skip to main content

Soft Landing Challenge

3 minutes 26 seconds

Now Playing As: Captioned (English) (change)

Cars use airbags. Packages use airbags. Why shouldn't eggs use airbags too? Students model NASA's airbag landing system in this activity from "Design Squad Nation." They design and build protective covers made of balloons to protect an egg dropped from a height of three feet. Their systems model the airbag landing systems used by three NASA Mars missions. The students use the engineering design process, apply a variety of science concepts, and learn about NASA's exploration of the solar system. Part of the "Design Squad Nation" series.

Media Details

Runtime: 3 minutes 26 seconds

Illustration image of a satellite. Caption: Juno is an unmanned deep-space mission
Design Squad Nation
Episode 1
3 minutes 46 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Slit screen of a person in a virtual reality suit and the computer representation of her body. Caption: It actually recognizes my skeleton based on these different markers.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 2
4 minutes
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Space rocket launching as seen from below. Caption: I want to contribute to the first manned mission to Mars.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 3
2 minutes 45 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Robot with logos for NASA and GM. Caption: that we developed to assist astronauts in space
Design Squad Nation
Episode 4
3 minutes 50 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Astronaut in a space suit working on a machine. Caption: Training takes place in the neutral buoyancy lab.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 5
3 minutes 44 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Person placing a magnet to one side of the path directly in front of a ramp. A dotted line projects the path of an object that will move from the ramp and curve toward the magnet. Caption: Let's place the magnet somewhere to alter the marble's course.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 6
3 minutes 13 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 8
Person holding a magnet above a pile of metal shavings. Some of the metal shavings are adhering to the magnet. Caption: that exert a force on metal objects when they're nearby.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 7
3 minutes 19 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 8
Cardboard pieces cut and attached together to resemble robotic arms attempting to pick up rocks. Caption: Let's see if these robotic arms can pick up some space rocks.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 8
2 minutes 16 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 8
Four people in a yard holding balloons. One is on a ladder. Caption: Five, four, three, two, one.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 9
3 minutes 26 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 8
Person holding a paper cup with rubber bands and binder clips wrapped around a tubular object. Caption: (Nate) There's lots of ways of getting the straw into the potato.
Design Squad Nation
Episode 10
3 minutes 46 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 8