This is a podcast from Open University.

How did the solar system form? Are we alone in the Universe? What are alien atmospheres made of? These questions can be answered by studying the solar system's vast family of satellites. This collection of videos looks at five of the most intriguing worlds that we've managed to visit over the last fifty years, including The Moon, Europa, Phobos, Deimos and Titan. From the first human footsteps on another world to the most distant spacecraft landing in history, our neighbourhood of moons has always played a central role in our exploration of the planets. For an introductory astronomy course, try The Open University course S194 Introducing astronomy.

A nice HD video podcast about the moons of the solar system.

This is a podcast from Open University.

Our planet is at the centre of a cosmic shooting gallery. This album examines the evidence for and effect of asteroid impacts and meteor explosions on Earth. The 6 video tracks assess the environmental effects caused by bolides of different sizes and trajectories. How do scientists detect that a crater on Earth is the result of an asteroid impact? Ian Gilmour visits an unusual circular feature at Nordingen in Southern Germany and Peter Schultz describes the oblique impact at Rio Quarto in Argentina. When comets collide with planets, the consequences can be catastrophic. What kind of impact could cause mass extinction on earth? This material forms part of the Open University course S283 Planetary science and the search for life.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy, and consider how and why his geocentric theory of the universe held sway for so many centuries. In his seminal astronomical work, the Almagest, written in the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy proposed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and explained all the observed motions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars with a system of uniform circular motions which he referred to as 'epicycles'.

Ptolemy's model of the universe remained the dominant one for over a thousand years. It was not until 1543, and Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the world, that the Ptolemaic model was finally challenged, and not until 1609 that Johannes Kepler's New Astronomy put an end to his ideas for good. But how and why did Ptolemy's system survive for so long?

Paper modelling is big in Japan, and Canon has many free paper models that can be printed on card stock and easily assembled with scissors and glue.

The Sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago, and has been shining over and nurturing us and all lives on the earth. The major difference in the structure between the Sun and the Earth or the moon is that it is entirely composed of high temperature gases. The Sun is structured with roughly three layers of the core, radiate layer and convection layer, and among these three layers, the core, in particular, has the highest temperature and density, and generates the sources of light and heat by nuclear fusion. This generated energy fills the radiate layer and it is carried to the surface (photosphere) by actions in the convection layer. Actually, however, it takes hundreds of thousand years before the energy generated in the core reaches the surface of the Sun, and the energy travels the distance between the Sun and the Earth around 150 million km to reach us.

Paper modelling is big in Japan, and Canon has many free paper models that can be printed on card stock and easily assembled with scissors and glue.

The Moon is the most familiar celestial body to us. Since ancient times, the Moon has exerted a powerful influence on our lives. In ancient Japan, a month was defined by the cycle of the Moon as it waxed and waned. This lunar calendar is still in use in Japan as the basis for an older, traditional calendar. Although the Moon is such a familiar feature in our lives, much about it remains unknown.In 2007, Japan launched Selene (also known as Kaguya, after a princess from Japanese legend who traveled to the Moon), its first lunar orbiter. Other countries launched their own lunar probes soon thereafter. Through such explorations, we are finding solutions to the hitherto unsolved mysteries of the Moon. These efforts will eventually make the Moon an even more familiar object. Use the Canon Creative Park lunar globe to learn more about the Moon. You can learn the names and locations of various craters and inspect the craters by actually looking up at the Moon.

Paper modelling is big in Japan, and Canon has many free paper models that can be printed on card stock and easily assembled with scissors and glue.

