This spring the three seventh graders participated in a class called Seven Minutes of Terror. The launch window for the Mars 2020 mission opened July 17 and closed Aug. 5, when Earth and Mars are in the proper positions in the solar system to enable a direct interplanetary journey. The rover was scheduled to land on Mars at Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. The Mars rover’s entry, descent and landing, also known as EDL, is referred to as the 7 minutes of terror, going from 13,000 miles an hour to zero, in perfect sequence, perfect choreography, perfect timing… and the computer has to do it all by itself, with no help from the ground.

The challenge for the students was to design and test a heat shield to protect the MEDLI, (Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instruments) sensor during a Mars entry simulation while documenting the entire process.  Before they could build a heat shield, they had to select and test different items.  The students chose to test small and big plastic cups, cardboard, foil, Styrofoam, fabric, a cookie sheet, glass and a Styrofoam wrapper. Using hair dryers, students ran 7 min of heat over their test item with chocolate underneath. With these results in mind, each student created their own heat shield to test and protect the MEDLI (chocolate kiss).