students to suggest what these images have in common.

Encourage them to think through other situations where you might
need to reduce impact.
Ask students:
Is there movement happening in each one?
In what scenarios do we need to think about reducing impact on
objects or people?
Tip: You could discuss crumple zones and air bags in cars, foam and air pockets
in shoes and knee pads (which absorb energy on impact), parachutes (which
reduce speed), bending knees when you land (an example of suspension), etc.

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

45 minutes

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Space craft landing

Mars Rover landing

.ppt

Slide 6

Play the video (youtube.com/watch?v=N9hXqzkH7YA) and ask

students to think about the different ways engineers could have
designed a soft landing system.
Ask students to give examples of soft landing systems they saw in
the video, or to share examples of landing systems theyve thought
of themselves.
What kind of challenges do they think engineers faced when
designing the landing system?
Why was it important for engineers to test the landing systems?

Activity
25 minutes

Design a landing craft

.ppt

Slide 7

Ask the teacher to help you hand out the worksheets.

Explain that working in groups of 4, they need to design and make a
system that will allow them to drop a raw egg on to the floor, from
desk height, without cracking it.
Invite teams to use the materials provided in any way they choose,
or source materials in the classroom with permission.
The landing system can be attached directly to the resealable bag,
which can hold the dummy weight for trialling their prototypes, and
the egg for testing.
If placing padding etc. on the floor, the height must be adjusted so
the egg still travels the full desk height.
Suggest teams use a dummy weight in the resealable bag to test their
systems, as the egg will only be used at the very end of the session.
Ask students to complete their worksheets as they go to ensure they
have a record of prototypes.
Set the timer for 15 minutes and wander around the class, guiding
students with questions such as:
Why have you decided to build it using these materials/this
design?
What do you think is good about your design?
How do you think you might improve it?

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

45 minutes

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Space craft landing

After 15 minutes, gather students around the drop zone (over newspaper
as this can get messy if landers or resealable bags malfunction!) and test
each lander using an egg.
Tip: If groups are struggling, suggest they think about the different examples
listed to reduce impact earlier in the session. Can they borrow any ideas from
the design of a helmet or a sky-divers parachute?

Plenary and reflection

5 minutes

Safe landing
.ppt

Slide 8

Carry out a classroom vote for the best system.

Ask students:
What is it about the winning designs that make them successful?
Would any of the ideas work on a real space probe? For example,
engineers need to consider whether there is an atmosphere on
the planet because parachutes dont work without an atmosphere
to produce drag.
What would they do differently next time?

Engineering design process

.ppt

Slide 9

Explain to students that in the process of improving their landing

systems, they practised the steps of the engineering design process.
This is a process used by engineers to solve real problems and find
solutions that make peoples lives better.
Ask students:
Did they know this is what engineers do?
How might space exploration makes peoples lives better?
Did they enjoy going through the process? Why?

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

45 minutes

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Space craft landing

Failing to succeed
.ppt

Slide 10

Remind students that even if their designs didnt work, an important

part of an engineers work is to make it, break it, learn from it, and
try again!
The design process is fantastic for learning from your mistakes, and
constantly improving.
Top engineers arent afraid to fail making mistakes is one of the
best ways to learn (for more information see Fact File).

Follow on activity

.ppt

Slide 11

If students are interested in learning more about the engineering

and software that went into the design of the Mars Rover and
maybe even see it in person - they can visit the Curiosity Project
website to find out more.
Theres also plenty of relevant careers information on
siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project/youngpeople and Siemens websites.

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

Careers and education resources

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Careers
Careers in engineering:
siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project/youngpeople
Apprenticeships:
siemens.co.uk/careers/en/students/apprenticeships.htm
Graduates:
siemens.co.uk/careers/en/graduate/graduate.htm
Internships:
siemens.co.uk/careers/en/students/internships/internships.htm
Careers at Siemens Global:
siemens.com/jobs/en/index.php

Education resources
Key Stages 3/4
Green Racers:
siemens.co.uk/education/en/teachers/teaching-resources/schemes-of-work-ks4.htm
Inspired Bus Company:
siemens.co.uk/education/en/teachers/teaching-resources/schemes-of-work-ks4.htm
Roller-Coaster Challenge:
siemens.co.uk/education/en/activities-challenges.htm

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project

Curious about the

digital world?

Curious about using

and creating
energy?

Bringing Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics to life

Curious about
keeping people
healthy?

Curious about
making things?

The Curiosity
Project

Curious about being

on the move?

Fact File: Landing spacecraft

Curious about using

Space
craft
and
creating
landing
energy?

Landing spacecraft
The exploration probe Huygens landed on Saturns moon, Titan in 2005. Several probes have successfully
landed on Mars, including the robotic space probe Curiosity in 2012. Siemens software played a key role
in helping the Rover land safely. Exploratory probes studied the climate and geology, sending information
about the soil, atmosphere and presence of chemicals such as water back to Earth.
It is crucial that the space probes are not damaged on landing, as they contain delicate scientific equipment.
Space probes experience a shock as they enter the upper atmosphere of planets such as Mars at high
speed. So rockets were fired and a parachute opened to slow the descent.
Slowing is important to reduce friction with the atmosphere, which heats up the probe. Shortly before
landing, a set of can airbags inflate to absorb impact. This landing design allows the spacecraft to bounce
on the planets surface before coming to rest.

Beagle 2 spacecraft fail

This is a story of a sighting of the Beagle
2 spacecraft, which successfully landed
on the surface of Mars in 2003 but failed
to fully deploy its solar panels. Without
these, it could not communicate with Earth
and scientists lost contact (theguardian.
com/science/2015/jan/16/lost-beagle-2spacecraft-found-mars)

siemens.co.uk/curiosity-project