Resources by European Space Agency (ESA)

Coming back to Earth safely

In these activities, pupils are introduced to the idea of controlled or uncontrolled re-entry for satellites. They are challenged to devise a way of reducing space debris by designing alterations to satellites so that they bring themselves back to Earth. In the first activity, the students pretend to be satellites...

Communicating with Radio - Ground control to major CanSat

To understand how everyday devices like mobile phones, routers and satellites work, we need to understand what radio waves are and how we can transmit information with them. Radio communication is one of the key elements in our CanSat. All the data needed for our scientific experiment will be sent from the CanSat...

Cooking a Comet

Comets are considered to be time capsules containing information about the conditions of the early Solar System. In order to understand what comets are, where they come from, and their influence on the evolution of Earth, it is necessary to find out what material they contain. This teacher demonstration and student...

Could life survive in alien environments? - Defining environments suitable for life

In this activity, produced by the European Space Agency, students will consider whether life found in extreme environments on Earth could survive elsewhere in the Solar System. Students will examine the characteristics of different places in the Solar System and then use fact cards of some example extremophiles to...

Could we live on Mars?: comparing Mars and Earth

In this activity, pupils compare Earth and Mars in the context of geography and science. They will begin by comparing the positions of both planets in the solar system, and end by designing their own life forms that could potentially survive on Mars.

Country under threat

In this set of activities, students learn about the causes and potential impacts of sea-level rise while developing core scientific skills.

Crew assembly training

Astronauts are required to put many objects and devices together as part of their missions. Some of those are small objects that astronauts must manipulate during their stay at the International Space Station (ISS).

In this activity, teams of students will assemble a puzzle as quickly and correctly as...

Crew strength training

Perform multi-joint weight-bearing exercises such as body-weight squats for lower body strength, and push-ups to develop upper and lower body strength. Push-ups should be done with arms extended (but not locked), and level with the chest. Students who cannot do standard push-ups should begin with bent-knee push-ups...

Cut-out models of ESA spacecraft

Templates for cut-out and stick paper models of various ESA spacecraft.

Contents:

* Cassini simple model kit

* Cassini advanced model kit

* Integral model kit

* ISO model kit

* Mars Express model kit

* Soho model kit

* Ariane 4 model kit

* Gaia model...

Day, night, and the seasons

In this short animation Paxi, the ESA mascot, explores the Earth's orbit to tell us about day, night and the seasons. Paxi goes on holiday and tells us about how the Sun is a star and gives us light and heat. He flies into space and looks down at the Earth's spinning axis and its orbit around the sun. He explains...