Students split into scientific, technical, navigation, economic and mission control teams and plan a real-style mission to another body in the Solar System.
SmartExplorer turns a class into a space agency. Students form five teams - scientific, technical, navigation, economic and mission control - and each team works through three to six tasks of increasing difficulty, plus shared tasks that the whole class solves together.
The tasks follow how a real unmanned mission is prepared: choosing the target and the research question, selecting instruments, calculating trajectories and flight times, estimating costs and keeping the probe sterile. Students use simple calculators for Δv and flight time, spreadsheets, Python and simulators such as Universe Sandbox or Kerbal Space Program.
Each task is linked to the physics, geography, biology, chemistry, mathematics or computer science curriculum, and the guide for teachers shows which requirements it covers. The tasks are open-ended, so teachers and students can change and extend them.