Science Trail

Spectacular SpaceThis pack has been designed for teachers and adult group leaders to use while guiding groups around the Museum. Explore the topic of Earth and Space and uncover the science and stories behind some of our amazing objects.

Tips for using this pack1. Use each page as your guide to help your students engage

with an object – challenge them to find the object in its particular gallery and then take the lead on facilitating the activities.

2. You can use the pack as a trail, or dip in and out to fit around your schedule for the day. We recommend allowing at least 15mins for each object.

3. The activities work best with smaller groups, each lead by an adult. Give a pack to each adult in your group, the activities are easy to facilitate and don’t require any pre-planning or prior knowledge.

4. The activities can be done in any order, so explore at your own pace.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License

The Apollo 10 mission was the practice run for the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. The command module is where the three astronauts lived during the eight-day mission.

It was never planned for the astronauts to land on the Moon on this mission – if they had tried, they wouldn’t have had enough fuel to get back to the command module and travel back home!

Have a look at the command module. The three astronauts lived in here for about a week. What do you think it would have been like? Could you have done it?

Apollo 10 Command Module Making the Modern World, Ground Floor

Take a pen and a sheet of paper from your bag. Drop them at the same time from the same height. Which hits the ground first? A similar experiment was done on the Moon and the two objects hit the ground at the same time. Why do you think this happened? Gravity pulls both objects to the ground. Air resistance slows the fall of the paper more than the pen. But on the Moon there is no air. Astronaut David Scott carried out this experiment on the Moon, with a feather and a hammer, during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. Both objects reached the ground at the same time.

Investigate the command module closely – can you spot any evidence that it actually went into space? The underside is burnt and charred where it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.

Photo Credit: NASA

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Black Arrow was Britain’s only satellite launcher. It delivered its satellite into orbit in 1971.

The Black Arrow R4 on display is a genuine rocket. With the addition of a few parts and some fuel it could be launched into space!

What do you think the different sections of the rocket are for? Call out the names of each section and see if your group can stand under the correct part. a) First stage – fuel storage + eight engines c) Third stage – fuel storage + one engineb) Second stage – fuel storage + two engines d) Prospero satellite

Black Arrow Exploring Space, Ground Floor

Once the fuel storage sections of rockets such as Black Arrow are empty they are dumped in space, along with other space junk such as old satellites and space exploration equipment. Have a look around the gallery. Some of the objects are replicas because the real thing is still in space. How many can you find? The Apollo 11 lunar module, Beagle 2 and the Huygens Titan Lander are all full-size replicas. There are many other models in the gallery, but they are built to be smaller than the real thing.

What are satellites used for? Can you name 5 different things? Examples: TV, telephone, GPS navigation, weather and climate monitoring, studying space, observing natural phenomena, military communications, Earth observations.

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ExploringSpaceMaking the

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GroupEntrance / Exit

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ExitDeep Blue Diner

Wellcome Wing

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4 Apollo 10 Command Module

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Tomorrow's World

Built by a team of British scientists, Beagle 2 was a landing craft designed to search for signs of life on Mars.

After being lost in space for a long time, scientists have now discovered that Beagle 2 did make it to Mars. Sadly it hasn’t been able to send information back to Earth.

What could the discovery of life on Mars mean for humans? How would you feel about living on Mars in the future?

Beagle 2 Exploring Space, Ground Floor

What might you take with you on a manned mission to Mars? In small groups, give yourselves two minutes to decide on the five most important things. Then come together at the end and see if you can all work as one big group to decide on a list of five for the whole class, thinking about why each item is important.

Have a look at Beagle 2. What do you think the four shiny circular panels are for? Solar panels to charge the batteries and power the equipment.

Photo Credit: All rights reserved Beagle 2 (Beagle2.com)

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GroupEntrance / Exit

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4 Apollo 10 Command Module

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Tomorrow's World

The J2 engine was used on NASA’s Apollo missions to the Moon and ran on liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

Five of these engines were used to power the second stage of the Saturn V rockets which took the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. Each Saturn V was about the same height as the Big Ben clock tower at Westminster.

