Exploring Mars: Spirit and Opportunity

Identify and explain the goal of the Mars exploration rover mission and why it was important.

Explain how Steve’s proposals for missions were different from previous missions to Mars and what problem he was trying to solve. 

Explain why it took three years for Steve’s team to create the rovers and describe the steps the team took to ensure the rover was ready for a trip to Mars. 

Explain the importance of each stage of the engineering design process and how NASA engineers used the process to prepare for Mars. 

Explain what the team did to prepare Spirit for the trip and why they were worried.

Explain the steps necessary for Spirit’s landing and why each step was important. 

Use details from the video and sidebars to revise and add additional information about the steps necessary for Spirit’s landing and operation.

Develop and design an Entry, Descent, & Landing system for a rover using the engineering and design process.

Describe where Opportunity landed, what Opportunity found, and how the team responded to Opportunity’s findings. 

Analyze the strategies Elizabeth Rusch uses to make science feel like an adventure. 

Describe the different accomplishments made by Spirit and Opportunity and what made the accomplishments possible. 

Use details from the articles and sidebars to revise and add additional information about the steps necessary for Spirit’s landing and operation. 

Develop and design an Entry, Descent, & Landing system for a rover using the engineering and design process. 

Explain what evidence the author includes to support the idea that math is a critical component of space exploration and engineering.

Explain what initial discovery Opportunity makes inside Endurance Crater and the tools and techniques scientists used. 

Debate and analyze unit essential questions.

Write a multiple-paragraph essay to answer a unit essential question.

Write a narrative from the perspective of one of the Mars rovers about what it was like to land on Mars using descriptive details from throughout the unit.

Analyze the importance of the sun for Spirit’s survival and the steps scientists take to ensure Spirit has access to the sun.

Summarize “Mars Rovers Advance Understanding of the Red Planet”.

Summarize what happened with Opportunity on its way to Victoria Crater and the steps the team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) took to remedy the situation, by explaining the relationship between two or more scientific and technical ideas.

Use details from the articles to revise and add additional information about the challenges Opportunity faced when approaching Victoria Crater.

Compare and contrast the points of view from which the Mighty Mars Rovers and the press releases are written, by analyzing multiple accounts of the same topic. 

Analyze the strategies Elizabeth Rusch uses to make science feel like an adventure, by explaining how authors use word choice, language, and point of view to support particular points in a text. 

Summarize what Spirit found and how the team responded, by integrating information from several texts on the same topic.

Summarize what happened to Opportunity and how the team responded, by integrating information from several texts on the same topic. 

Compare and contrast how text structure and point of view influence the mood of a text.

Analyze and explain the reasons and evidence the author includes to show that the rover’s mission was “more than accomplished.”

Debate and analyze unit essential questions.

Write a multiple-paragraph essay to answer a unit essential question.

Write an afterword for The Mighty Mars Rovers by writing an informative text to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Using the engineering and design process, develop and design a rover that can travel on Mars and can pick up samples.