Space Orientation

Introduce your lesson with an optional, short summary. You can edit this excerpt in lesson settings.

Introduce your lesson with an optional, short summary. You can edit this excerpt in lesson settings.

Introduce your lesson with an optional, short summary. You can edit this excerpt in lesson settings.

Every satellite, space station, and planet follows a path; understanding those paths is key to space exploration. In this lesson, you’ll learn what orbits are, how they work, and why they matter. We’ll cover the physics that keep objects in motion around Earth and other celestial bodies, and examine different types of orbits, including low Earth, geostationary, polar, and beyond.

This is where ideas turn into missions. In this lesson, you’ll learn how space systems are designed from defining a mission objective to selecting the right spacecraft components, sensors, and propulsion. We’ll walk through the fundamentals of systems engineering and how each part must work together to survive and perform in space.

Nothing moves in space without propulsion. In this lesson, you’ll explore how rockets and spacecraft generate thrust, from chemical engines and solid boosters to modern ion and electric propulsion systems. We’ll break down Newton’s laws of motion, the physics of rocket thrust, and the tradeoffs between power, efficiency, and speed.

Every spacecraft needs energy to survive and function, and managing that power is critical. In this lesson, you’ll learn how satellites, probes, and space stations generate, store, and distribute electricity in the vacuum of space. We’ll cover solar panels, batteries, fuel cells, and even nuclear power systems used for deep-space missions.

To understand space, you have to sense it. In this lesson, you’ll explore how spacecraft collect data using sensors and instruments. From cameras and spectrometers to radar and LIDAR, you’ll see how we capture everything from temperature and radiation to surface details on distant planets.

Keeping a spacecraft on course and its crew alive takes precision and control. In this lesson, you’ll learn how spacecraft maintain orientation in space using reaction wheels, gyroscopes, and thrusters, systems that keep antennas pointed, solar panels aligned, and instruments stable.

No mission succeeds without communication and a strong design to hold it all together. In this lesson, you’ll learn how spacecraft send and receive data across millions of miles using antennas, radio waves, and relay networks. We’ll cover how signals are encoded, transmitted, and tracked from deep space back to Earth.

Reaching space is only half the battle. Staying there and coming back safely are just as critical. In this lesson, you’ll learn what it takes to get a spacecraft into orbit, from launch sequence and staging to orbital insertion and stabilization. We’ll explore the forces at play during ascent, including gravity, drag, and thrust, and how engineers balance them to achieve a stable orbit.

This lesson is your dedicated work session to develop and refine your space mission design project. You’ll pull together everything you’ve learned from defining your mission objective to selecting subsystems and finalizing your orbit, ground segment, and launch plan.

In these lessons, you’ll watch a full example of a completed student design project.

You’ll see how the student ties together all elements of their project into a clear, professional presentation that meets the full rubric.

By the end, you’ll have a strong reference for how to organize and deliver your own final project with clarity, depth, and confidence.

In this final lesson, we’ll look ahead to the future of space exploration and reflect on how far you’ve come. You’ll explore current and upcoming missions and see how today’s innovations are shaping tomorrow’s opportunities