Students can plan a fictional Mars rover mission by studying real NASA/JPL surface images, choosing a target, and supporting their choice with visible clues. No rover construction is needed: the core activity is image-based inquiry, with digital and hands-on extensions available if they suit your class.
What students will do
In small groups, students examine a Mars surface image, record what they can actually see, select a location for a fictional rover to investigate, and explain what question the mission could explore there. The key distinction is between an observation—such as a line of rocks or a change in surface color—and an inference about what might have caused it.
NASA/JPL’s Mission to Mars science lesson uses satellite and rover images to help students examine surface features and materials and create a Marscape. Its Explore Mars With Scratch lesson connects inspecting a Mars backdrop with selecting interesting science targets. JPL describes a science target as a location or object on which scientific studies are carried out.
Prepare the activity
Choose an image and a mission goal
Use an image from a NASA/JPL activity or another specific NASA/JPL image page. Display it for the class or make the image available for students to inspect. Before sharing or redistributing an image, check that asset’s own credit and usage guidance; do not assume that every NASA-hosted image has identical terms.
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Give each group a simple mission goal, such as: “Choose one area a rover should investigate and explain what it might help us learn.” Keep the goal open enough for students to notice different features, but specific enough that they must point to visual evidence.
Set up a simple recording method
Students can use a notebook or a worksheet with four prompts:
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- What I observe: Describe visible shapes, patterns, colors, or boundaries without explaining their cause.
- What I wonder: Write a question prompted by those observations.
- What I infer: Offer a possible explanation, clearly labeled as an idea rather than something the image proves.
- What the rover could do: Name an observation or instrument that could help investigate the question.
Run the image-based mission activity
- Inspect the image. Give students quiet time to look closely. Ask them to record observations first, before discussing what the features might mean.
- Mark a target. Each group identifies one location or object in the image. They can name it by a nearby feature or mark it on a copy of the image. Ask them to list the visible evidence that made it worth investigating.
- Frame a science question. Have the group turn its curiosity into a question the fictional rover could investigate. For example, students might ask whether two surface areas differ in texture or whether a visible feature continues beyond the chosen location. The question should follow from what they can point to in the image.
- Match the next step to the question. Ask what the rover should observe or measure to help answer the question. Keep plans at an age-appropriate level: students do not need to design real spacecraft instruments, but they should explain why their proposed observation would be useful.
- Present and compare plans. Each group shares its target, visible evidence, question, and proposed next step. Compare choices by how clearly the image supports them, whether the proposed investigation fits the question, and whether the plan is manageable within the class period and available materials—not by which target looks most dramatic.
Help students separate evidence from interpretation
Images invite quick explanations, but a single view may not establish what caused a feature or what lies beyond the frame. Encourage students to use careful language: “I see…” for observations, “This could mean…” for interpretations, and “We would need to…” for the next investigation.
If a student says a feature proves a particular story about Mars, ask them to identify exactly what in the image supports that claim and what additional observation could help distinguish possibilities. Treat uncertainty as part of mission planning: the group’s job is to propose a useful question, not to claim that the image answers it completely.
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Adapt the activity for your class
NASA’s Mars Lessons for Educators organizes resources for grades K–4, 5–8, 9–12, and informal education. NASA/JPL’s Mission to Mars Student Challenge collection lets teachers choose activities suited to their students. Adjust the number of prompts, the complexity of the science question, and the amount of time students spend planning rather than assuming one version fits every age group.
- For younger students: Offer a short list of observation prompts and ask them to point to one feature before proposing what to investigate.
- For older students: Ask groups to distinguish multiple possible explanations and identify what further observation would help tell them apart.
- For a short class period: Use one shared image and focus on target selection and evidence. Groups can present in a quick round.
- For multiple sessions: Let students revisit their target and refine their question and mission plan after comparing ideas.
Optional extensions
Build a Mars exploration game in Scratch
The JPL Scratch lesson provides downloadable Mars surface images and a rover sprite. It lists a computer with internet access and a free Scratch account as requirements, and says sections may be completed across sessions. Students can use their selected target as the focus for a simple exploration game. This is an optional digital extension; the image inquiry itself does not require Scratch.
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Create a Marscape
Students can sketch or annotate a Marscape based on what they notice in an image. Colored pencils may be useful, but they are an optional classroom choice, not a stated requirement of NASA’s activity. The activity’s focus remains on examining surface features and materials.
Add a rover-building challenge
For a separate engineering activity, JPL’s Planetary Pasta Rovers lesson challenges groups to build a rover and test it on a ramp over a distance. This is distinct from the image-based mission-planning activity. If the extension uses glue guns, JPL advises following classroom safety guidelines and having an adult manage a glue gun for younger students.
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Materials and learning claims
The core mission activity can be run with a NASA/JPL image and a way for students to record their thinking. Physical construction supplies are not required. NASA/JPL’s student challenge FAQ says suggested materials may be replaced with substitutes or items students have at home, which can help when adapting its activities to a classroom’s resources.
NASA’s educator collection describes more than 40 hands-on Mars activities; that is a count of resources, not evidence of a particular learning outcome. The cited activity pages provide directions and resources, but they do not establish learning gains or tested outcomes for this specific classroom activity.
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