"Moving Copernican System" In the early 16th century, Copernicus, who was born in Poland, proposed a heliocentric theory in which the Earth revolved around the sun. Now we know that this theory was correct. In the early 17th century, Kepler showed, based on the observations, that the orbits of planets did not form perfect circles, but rather traveled elliptical orbits, with the sun at a focus point. Galileo also advocated the heliocentric theory based on his astronomical observations. Finally, Newton discovered the Law of Universal Gravitation toward the end of 17th century, proving the correctness of the Copernican System. "Moving Ptolemaic System" More than 1,800 years ago, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy from Alexandria proposed a cosmic structure called the Ptolemaic System in which Earth was stationary at the center of the cosmos, while the moon, the sun, planets, and stars revolved around it. This theory held sway for over 1,300 years but was eventually discredited due to various observations.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sun. The object that gives the Earth its light and heat is a massive ball of gas and plasma 93 million miles away. Thanks to the nuclear fusion reactions taking place at its core, the Sun has been shining for four and a half billion years. Its structure, and the processes that keep it burning, have fascinated astronomers for centuries. After the invention of the telescope it became apparent that the Sun is not a placid, steadily shining body but is subject to periodic changes in its appearance and eruptions of dramatic violence, some of which can affect us here on Earth. Recent space missions have revealed fascinating new insights into our nearest star.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins, science and mythology of the moon. Humans have been fascinated by our only known satellite since prehistory. In some cultures the Moon has been worshipped as a deity; in recent centuries there has been lively debate about its origins and physical characteristics. Although other planets in our solar system have moons ours is, relatively speaking, the largest, and is perhaps more accurately described as a 'twin planet'; the past, present and future of the Earth and the Moon are locked together. Only very recently has water been found on the Moon - a discovery which could prove to be invaluable if human colonisation of the Moon were ever to occur.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss our knowledge of the planets in both our and other solar systems. Tucked away in the outer Western Spiral arm of the Milky Way is a middle aged star, with nine, or possibly ten orbiting planets of hugely varying sizes. Roughly ninety-two million miles and third in line from that central star is our own planet Earth, in thrall to our Sun, just one of the several thousand million stars that make up the Galaxy.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet which is closest to our Sun. We see it as an evening or a morning star, close to where the Sun has just set or is about to rise, and observations of Mercury helped Copernicus understand that Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun, so displacing Earth from the centre of our system. In the 20th century, further observations of Mercury helped Einstein prove his general theory of relativity. For the last 50 years we have been sending missions there to reveal something of Mercury's secrets and how those relate to the wider universe, and the latest, BepiColombo, is out there in space now.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Venus which is both the morning star and the evening star, rotates backwards at walking speed and has a day which is longer than its year. It has long been called Earth’s twin, yet the differences are more striking than the similarities. Once imagined covered with steaming jungles and oceans, we now know the surface of Venus is 450 degrees celsius, and the pressure there is 90 times greater than on Earth, enough to crush an astronaut. The more we learn of it, though, the more we learn of our own planet, such as whether Earth could become more like Venus in some ways, over time.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Mars. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars has been a source of continual fascination. It is one of our nearest neighbours in space, though it takes about a year to get there. It is very inhospitable with high winds racing across extremely cold deserts. But it is spectacular, with the highest volcano in the solar system and a giant chasm that dwarfs the Grand Canyon.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss comets, the 'dirty snowballs' of the Solar System. In the early 18th century the Astronomer Royal Sir Edmond Halley compiled a list of appearances of comets, bright objects like stars with long tails which are occasionally visible in the night sky. He concluded that many of these apparitions were in fact the same comet, which returns to our skies around every 75 years, and whose reappearance he correctly predicted. Halley's Comet is today the best known example of a comet, a body of ice and dust which orbits the Sun. Since they contain materials from the time when the Solar System was formed, comets are regarded by scientists as frozen time capsules, with the potential to reveal important information about the early history of our planet and others.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the unique properties of asteroids. It is now thought that asteroids are the unused building blocks of planets, 'pristine material' that has remained chemically unchanged since the creation of the solar system; a snapshot of matter at the beginning of time. At the moment the Japanese probe Hayabusa is 180 million miles away, pinned to the back of the asteroid Itokawa, attempting to gain our first samples of the chemical composition of an asteroid.

Why did asteroids fail to form planets? How do they differ from their celestial cousins, the comets? And are either of them likely to create another impact on planet Earth?

