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ScienceEngineeringMath

Mars Mission Control

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Grades 6-875-90 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teams run a simulated Mars habitat, juggling limited power, water, food, and communication delay while an unpredictable mission event forces them to adapt on the fly.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

  • Decision matrix templatePrintinguse what you have
  • printed Mars life-support fact sheetPrintinguse what you have
  • graph paperBorrow or school hasuse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Choose your version

Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Student time: 30 min, one class periodTeacher prep / build-ahead: 20 min$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.One table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or hand-copy the essential prompt for Mars Mission Control, then set out only paper, pencils, and the common or recycled items needed for one test. Use a tabletop representation whenever the original version mentions a room, specialized device, or digital tool; the learning comes from the decisions and evidence, not elaborate scenery.

Activity

  1. Review real Mars habitat data and predict which resource — power, water, food, or communication — will be hardest to keep stable over a simulated ten-day mission.
  2. Build a resource-tracking dashboard on poster board and allocate starting token supplies across each system for the crew.
  3. Draw mission-event cards each round that create shortages or equipment failures, forcing the team to trade resources and revise their allocation plan mid-mission.
  4. Present a mission debrief explaining which failure hit hardest and what backup plan saved the crew.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

Done when: The group has completed Mars Mission Control when it can present a mission debrief explaining which failure hit hardest and what backup plan saved the crew and point to the observation, measurement, comparison, or trial that supports its conclusion.

Materials

index cards, dice, poker chips or beans as resource tokens, timer, poster board, markers; Decision matrix template; printed Mars life-support fact sheet; graph paper

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Steps

  1. Review real Mars facts (weaker sunlight than Earth, dust storms, about 4 to 24 minutes signal delay, daily water, oxygen, and food needs per astronaut) and predict which resource will be hardest to keep stable over ten days.
  2. Write a mission criteria and constraints sheet: criteria such as no system below 20 percent for more than one day and crew healthy all ten days; constraints such as total starting tokens, solar output that drops in dust storms, and a delay on any message to Earth. Cite the science behind each limit and note impacts on crew health and the Martian site.
  3. Each team member designs a different resource plan (for example, solar heavy, battery heavy, water recycling heavy) and allocates starting tokens on a poster dashboard.
  4. Run every plan through the same deck of mission event cards in the same order, recording each system's level per round in a data table.
  5. Graph each plan's lowest levels and count how many rounds any system dropped below the safe line.
  6. Score all plans in a decision matrix with weighted criteria and constraint checks using the round data, and identify the best plan and its weak point.
  7. Revise the winning plan to fix its weak point, rerun it through the event deck, and present a mission debrief with the matrix and graphs.

Standards mapped

  • NGSS · MS-ETS1-1

    Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

  • NGSS · MS-ETS1-2

    Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.