The Saturn V was built to carry a lot of fuel, as the J2 engines burned about 900 kg (the mass of a family car) every second. Hydrogen is burned to release energy, but why do you think oxygen is in the fuel tanks as well? Think about the conditions of space and the elements of the fire triangle. For anything to burn all the elements of the fire triangle need to be present – fuel, oxygen and heat. Oxygen is not present in space, so it has to be carried in the fuel tanks of the rocket.

J2 Engine Exploring Space, Ground Floor

Do you think space exploration has changed your life? Where else do you think we should explore?

Have a look at the J2 engine. Five of these helped to launch each Saturn V rocket. These rockets were huge. In fact they had a circumference of about 33 metres – that’s about the same as 24 children holding hands in a circle. Give it a try!

Photo Credit: NASA

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GroupEntrance / Exit

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ExitDeep Blue Diner

Wellcome Wing

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4 Apollo 10 Command Module

5 V2Helen Sharman’s Space Suit

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Tomorrow's World

Helen Sharman was the first Briton to travel into space. She was selected for the trip after responding to an advert she heard on her car radio. It said, ‘Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary.’

Look at the spacesuit and imagine you are wearing it. What do you think it would feel like? What might have been different about Helen’s daily life when she was in space, compared with life on Earth? Is it heavy, light, warm, cold, stiff, comfortable...? How would you go to the toilet?

Helen Sharman’s Space SuitExploring Space, Ground Floor

Investigate Helen’s spacesuit. Why do you think she had to wear it? How many features of the suit can you spot that would have helped her to survive in space? • Temperature can vary a lot in space. The liquid cooling garment can keep her temperature low enough, but the suit is

also insulated to keep her warm. • The suit can be connected to the spacecraft for oxygen supply and also to remove carbon dioxide. • The suit maintains a stable pressure – there’s a pressure gauge on the sleeve and a blue pressure valve on her chest. • Emergency oxygen can be supplied through the helmet if the spacecraft cabin loses pressure.

Helen made it to the Mir space station and back, but how far away are the stars? Scientists can use a phenomenon called ‘parallax’ to figure this out. Try it with your group. Hold up your finger and look at it first with your left eye closed, then with your right eye closed. Do you notice how your finger appears to move?Parallax is the phenomenon where the position of an object appears to change when you observe it from different positions. By observing a nearby star from different points during Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the apparent change in position of the star can be used to estimate its distance from Earth.

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1 Beagle 2 2 Black Arrow3 J2

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EnergyCafé

ExploringSpaceMaking the

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IMAX Theatre

EnergyHall

James Wattand Our World

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Discovery Motion Theatre

GroupEntrance / Exit

Entrance

ExitDeep Blue Diner

Wellcome Wing

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4 Apollo 10 Command Module

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Tomorrow's World

The V2 rocket was developed by German engineers during the Second World War. It was the first man-made object to travel faster than the speed of sound. More than a thousand of these hit Britain during the war, and many people died as a consequence.

The rocket technology used in the V2 eventually led to the development of the first rockets that took people into space.

The V2 rocket killed many people during the Second World War, but it also led to humans setting foot on the Moon. Would you still invent new technology if you knew how it could affect people, in good ways or bad ways?

V2 RocketMaking the Modern World, Ground Floor

Find something else in the Making the Modern World gallery that you think represents: a) Something helpful to mankindb) Something dangerous

The V2 is so tall that it doesn’t fit properly in this gallery – look around and see if you can find what had to be removed. How many of you do you think would have to stand on each other’s shoulders to reach the top?The nose cone had to be removed. It now sits right behind the V2. The rocket’s height is 14 metres – equivalent to about 12 children standing on each other’s shoulders (with an average shoulder height of 1.2 metres at age ten).

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1 Beagle 2 2 Black Arrow3 J2

Exhi

bitio

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ad

The Model Walkway

TheTheatre

Shop

EnergyCafé

ExploringSpaceMaking the

Modern World

IMAX Theatre

EnergyHall

James Wattand Our World

Foucault’sPendulum

Discovery Motion Theatre

GroupEntrance / Exit

Entrance

ExitDeep Blue Diner

Wellcome Wing

6

4 Apollo 10 Command Module

5 V2Helen Sharman’s Space Suit

6

Tomorrow's World