Discovery Education and Lockheed Martin are challenging middle school students to design the habitation module on the Orion spacecraft. The best video entries will win amazing prizes!

The Challenge: Middle school students are encouraged to stretch their imagination and skills to show how they would design a habitation module that will dock with NASA’s Orion spacecraft to one day carry astronauts to Mars. Orion is NASA’s first spacecraft designed for long-duration, human-rated deep space exploration. Orion will work in tandem with a habitat module and other future technologies to give astronauts extra space to live, work and store supplies. Orion’s advanced systems for deep-space navigation, life support and communications will keep the crew safe, healthy and productive on 1,000-day missions. The habitat will complement Orion, housing the supplies, research labs, and living space that would be needed to sustain a crew on a multi-year journey to Mars and back.

The Mission: Middle school students (Individual and Teams up to 4) will present their Mars Mission habitation module through a one- to two-minute video, which must include a visual representation of the habitation module.

Mission Support: To prepare for the mission, students can find Challenge Checkpoints at www.generationbeyondinschool.com/challenge. The Challenge Checkpoints share information and points to consider about the design of a Mars Mission habitation module. Launch the Challenge Checkpoints to understand key considerations before beginning the design process.

Rules for Entry: It’s important to review all the rules, but here are a couple to be aware of.

  • Your entry video must be longer than 60 seconds, but no longer than 120 seconds.
  • YouTube links with the video’s privacy settings set to “Unlisted” must be added to entry by 8 p.m. ET on December 15, 2016 to be considered.
  • Entry videos must not contain any music of any kind.
  • Entries are accepted from individual students and from team of 4 or less students. Only one entry per person (Team Leader or Individual) are allowed.

Judging: A panel of qualified judges from Discovery Education, Lockheed Martin and its partner organizations, educators and science professionals will then score qualifying videos using the following judging criteria:

  • Scientific knowledge (30%)
  • Creativity of habitation module (ingenuity and innovative thinking) (30%)
  • Effective communication (20%)
  • Overall presentation (20%)

Prizes: The Generation Beyond Student Video Challenge has some exciting prizes for winning “space case” video entries.

  • Individual and Team Grand Prizes will be awarded $10,000 and travel to a unique space experience (cash prize split between team members)
  • Individual and Team Second Place will be awarded $5,000 (cash prize split between team members)
  • Individual and Team Third Place will be awarded $2,500 (cash prize split between team members)
  • Four Individual and Team Regional Prizes (one from each Region): a certificate of achievement and letter from Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson.
About Generation Beyond

Generation Beyond is a first-of-its-kind, national education program designed to inspire the next generation of innovators, explorers, inventors, and pioneers to pursue STEM careers. Educators can utilize the free Generation Beyond supplemental STEM curriculum and resources designed for middle school students to bring math, science, and engineering to life. Generation Beyond combines the real-world know-how of Lockheed Martin with the innovative and engaging learning techniques of Discovery Education to train the next generation of deep space pioneers! The new STEM education program will offer several interactive tools to engage and inspire students and educators:

Online Curriculum: The core element is an online curriculum for middle school teachers and students, including lesson plans for teachers, a virtual field trip and activities students can bring home to share with their families. The deep space curriculum will be shared freely with thousands of middle schools across the country, reaching hundreds of thousands of American students.

Lockheed Martin Mars Experience Bus: In addition to the curriculum, Generation Beyond includes a real-life Mars Experience Bus that will travel the country providing student riders with an interactive experience simulating a drive along the red planet’s surface. The Lockheed Martin Mars Experience Bus is the first immersive virtual reality vehicle ever built and replicates 200 square miles of the Martian surface. The Mars Experience was built with the same software used in today’s most advanced video games. Watch the video below to learn more:

Hello Mars App: Lastly, Lockheed Martin has launched a Hello Mars smartphone app, allowing students to find Mars in the sky, travel there virtually and receive real-time Mars weather reports. Visit the www.lockheedmartin.com/generationbeyond for online tools and fun.

About Discovery Education

Discovery Education offers a breadth and depth of digital media content that is immersive, engaging and brings the world into the classroom to give every student a chance to experience fascinating people, places, and events. All content is aligned to state standards, can be aligned to custom curriculum, and supports classroom instruction regardless of the technology platform. GPB provides all Georgia teachers and students with free accounts to Discovery Education's Streaming Plus. 

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.