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, and it’s hard to imagine a world more alien and different from Earth. It’s known as a Gas Giant, and its diameter is eleven times the size of Earth’s: our planet would fit inside it one thousand three hundred times. But its mass is only three hundred and twenty times greater, suggesting that although Jupiter is much bigger than Earth, the stuff it’s made of is much, much lighter. When you look at it through a powerful telescope you see a mass of colourful bands and stripes: these are the tops of ferocious weather systems that tear around the planet, including the great Red Spot, probably the longest-lasting storm in the solar system. Jupiter is so enormous that it’s thought to have played an essential role in the distribution of matter as the solar system formed — and it plays an important role in hoovering up astral debris that might otherwise rain down on Earth. It’s almost a mini solar system in its own right, with 95 moons orbiting around it. At least two of these are places life might possibly be found.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Saturn with its rings of ice and rock and over 60 moons. In 1610, Galileo used an early telescope to observe Saturn, one of the brightest points in the night sky, but could not make sense of what he saw: perhaps two large moons on either side. When he looked a few years later, those supposed moons had disappeared. It was another forty years before Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens solved the mystery, realizing the moons were really a system of rings. Successive astronomers added more detail, with the greatest leaps forward in the last forty years. The Pioneer 11 spacecraft and two Voyager missions have flown by, sending back the first close-up images, and Cassini is still there, in orbit, confirming Saturn, with its rings and many moons, as one of the most intriguing and beautiful planets in our Solar System.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the flow of particles from the outer region of the Sun which we observe in the Northern and Southern Lights, interacting with Earth's magnetosphere, and in comet tails that stream away from the Sun regardless of their own direction. One way of defining the boundary of the solar system is where the pressure from the solar wind is balanced by that from the region between the stars, the interstellar medium. Its existence was suggested from the C19th and Eugene Parker developed the theory of it in the 1950s and it has been examined and tested by a series of probes in C20th up to today, with more planned.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Herschel (1738 – 1822) and his sister Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) who were born in Hanover and made their reputation in Britain. William was one of the most eminent astronomers in British history. Although he started life as a musician, as a young man he became interested in studying the night sky. With an extraordinary talent, he constructed telescopes that were able to see further and more clearly than any others at the time. He is most celebrated today for discovering the planet Uranus and detecting what came to be known as infrared radiation. Caroline also became a distinguished astronomer, discovering several comets and collaborating with her brother.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss solar eclipses, some of life’s most extraordinary moments, when day becomes night and the stars come out before day returns either all too soon or not soon enough, depending on what you understand to be happening. In ancient China, for example, there was a story that a dragon was eating the sun and it had to be scared away by banging pots and pans if the sun were to return. Total lunar eclipses are more frequent and last longer, with a blood moon coloured red like a sunrise or sunset. Both events have created the chance for scientists to learn something remarkable, from the speed of light, to the width of the Atlantic, to the roundness of Earth, to discovering helium and proving Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

On 12 July 2011, Neptune was one year old - one Neptunian year that is.

The furthest planet from the sun, it's only now completed one solar orbit since its discovery in 1846, traveling so slowly each Neptunian season lasts 40 Earth years.

What can you ever know about a world when even the most advanced human telescopes have only studied it for a season?

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

As we approach 'solar max', when the sun is at its most active and ferocious, astronomer Lucie Green investigates the hidden dangers our nearest star poses to us on Earth.

But with so many national hazards to deal with, from flooding to pandemic flu, how much importance should we place on solar storms?

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

Were Australia's prehistoric Aboriginal people the world's first true astronomers, predating European and ancient Greek and Indian astronomers by thousands of years?

The stunning discovery of what is being called an "Aboriginal Stonehenge", the first of its kind to be found in Australia, could change that continent's history and with it our whole understanding of how and when humans began to accurately chart the night skies.

