DMNS : Space Odyssey Online Teacher's Guide

Space Exploration

Exhibits

Map and Overview (PDF: 900kb)
Download and print an overview and map of the entire exhibition experience.

Candor Chasma Base Station in Space Odyssey
Step up to the window and look out on Mars. You’ll get an up-close view of Candor Chasma, with 15,000-foot cliffs looming in the distance under a greenish yellow sky. At any moment an astronaut may enter the scene, carrying out research while you ask questions via walkie-talkie.

Carving Landscapes
Did Mars once have liquid water on its surface? You be the judge. Use water to carve landforms in simulated Martian soil, then see if you can find similar patterns in photos of Mars.

Experiment Bar
Become a space scientist by performing experiments to learn about Mars. Analyze rocks with a video microscope, hunt for water using radar, and search for signs of life.

Exploring Light
Enter the light with filters and prisms to investigate spectra. Then discover how scientists use spectra to measure distant objects such as stars and galaxies.

High-Altitude Probe
Your mission: Search for and analyze key features in the terrain on Mars. Your spacecraft: A digital probe that you pilot over actual images of Mars while photographing the planet’s craters, dunes, and channels. Once you’ve collected the data, report back to Mission Control with your results.

Infrared Experiments
Seeing is believing, and these experiments will allow you to “see” light outside the visible spectrum. Experience how different surfaces reflect and absorb heat and how scientists use these principles to learn about distant objects in space.

Life of a Star
Red dwarf, planetary nebula, black hole—which will it be? Build your own star and find out. Compare your creation to real pictures of similar stars while you watch it cycle from birth to death.

Mission Board
Get on board with the latest space missions. Watch as astronauts work in space. Monitor the progress of ongoing missions.

Museum Galaxy Guides
Museum Galaxy Guides are your hosts to the universe, bringing the human touch to space. Join them as they demonstrate zero gravity, broadcast the most current space news, share folktales about the night sky, read your astronomical “fortune,” and much more!

Orbits Explorer
Orbits are the highways of our solar system. Planets, moons, asteroids, and spacecraft encircle other objects, maintaining their orbital paths due to gravity. Create your own solar system or flight path, and learn how what goes around, comes around.

Robotic Rover
The objective is set: Maneuver a robotic rover across rocky Martian terrain to achieve its targets. Can you complete the mission? Find out while you learn about the important role robots play in space exploration.

Shuttle Docking
Docking a space shuttle to the International Space Station requires understanding momentum and inertia in the frictionless environment of space. Learn a few things as you take the controls of a model shuttle and steer it toward its destination.

Space Screen
A giant, high-resolution screen will take you into space with images from the Hubble Space Telescope, robotic orbitors and landers, and astronomy observatories. The Space Screen will also bring you major space events broadcast live from NASA.

Science Shows

These programs are offered on a flexible schedule and may not be available during your visit.

Astronaut on the Surface of Mars
Talk to an astronaut as he or she explores the Martian surface. Space-suited performers bring the Candor Chasma diorama to life several times a day.

Doppler Effect
Learn about the Doppler effect and how astronomers use it to understand the motion of celestial objects.

Gas Tube Spectroscopy
A Museum Galaxy Guide will teach you about spectra and why they help us better understand space.

Living in Space Objects Cart
Try on space gloves and inspect other astronaut tools from our Living in Space cart.

Living in Space Play
What is it like to live and work in space? Two astronauts welcome you to their space station laboratory so you can find out firsthand. After the show, you’ll get to try on space gloves and inspect other astronaut tools.

Space Today
It’s time for the nightly news, and we mean nightly news! Join the studio audience as a live anchorperson gives you the latest account of events in space science and astronomy.

Storytelling

International Space Station
In this book you will explore the International Space Station, its purpose, and history as it orbits around the Earth. Find out what life would be like living in space!
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
Discover how Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World.
Grandpa Takes Me to the Moon
Based on a tale told by James Irwin, an Apollo 15 astronaut, this story describes one astronaut’s adventures on the Moon.

Zero G
Find out what being "weightless" in space and "vomit comet" really mean.

Planetarium Shows

To get information on current Planetarium shows, please visit the Planetarium page in our School Groups section.

Pre/Post Activities

Previsit Activities
Space Explorers Trading Cards (PDF: 1MB)
Space Exploration Time Line (PDF: 600kb)

Postvisit Activities
Build a Space Station (PDF: 800kb)
Space Exploration Tic-Tac-Toe (PDF: 900kb)

Requires the free PDF viewer to read.

Programs at Your School

Current Events in Space
Grades 3-9
Science 1,3-6

Choose one of two module investigations in space science: Meteors: Fireballs in the Sky and Missions and Stations
Distinguish a meteorite from a "meteor wrong."
Receive your mission update on recent space travel and exploration.

Exploring Mars Class
Grades 3–9
Science 4

Travel to Mars through past, present, and future missions.
Explore the unique geology and weather of the Red Planet.
Build and create a Mars rover through open-ended discovery.

Mission: Microgravity Assembly
Grades 4–8
Science 2,4

Observe an astronaut “trainee” in a simulated, frictionless environment.
Sign up for training and learn what it takes to be an astronaut.
Witness the extremes of temperature and pressure that exist in space.

The Right Stuff: After School Science
Grades 2–8
Science 1,2,3,5

Blast into the history of rocketry.
Learn the basic principles behind flight and motion.
Create and launch your own rocket to see if you’re made of the right stuff.

Science Background Information

Space Exploration (PDF: 540kb)

Requires the free PDF viewer to read.