Final project · weeks 8–13

Settling the Solar System a near-future mission, launch to civilization

Each group of 5 designs a complete near-future mission to one destination in the solar system — from the scientific justification for choosing that world, through the chemistry of survival, the biology of habitat design, and the culture of building a society. Each student draws directly from one of the four ages covered in the second half of the course. One student serves as mission commander, providing either an introduction or synthesis of the entire mission. You build it in three in-class steps — Scout, Design, Settle — using the real findings of the spacecraft that have actually visited these worlds.

groups of 5 · 3 build weeks · 15–20 min · 600–800 wd / student · 30 marks · 15 + 15
§ 01 · Destination

Choose your world.

No two groups may pick the same destination · first come, first served

  1. Option 1
    The Moon
    Earth's natural satellite

    Most near-future realistic, deepest reference library, three days from launch.

    Beginner
  2. Option 2
    Mars
    Fourth rock from the Sun

    Most studied destination, most realistic crewed mission within 50 years.

    Intermediate
  3. Option 3
    Europa
    Jovian ocean world

    Subsurface ocean — strongest chemistry and biology angles.

    Advanced
  4. Option 4
    Titan
    Saturn's organic moon

    Dense atmosphere, exotic methane chemistry, the most alien environment.

    Advanced
  5. Option 5
    Proxima Centauri b
    Nearest exoplanet

    For ambitious groups willing to engage more speculatively.

    Speculative
§ 02 · The Five Roles

One mission, five disciplines.

Roles 2–5 each anchor to one of the four ages in the second half of the course. The Commander threads them together.

  1. Role 1 ↳ Ch all
    Mission Commander
    Overview & vision

    The group's narrator. If presenting first, introduces the destination, explains why humanity needs to become multi-planetary, outlines the mission's overall timeline from launch to settlement, and frames the four challenges teammates address. If presenting last, synthesizes all four sections into a unified mission document showing how planetary science, chemistry, biology, and culture depend on each other.

  2. Role 2 ↳ Ch 4
    Why Here?
    Target world & solar system context

    Makes the scientific case for the chosen destination. Analyzes physical structure, orbital position, axial tilt, geological activity, and relationship to the habitable zone. Compares to Earth using Chapter 4's planetary classification frameworks. Argues: given everything telescopes, orbiters, and landers tell us, here is precisely what awaits the first humans who arrive.

  3. Role 3 ↳ Ch 5
    Can We Survive There?
    Chemistry & life support

    Tackles the most fundamental question: does the target world have the raw chemical ingredients to keep humans alive, and if not, how do we manufacture or import what is missing? Analyzes water, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon availability, connects the periodic table to resource extraction, and designs the life-support systems that would sustain the settlement.

  4. Role 4 ↳ Ch 6
    Staying Alive
    Habitat & biology

    Designs the physical and biological environment settlers will live inside. Reverse-engineers Earth's habitability — identifying what billions of years of evolution and complex multicellular life tell us about what humans fundamentally need. Uses mass extinctions as cautionary tales. Applies to habitat design: radiation shielding, closed-loop food, psychological wellbeing, minimum viable ecosystem.

  5. Role 5 ↳ Ch 7
    Building a Society
    Culture, governance, the future

    The most human dimension of the mission. Uses the Out of Africa migration as analogy for leaving Earth, the Agricultural and Urban Revolutions as models for how settlements scale into civilizations, and the Drake Equation / SETI as a framework for long-term technological sustainability. Designs governance, Earth communications, cultural identity, and the long-term vision for the colony.

§ 03 · The Build

Three weeks, three steps.

Like the midterm, the mission isn't built the night before — it grows over three in-class sessions, each submitted as a progress report on Kriterion. Every step is a small, real piece of the work: up to 100 words and one annotated image — hand-drawn or AI-assisted, either is fine. Scout finds the evidence, Design turns it into a settlement, Settle connects it — and together they become the report you write and the talk you give.

  1. Progress report 4 · in class 01
    Scout

    Find the real spacecraft findings your part of the mission is built from.

    • Confirm your group's destination and your role; open the mission archives.
    • Pull 2–4 real findings about your destination for your role — each from a real mission or instrument.
    • Choose ONE as your anchor finding — the fact your design will answer next session.
    You submit

    ≤ 100 words listing your findings and your anchor, plus one annotated map or image of your destination — arrows and a label (destination · feature · mission that saw it).

  2. Progress report 5 · in class 02
    Design

    Turn your scouted findings into one defensible design decision.

    • Design your role's answer to your anchor finding — the site, system, or plan.
    • Ground it in your course chapter: name the concept that makes it work.
    • Stress-test it with one “what if” — what breaks it, and what's your backup?
    You submit

    ≤ 100 words naming the cause, not just the choice, plus one hand-drawn design diagram — habitat cross-section, life-support loop, trajectory — whose arrows explain WHY.

  3. Progress report 6 · in class 03
    Settle

    Link the group's five parts into one launch-to-civilization mission.

