Egg Drop - Rover Delivery System
In this activity the egg represents the Rover we are attempting to land on Mars. The Challenge is to successfully drop the egg, without it cracking or breaking. Take a look at the video to the left. It demonstrates the delivery system used to land a Rover on Mars. In this challenge we were tasked with the same mission. We were assigned to a large group. The large group was then split into two smaller engineering groups, each with its own task. The first group was tasked with building a container to safely store the rover in during the landing process, to keep it protected prior to deployment. The second group was tasked with developing a landing system. Not only did we collaborate in our small groups, then both engineering teams had to work together to merge their two systems. Like all real scenarios we were given a budget, a list of materials to select from, and a limited number of credits to spend. We were graded on how close we landed in the target zone (a hula hoop), how much of our credits we spent (being rewarded for being cost effective), and on whether or not our egg was damaged or destroyed.
The video above is a Mars Rover Landing Delivery system and demonstrates what we are trying to accomplish in our own activity. Below is a picture of my groups system. I worked on the rover container, and then helped to pair it to to the parachute that the other half of our group built.