The stones at Wurdi Youang will be a test of Australia's scientists and of Australia’s willingness to properly appreciate its ancient indigenous past.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of icy objects at the fringes of our Solar System, beyond Neptune, in which we find the dwarf planet Pluto and countless objects left over from the origins of the solar system, some of which we observe as comets. It extends from where Neptune is, which is 30 times further out than the Earth is from the Sun, to about 500 times the Earth-Sun distance. It covers an immense region of space and it is the part of the Solar System that we know the least about, because it is so remote from us and has been barely detectable by Earth-based telescopes until recent decades. Its existence was predicted before it was known, and study of the Kuiper Belt, and how objects move within it, has led to a theory that there may be a 9th planet far beyond Neptune.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630). Although he is overshadowed today by Isaac Newton and Galileo, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest scientists in history. The three laws of planetary motion Kepler developed transformed people's understanding of the Solar System and laid the foundations for the revolutionary ideas Isaac Newton produced later. Kepler is also thought to have written one of the first works of science fiction. However, he faced a number of challenges. He had to defend his mother from charges of witchcraft, he had few financial resources and his career suffered as a result of his Lutheran faith.

This is a podcast from Open University.

Thanks to cutting-edge radio and infra-red astronomy, our understanding of the universe is moving very fast. Ideas about black holes and cosmic jets are constantly being refined as new discoveries are made using new, more powerful telescopes. This album explores the incredible discoveries and theories developed in recent years and introduces the astronomical observatories, space missions and satellites that have made it possible. The 12 video tracks reveal that our sun, though essential for our existence, is an unremarkable member of the stellar menagerie. They describe how astronomers study the structure and dynamics of our galaxy, the Milky Way and they introduce the challenges inherent in mapping the geometry and expansion of the universe. This material forms part of the course S282 Astronomy.

Paper modelling is big in Japan, and Canon has many free paper models that can be printed on card stock and easily assembled with scissors and glue.

A planisphere is an instrument used to represent the heavens at any time and date, by aligning its date and time scales. For example, by aligning March 1 on the rotating date scale to 7:20 pm on the inside time scale, you can reproduce the starry sky of 7:20 pm on March 1. To view the southern sky, hold the planisphere with the "South" label on the bottom, and to view the northern sky, hold the planisphere with the "North" label on the bottom. Compare the stars shown on the planisphere with the actual night sky. The edge of the planisphere's opening corresponds to the horizon, while its center corresponds roughly to the sky directly above your head (the zenith). Note that the constellations of the southern sky are shown stretched to the left and right. You can use this planisphere to try to memorize the names of the constellations, by comparing it with the starry sky on a clear night.

Humans have gazed into the night sky since the dawn of time. Dreaming, wondering, and developing stories around patterns of stars. These star patterns are now associated with some of the most intriguing and well-known creatures from mythology and nature.

With the introduction of telescopes, we have learned so much more about stars. They have different sizes, colors, locations, and characteristics. This knowledge has made looking at constellations all the more fun. We developed the Constellations game to bring our amazing sky, with its rich history, mythology, and science to your game-playing experience!

In this game, players are stargazers, exploring the night sky and collecting stars to define constellations. They compete to find the right stars to fit the needed pattern -- are B-type stars or F-types required to complete the constellation? Players compete with each other to strategically collect the right stars, reserve patches of the sky for observation, and explore the universe. Once you have your constellation, add it to the map of the night sky being assembled right in front of you. The closer you get to putting together the actual map of the heavens, the more points you score!

The game involves drawing Star Cards, which represent the seven types of stars classified by astronomers. Each constellation requires a unique combination of star types to place in the sky. As the game progresses and more constellations fill up the night, players must use their puzzle skills to fit the hexes on the board to score the most points. The player with the most constellation points at the end of the game wins!

The game also includes an educational workbook about stellar evolution, star classification information, and the history and mythology of the real constellations.

This game is currently a Kickstarter campaign. I’ve backed it because I liked Xtronaut so much. I’ll update the description when it arrives.

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the galaxies. Spread out across the voids of space like spun sugar, but harbouring in their centres super-massive black holes.

Galaxies - the vast islands in space of staggering beauty and even more staggering dimension. But galaxies are not simply there to adorn the universe; they house much of its visible matter and maintain the stars in a constant cycle of creation and destruction.

But why do galaxies exist, how have they evolved and what lies at the centre of a galaxy to make the stars dance round it at such colossal speeds?