    • Order the five parts along one mission timeline — launch, journey, arrival, survival, society.
    • Work out your two handoffs: what you receive from the role before, and set up for the role after.
    • Agree the mission's name and shared thread, and lock your one or two hero visuals.
    You submit

    ≤ 100 words naming the roles before and after you and each handoff, plus one hand-drawn storyboard — your design, an arrow in from the previous role and out to the next.

§ 04 · Tools

Mission archives & atlases.

Every finding is public — real spacecraft have already scouted these worlds for you. You start pulling from the archives in the Scout session and keep drawing on them through Design and Settle.

§ 05 · Deliverables

What each group submits.

Your three weeks of Scout, Design, and Settle now converge into two deliverables, both submitted per group on Kriterion — not Google Classroom. All five students prepare their own part; one person merges everything and submits a single file or link on behalf of the whole group.

Sample presentation
Open the Canva template structure →

The same structure as the midterm. Copy it into your own Canva and edit it together as a group — each student builds their segment on the same theme and layout.

↗ open
Report → Kriterion · Final report
One PDF, five voices.

Each student writes 600–800 words on their role — the destination findings they scouted, the systems they designed, and how their part settles into the group's single mission — with their annotated figures. One member merges all five sections plus a shared intro and conclusion into a single PDF and uploads it to the Final report on Kriterion. One PDF per group — not per student.

Presentation → Kriterion · Canva link
15–20 minutes, one mission.

Each student presents their section for 3–4 minutes (the Commander opens or closes; the rest go Role 2 → Role 5 in order), minimum 4 slides each including a title slide, following the sample structure above. One member merges every segment into a single Canva deck and submits its link in the presentation section of Kriterion.

⚠ How submission works on Kriterion

When you log into Kriterion you'll see the option to submit from your group. The moment one member submits, the submission locks — no one else in the group can submit after that. So decide who is responsible ahead of time. That person must gather all five parts into the single merged PDF and the single merged Canva deck before submitting, and everyone must confirm they're working on a consistent theme and structure (different topics, same look) before it goes in. There is no individual submission and no resubmission.

§ 06 · Grading

30 marks, split evenly.

Both halves are 15 marks, and each breaks into three equal parts of 5. The report is scored on the three steps you already did — Scout, Design, Settle; the talk on Content, Delivery, Interaction, graded live on Kriterion.

Report · the PDF
15 / 15
  • Scout
    real findings from real missions
    5
  • Design
    the reasoning, tied to the chapters
    5
  • Settle
    your part connects into one mission
    5
Presentation · the talk
15 / 15
  • Content
    informative, organised slides
    5
  • Delivery
    preparedness and clear speech
    5
  • Interaction
    engaging the room, body language
    5
§ 07 · Doing well — the talk

Maximise the presentation score.

Present the mission you built — the findings you scouted, the systems you designed, the story you settled. The talk is graded on Content, Delivery, and Interaction, 5 marks each. A few tips for each.

Content
5 marks

How informative, ordered, and well-organised your slides are.

  • Curate, don't cram — pick the most interesting points you can summarise well, but never skip the core concepts from class.
  • Bullets, not paragraphs — short lists, and balance each slide so it's neither empty nor overloaded.
  • Title slide: your name and the title of your assigned part.
  • Build from the course materials, not random websites or AI summaries.
  • Use explanatory images and diagrams — you may reuse infographics straight from the course pages.
Delivery
5 marks

How prepared you are and how clearly you convey the material.

  • Present entirely in English.
  • Rehearse until your speech is fluid and confident.
  • Speak to the slide on screen — follow its bullets in order and walk the audience through each image.
  • Cut filler: keep only the slides you'll actually present.
  • Stay on time — finish within your allotted minutes.
Interaction
5 marks

How you engage the screen, the audience, and your body language.

  • Speak spontaneously — don't read off a phone, laptop, or paper.
  • Split your focus between the screen (point out details) and the audience (make eye contact).
  • Move around and point toward different parts of the screen; don't freeze in one spot.
  • Use natural hand gestures to emphasise your points.
§ 08 · Doing well — the report

Maximise the report score.

The report is your three progress reports, polished and merged into one PDF. It's graded on the same three steps — Scout, Design, Settle, 5 marks each. A few tips for each.

Scout
5 marks

The evidence — real findings from real missions.

  • Use real mission findings with real names — “Cassini found methane lakes at Titan's poles”, never “it is very cold there”.
  • For every finding give the mission or instrument behind it.
  • Include your annotated figures — hand-drawn or AI-assisted — a clean, unmarked screenshot doesn't count.
Design
5 marks

The reasoning — why your systems work on this world.

  • Defend each design decision with the cause, not the assertion — why it works there.
  • Anchor every design to your course chapter; don't guess the science.
  • Include the risk you considered — the “what if” — and its backup.
Settle
5 marks

The synthesis — five parts, one mission.

  • Hand off cleanly — name what you receive from the role before you and set up for the role after.
  • Keep the mission's shared thread visible — the destination, the mission's name, the timeline.
  • Read as one launch-to-civilization mission, not five stapled essays.