Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS)

Published purpose

The project “Mars in Your Own Backyard” is a space-themed education program for youth in grades 5-12 that provides fun, interactive, and multi-sensory engagement activities to transfer knowledge of the Canadian Arctic's features that make it an effective planetary analogue environment. Students will learn curricular topics focused on space environmental science by identifying, for example, key features of rocks and minerals that may be analogous to the Moon and Mars. They will also learn about how to live in space, with curriculum topics focused on biology, arts, environmental science, such as basic life support, food production and radiation protection. The project will be developed in order to integrate technology, geology, geography, and STEAM subjects by making use of virtual reality (VR) technology, 3D-printing, and the Google Street View (360°) App in order to capture and share 360- gyroscopic images of different parts of the Arctic.