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life cycle of stars. In his poem Bright Star John Keats wrote, "Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art". For Keats the stars were symbols of eternity- they were beautiful and ordered and unchanging - but modern astronomy tells a very different story. Stars, like everything else in the universe, are subject to change. They are born among vast swirls of gas and dust and they die in the stunning explosions we call supernovae. They create black holes and neutron stars and, in the very beginning of the universe, they forged the elements from which all life is made. But how do stars keep burning for millions of years, why do they self-destruct with such ferocity and what will happen to the universe when they all go out?

In Our Time is a wonderful series on BBC Radio 4.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Black Holes. They are the dead collapsed ghosts of massive stars and they have an irresistible pull: their dark swirling, whirling, ever-hungry mass has fascinated thinkers as diverse as Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen Hawking and countless science fiction writers. When their ominous existence was first predicted by the Reverend John Mitchell in a paper to the Royal Society in 1783, nobody really knew what to make of the idea - they couldn’t be seen by any telescope. Although they were suggested by the eighteenth century Marquis de Laplace and their existence was proved on paper by the equations of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, it was not until 1970 that Cygnus X 1, the first black hole, was put on the astral map.

What causes Black Holes? Do they play a role in the formation of galaxies and what have we learnt of their nature since we have found out where they are?

Figuring Outer Space is an inquiry-based educational resource. Hands-on activities focused on stars, exoplanets, the Milky Way, and Crab Nebula stimulate learning for students using this resource. Students explore the life cycle of stars, sequence images, model a method for detecting exoplanets, learn about key features of our home galaxy—and more. Math topics include using ratio and proportion, exponents, percent and proportion, and mathematical modelling—as well as graphing data and evaluating algebraic expressions. This digital resource is designed to excite learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) with an emphasis on 21^st century skills—including collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking.

As usual with Perimeter Institute products, this downloadable resource comes in both PDF and Microsoft Word versions, so you can customize it if you want to.

This is an ebook from Open University.

This unit looks at how telescopes and spectrographs are designed to improve our ability to observe the universe. You will examine how different technologies have been developed over the last four hundred years to enable us to look deep into space. This study unit is just one of many that can be found on LearningSpace, part of OpenLearn, a collection of open educational resources from The Open University. Published in ePub 2.0.1 format, some feature such as audio, video and linked PDF are not supported by all ePub readers.

Now you can experience the challenge and excitement of flying an Apollo Lunar Mission with APOLLO: The Game of Our First Voyages to the Moon. A collaborative STEM board game for 1-4 players ages 13 and up, APOLLO puts players in the Spacecraft and Mission Control, responsible for critical decisions and maneuvers throughout the spaceflight to the Moon.

The players become the Apollo Mission Commander, the Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), the Command Module Pilot (CMP) and Mission Control Houston. Each position has critical roles to play in the outcome of the mission - but if you don't have 4 people to play the game, don't worry - you can easily combine the roles or even play by yourself!

Based upon extensive research of public NASA documents, photographs, and mission reports.

After mastering the basic Lunar Landing Mission, players can fly all of the Historic Apollo Lunar Missions, with more challenging mission goals in order to obtain scientific samples and data.

Also included are the cancelled Apollo 18-19 missions and a dedicated Apollo 13 "Houston, we have a problem scenario".

Or pick your favorite Astronauts of the era and create your own Apollo Mission crew — The "what if" possibilities are endless!!!

I haven’t tried this in the classroom myself, as I haven’t taught grade 9 science since I bought it, but it’s a fun game. The play is simple and a four person game takes about half an hour. There is a classroom set available.

The biggest downside is the flight plan's extensive use of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms). It fits the period, and as the designer is a retired Naval Flight Officer I doubt he notices them, but for classroom use I think a glossary will be required.

Do you have what it takes to put together a space mission and race through the solar system? Identify your mission target and put together the right combination of rocket parts and spacecraft to achieve mission success.

Each player selects a Mission Card from the deck. This card determines the player’s mission – the mission destination, type of spacecraft needed, the amount of Delta-V needed to achieve the mission, the potential to obtain gravity assists, and the points earned for completing the mission. Each player needs to collect the Playing Cards that give them the right spacecraft, first and second stage rockets, and matching fairings. Gravity assist and solid rocket booster cards are available to provide additional Delta-V if needed to complete the assigned mission. Once the mission is complete, the player earns the points for the mission, which varies based on the size of the spacecraft and the target, and starts work on their next mission. The Action Cards add real-life issues to the game that space missions often encounter – project cancellations, audits, government shutdowns, and other exciting twists and turns.

XTRONAUT®: The Game of Solar System Exploration is a board game that is easy to learn, and gives 2 – 4 players ages 7 and up the chance to develop space missions, build authentic rocket systems, and explore the solar system. Designed by Professor leading major NASA OSIRIS-REx space mission, the game is fun and engaging, but also exposes players to space science concepts related to planning and undertaking a real space mission — complete with full color education workbook that explains game scientific concepts.

I haven’t tried this in the classroom myself, as I haven’t taught grade 9 science since I bought it, but it’s a fun game. The play is simple and a four person game takes about half an hour.

You could also use it solo as a tool for designing missions: students could sort through the cards and select the parts they need, looking at the tradeoffs between different options.

The world struggles in the Cold War, and many see the sky as the next battlefield. The era of the space race has just begun. Do you have what it takes to lead a budding space agency into a new age of human achievement?

Each game is completely different and there’s no definite winning strategy. You can play it over and over again, and with a playing time of about 40 minutes, you’ll get to have plenty of shots at conquering the universe.

Space Race: The Card Game is an indie card game in which 1-4 players become directors of space agencies trying to conquer the universe. The game is fast, yet complex and strategic, based on synergies and combo construction.

This limited-print game is available for free as a print-and-play card game, which I’d definitely recommend for classroom use as the very-high-quality print game costs €50 (with the Intercosmos expansion, which is currently on Kickstarter).

This may be too complicated for some students, but those used to Euro-style games (like Settlers of Catan) will be able to understand the rules — especially if they can borrow a copy of the rulebook. Once the rules are understood a game takes less than an hour, making this usable in the classroom.

It is the modern era of space exploration, six space agencies from the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, India, and Russia lead the world in launching spacecraft on journeys of planetary discovery. Believing that cooperation is key to success, multiple players must band together to build the rockets, spacecraft, and science instruments needed to reach the far-flung targets of exploration. Relationships are tested as each player strives to outperform each other and score the most discoveries to win the game.

In Downlink, players lead a space agency to develop missions of planetary exploration. Resources are limited, and players must constantly decide where to allocate them best to score the most points. They can choose to specialize in launching rockets, delivering spacecraft to targets, downlinking science data, or spread their resources across multiple areas to increase the likelihood of success. Key events require dice rolling, and team training is available to stack the odds in player's favor.

Do you have what it takes to lead the world in planetary exploration? Find out in Downlink: The Game of Planetary Discovery.

Once your data are on the ground — you combine them to make scientific discoveries. Want to discover a subsurface ocean on Europa? You must combine atmospheric science, astrobiology, cosmochemistry, and geophysics data. With over sixty downlink data cards and thirty discoveries — the possibilities are endless.

I could see playing this one as an extended game in teams over the course of the space unit. It is both competitive and cooperative, in that you can’t win without cooperating with other teams, and yet you are competing for the top position.

A series of simple model spacecraft from NASA. Ranging from easy to challenging, the models make a good starting point for the space research chapter.

Right now, there are several spacecrafts exploring our Universe. You can build paper versions of many of them right here on Earth.

Paper modeling - or card modeling - is the art of constructing things with only colored, cut and folded pieces of paper. To help in constructing each model, you will need the free Adobe Reader to print the instructions and model parts. A link to adobe.com is provided with each model.

Remember: Spacecraft construction is a team activity. Get some friends and an adult to pitch in on the mission. Now pick a ship to start your space fleet (or click on the spacecraft name to find out what the mission is all about).

Paper modelling is big in Japan, and Canon has many free paper models that can be printed on card stock and easily assembled with scissors and glue.

Japan's optical telescope discovers the farthest galaxy yet known, 12.8 billions of light years distant. Located on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan began astronomical observations in 1999. An altitude of 4,200 m, a dry atmosphere, and low atmospheric pressure make the summit of Mauna Kea one of the world's best places for astronomical observations. Based on the results of water flow tests, the Subaru Telescope was designed to allow efficient discharge of internal heat without taking in the outside air. It features a dome with a distinctive cylindrical shape.

A nice paper model of a next-generation crew capsule.

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle will serve as our nation's next-generation exploration vehicle to expand human presence to asteroids, the moon, Lagrange points and missions to Mars. The Orion spacecraft includes both crew and service modules, a spacecraft connector, and a launch abort system to ensure the safety of the crew.

Download, print and build a model of this new vehicle.

Designed to be built by students, this model is simple enough to make in a period. The web site has the model itself, instructions, and a video showing you what to do.

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest and most complicated spacecraft ever built. It is being constructed by a collaboration of one hundred thousand people, hundreds of companies, and sixteen nations spread over four continents.

The space station is in a low Earth orbit and can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye. It orbits at an altitude of about 350 kilometres above the Earth and travels at an average speed of 27 700 kilometres per hour, orbiting the Earth 16 times a day!

Paper modelling is big in Japan, and Canon has many free paper models that can be printed on card stock and easily assembled with scissors and glue.

The first all-Japanese rocket. Developed using technologies obtained through the development of H-II, this is one of the world's most powerful rockets, used to launch satellites for cellular phone networks, the Internet, meteorological information gathering, and vehicle navigation. Test flights of the H-IIA 1, which features a diameter of 4 m and total height of 53 m, were completed successfully in August 2001, followed shortly thereafter by full-scale launching of artificial satellites. The H-IIA 9 was successfully launched in February 2006.

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

The planet Mars boasts the most dramatic landscapes in our solar system. Kevin Fong embarks on a grand tour around the planet with scientists, artists and writers who know its special places intimately- through their probes, roving robots and imaginations. This first part of the journey includes Mars’ gargantuan volcanoes, an extreme version of Earth’s Grand Canyon and the cratered Southern Highlands where future explorers might find safety from the Red Planet’s deadly radiation environment.

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

Kevin Fong concludes his grand tour of the planet Mars, in search of water. Some of the most spectacular Martian landscapes were carved by vast and violent quantities of water in the planet’s past. The Tolkienesque terrain of Iani Chaos is one such place as is the great canyon Ares Valles.

Kevin also talks to scientists on the current Curiosity Mars rover mission about water in the deep history of Gale Crater and its central mountain Mount Sharp. The journey concludes with gullies on cliffs and craters, suggesting that water still gushes on the surface of Mars today. Could this mean that life exists on the Red Planet today?

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

Kevin Fong talks to one of the last two men on the Moon, 40 years after the final Apollo 17 mission blasted off on 7 December 1972. As an Apollo astronaut, Harrison Schmitt was special. He was was the only geologist ever to explore the lunar surface. The field work Dr Schmitt did, and the rocks he and his fellow astronauts brought back, revolutionised our understanding of the Moon and the Earth. Dr Schmitt also shares the human experience of running around another planet and explains why he thinks we should go back, and beyond.

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

Plans are advancing for the biggest radio on Earth, an array of up to 3000 radio telescopes across a continent. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will have its central core in either South Africa or Western Australia, but its spiral arms of outlying giant dishes will reach out 3000 km in every direction. Astronomer Dr Lucie Green hears how it could search for habitable planets, intelligent life and new-born galaxies.

Discovery is a BBC Radio 4 programme that explores today's most significant scientific discoveries and talks to the scientists behind them.

On 28 June 1911 an explosion erupted in the sky over the Nakhla region of Alexandria in Egypt.

A chunk of rock, about the size of a football, had broken away from the surface of Mars several million years ago.

It floated around the Solar System until eventually the Martian rock was pulled into our planet's gravitational field.

When it fell to Earth a century ago, eyewitnesses saw an explosion high in the atmosphere, as the meteor split into dozens of fragments which hurtled towards them and were buried up to a meter deep in the ground.

These precious rocks are now being used by scientists to ground-truth data sent back from Spirit and Opportunity - the two rovers currently exploring the Martian surface.