To the moon and back Classroom becomes satellite control centre for national space agency Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By: Maggie Macintosh Posted: 7:14 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 Last Modified: 10:10 AM CDT Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 Updates

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This article was published 10/10/2024 (694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Stonewall teacher was over the moon when her students landed an opportunity to command lunar rovers from their public school classroom.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Maria Nickel, a Grade 7/8 science teacher and self-described “space nerd” whose lab is decorated with astronaut headshots and planet-themed paraphernalia.

“I like to show the kids that we’ve got a really good space program, we’ve got astronauts just like in the U.S. and that you can dream big.”

Room 142 at École Stonewall Centennial School was transformed into a satellite control centre for the national space agency on Thursday afternoon.

Teams of middle schoolers exchanged directives as they used software to guide separate remote rovers — each of which was moving in real-time at a 4,000-square-foot “moonyard” simulation site in Ottawa — to complete a competitive scavenger hunt.

“We’re moving forward at a good pace,” Grade 8 student Nolan Grantham told his teammates as they scanned the replica moon’s grey surface for craters, water and minerals.

The five boys took turns filling different roles during the 45-minute mission. Each was equipped with a laptop and directions on how to act as a driver, navigator, scientist, safety officer and pan-tilt-zoom operator.

Nolan, 13, later declared that navigation via mouse pad and arrow key was the most challenging task.

Thirteen-year-old Ty Mitchell echoed those comments, citing hazards and the built-in lag — roughly 1.25 seconds to mimic the reality for working aerospace professionals.

“Since there’s so much delay, you have to work together with the safety operator to try and not hit any rocks or rovers,” the Grade 8 student said.

On several occasions, the boys’ blue-coloured rover nearly collided with their classmates’ vehicles. The panic was brief as they figured out how to pause and redirect their machine.

“You can’t be mad at your teammate because every job is intertwined so I love the fact that they really have to engage that teamwork mindset, ‘We got this. We can do this and let’s try something different,’” their teacher said.

The hands-on lesson was organized by the Canadian Space Agency’s Rover Driving Academy.

Nickel applied to the program that’s run in partnership with Mission Control, a company that develops software for Canada’s lunar rover missions, after coming across a call-out on social media at the start of the school year.

The award-winning science teacher traces her passion for all things intergalactic to a childhood trip to see Star Wars: A New Hope.

She said she’s used intrigue with space and its interdisciplinary nature to engage students over the last 25 years.

What made Thursday’s activity particularly intriguing is that it’s a realistic simulation of an upcoming mission during which Canadian professionals will send a rover to the south side of the moon to find out whether it would be a good place to land astronauts and build a habitat, Nickel said.

In the lead up to it, students were assigned an art project to make mission patches that display the moon, their team name and at least one symbol representing the Seven Grandfathers Teachings, a set of Ojibwe guiding principles that includes wisdom, truth, humility, love, bravery, respect and honesty.

As she watched students zone in on their computers on Thursday, Nickel noted the disappearance of any behavioural issues. She said she felt incredibly proud of their teamwork skills and the resilience they displayed during troubleshooting.

“I’m really hoping that this exposure will give them that light bulb and spark to say, ‘Hey, this might be a really cool job for me,’” she said, adding she wanted her students to see STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in practice.

Rachel Hughson said she was scared of space before participating in a mock mission with her peers.

Taking part in the simulation, which featured many “cool craters,” has made it seem less intimidating, the 12-year-old said, adding she’s decided not to rule out becoming an astronaut.

A handful of Manitoba classes are scheduled to participate in Rover Driving Academy before 2025.

The national science program, which is tailored to students in Grades 6 to 9, just celebrated its one-year anniversary.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca