Fifth graders prep for Mars Link-Up Day

  • Published
  • By Steve Burke
  • Air Force Research Laboratory
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  On May 8, about 1,000 fifth-grade students from more than 30 schools will build habitats and link them together to form colony neighborhoods as they take part in a massive group project at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

The event is the annual Air Force Research Laboratory La Luz Academy Mission to Mars Link-Up Day, which has been going on for more than two decades.

As part of the event, students will simulate building habitats for scientists to live and work on the red planet. During the Mars Manufacturing Components and Capabilities Mission, they will use 3-D printing tools and materials that could be found on Mars to manufacture, cut and assemble useful objects and components, such as gears, greenhouses, habitats and even using the 3-D printers to print additional 3-D printers.

Teams of five to seven students have worked for weeks in their classrooms to prepare for the mission. They have designed uniforms and mission patches; planned and packed nutritious, minimal-weight and space-saving lunches; studied what we know about Mars and designed life support systems based on that information; written and rehearsed a saga song and dance routine about their journey to Mars; communicated with teams at other schools; and measured and cut the pieces that will form their plastic habitat.

On May 8, groups of three teams will come together and construct Martian habitats using nothing but grey tape, 6-mil plastic, and ordinary box fans.

After all the habitats are constructed and inflated, students will gather inside the habitats for lunch.

Students will also connect their habitats using a series of tunnels, so the teams can access neighboring habitat teams and share life support systems, mission patches, and more, all while eating their specially-prepared astronaut lunches.

After lunch, the habitats will be fully linked when the remaining connecting tunnels are opened.

Organizations including the European Space Agency, Inspiration Mars, Mars Foundation, Mars One, Mars Society, NASA and SpaceX are working to make real-life, manned trips to Mars.

Those projects are expected to take about 20 years to plan and execute. When the first mission gets off the ground, however, the students who participated in Mission to Mars and Link-Up Day will be well-prepared to go.