Lesson Plan Outline
Are the projects that NASA is working on now worth the amount of money they cost?
Lesson Plan
Jackson W. Seaborn
Objectives:
Students will understand the issue of the expense of space travel.
Students will know what NASA is currently doing and why.
Students will be able to form their own opinion regarding whether it is worth it or not to spend more money and time on space travel.
Short video (Hook) - 1 min
Play video introducing the topic (Robber, Mark)
Explaining the issue (Introduction) - 3 min
Explain both sides of argument
Space travel is worth it, and should be pursued.
Knock off technologies can be created from space technology.
Space technology benefits our knowledge of the sciences as a whole.
Space technology can help in the medical field.
Space travel isn't worth it, and humans should focus on the issues with Earth.
Space travel costs millions of dollars.
The “Lasso an Asteroid” program is estimated to cost 100 million dollars (Roff).
Problems like world hunger, and other epidemics are what our attention should be focused towards.
It is dangerous for the humans we send up.
Q: What are your opinions as of now on if space travel is worth the cost?
Shuttle program (Lecture), Source: (Wall) - 2 min
- The shuttle program was supposed to create easy and affordable access to space,
making each launch cost as little as $20 million.
- The program has been both good and bad, killing 14 people.
- The program cost $209 billion all together.
- The cost of each flight is 1.6 billion ( a lot more than what was promised)
- Explain how the shuttle program is good.
- Launched Hubble
- created international space station
Europa Clipper (Lecture), “(Mission to Europa)” - 2 min
Explain what Europa Clipper will do, which is to Orbit Europa
Explain what information its research will give us.
Explain how it might answer the question of other life out there.
Show estimated cost of Europa Clipper in 2013, $1.5 billion (Dreier)
Show estimated cost now, $4 billion (Foust)
Explain how cost might keep going up.
Topic Vote (Activity) Sources, “(Mission to Europa)”, (Dreier), (Foust), (Wall) - 5 min
Have paper explaining several programs NASA is currently working on, and at the bottom have the cost of the program.
Hand each student 3 “Worth it” Cards, and 3 “Not Worth it” card.s
Let students vote on the 3 different missions.
Analyze and discuss the results.
Epilogue - 1 to 2 min
Continue discussion on results.
Ask students what their opinion is now.
Materials:
Notecards
Photos and descriptions of several current NASA programs
Annotated Bibliography
Dreier, Casey. “Europa: No Longer a ‘Should,’ But a ‘Must’”. Planetary.org. 12 Dec. 2013,
www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2013/1212-europa-no-longer-a-should-but-a-must.html.
This source gave me the cost of the Europa Clipper in 2013, allowing me to compare this estimated cost to the estimated cost in 2019. This will let me explain more in detail on how the prices have changed, and what that means.
Dunbar, Brian. “What's Next For NASA?” NASA, NASA, 26 Jan. 2015,
www.nasa.gov/about/whats_next.html.
This source was made by NASA, and provides details on their upcoming missions. I will use this source to detail many missions and programs currently being worked on. This source will help me be able to see if NASA is putting their budget to good use.
“Europa Clipper.” NASA, NASA, www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/.
This source will be related with Jeff Foust’s and Casey Dreier’s articles in my paper. It details what exactly the Europa Clipper will do, what it is equipped with, and why it is important. I will use this information, plus the estimated cost increase from 2013 to 2019 to determine if this project is worth it or not.
Foust, Jeff. “Europa Clipper Passes Key Review.” SpaceNews.com, 22 Aug. 2019,
spacenews.com/europa-clipper-passes-key-review/.
This source gave me the Estimated cost of the Europa Clipper in 2019, and I will use this information to compare it to the old estimated cost. This will show me if NASA tends to underestimate the costs of their current missions.
Fowler, Wallace. “Anniversary Shows Us That NASA and Space Exploration Are Worth Their
Costs.” UT News, 7 Aug. 2018,www. news.utexas.edu/2014/07/21/anniversary-shows-
us-that-nasa-and-space-exploration-are-worth-their-costs/.
This source provided more insight on whether current NASA missions are worth it. It gives me the total cost of NASA, and the current budget of NASA. This source also compares the current budget to other topics as well, showing how small the budget for NASA really is. This source provides insight on how more got done in the 60’s and 70’s than today, also showing that NASA doesn’t have enough money to attempt another mission on the same scale as the Apollo ones.
Perez, Martin. “Mars 2020 Mission Overview.” NASA, NASA, 15 July 2016,
www.nasa.gov/mars2020/overview.
This source shows me what the mission to Mars this year will accomplish, helping to answer my question.
Wall, Mike. “NASA's Shuttle Program Cost $209 Billion - Was It Worth It?” Space.com, Space,
5 July 2011, www.space.com/12166-space-shuttle-program-cost-promises-209-
billion.html.
This source talks about the shuttle program, which has been going on for a while, and continues to this day. It tells me everything about it, from the cost of the mission to what the mission does. It explains both sides of the argument as well. It details why the mission could be considered a failure, but also why it could be considered a success.
Robber, Mark. “Is NASA a waste of money?.” YouTube. February 14, 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lARpY0nIQx0&list=LLfDmEyB33BqK-9aGunhFNrw&index=6&t=145s.
This is the video I have in my hook. This video is good, because it creates visuals to make the topic easier to understand. I feel like by making my introduction this video, it gets the conflict across easily to people who don’t understand it as well.