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Escape Moon is an escape room activity designed to introduce primary school children to the dynamics of meteor streams in a fun and engaging way. Players help Mazem, a lunar resident who has just received an urgent warning, navigate a series of enigmas to understand the incoming danger and find shelter. Along the way, they discover the natural bodies of the Solar System, learn how meteoroid impacts work, and explore humanity's plans for returning to the Moon. Each puzzle is designed to spark interactive discussion in the classroom: What can approach the Moon? How is a meteor shower different there than on Earth? What does the lunar surface look like?
The activity was developed as part of the educational outreach of ESA LUMIO (LUnar Meteoroid Impacts Observer), a CubeSat mission led by Politecnico di Milano and supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), aimed at characterising the meteoroid flux on the Moon's far side.
Optional: two images to be printed as posters (see in the attched material):
Participants will learn:
Our solar system is made of one star, the Sun, 8 planets, millions of asteroids and comets, hundreds of moons and some dwarf planets, like Pluto. The 8 planets, from the closest to the farthest to the Sun, are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Until 2006, Pluto was also considered as a planet, but then they discovered other small round bodies like Pluto in a very similar orbit. So a new definition was introduced: the dwarf planets.
Planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and comets orbit the Sun, while the moons orbit around a given planet. They all move on orbits that are mainly ellipses, because of the gravitational attraction of the Sun (or of a given planet, for the moons).
Image: An image showing the composition of the Solar System (not in scale).
The rocky planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, while the gas giant planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Dwarf planets are small round planets with an orbit close to the one of other similar bodies. Asteroids are rocky bodies with an irregular shape that did not manage to aggregate to form a planet. Comets are rocky snowballs. Moons can have a shape that is spherical as the one of the planets or very irregular if they are small. Asteroids and comets can approach the Earth and the Moon for different reasons. The asteroids usually move on an orbit between Mars and Jupiter; this orbit can change either because: they can collide against each other and because of the collision one piece (that can be big) can move on an orbit that approach the Earth. Or physical phenomena different from the gravitational attraction of the Sun can change it very slowly. On the other hand, the comets that we can observe move on very elliptical orbits and thus they can travel through the whole solar system, coming from regions beyond Pluto and getting very close to the Sun. As it gets closer to the Sun the comet starts evaporating and losing material. This is how the coma and the tail of the comet are formed.
When we see a shooting star, it is due to pieces of asteroids or comets that cross the orbit of the Earth. When this happens, they first encounter the atmosphere, where they burn and fragment traveling through a high speed. We call: meteoroids the pieces of asteroids and comets before they get to the atmosphere meteors the shooting stars, that is, the burning meteoroids meteorites the fragments that reach the surface of the Earth (or the Moon).
On rocky bodies with no or very thin atmosphere (like the Moon) we do not have meteors and everything that comes from space reaches the surface creating craters. On the Moon for example, almost all the craters that we can see on the lunar surface are due to the impact of asteroids or meteoroids. For the future lunar exploration, it is important to understand this phenomenon.
If you want to know more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Systemhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_laws_of_planetary_motion
BEFORE THE ACTIVITYPrint the material as detailed in the List of material section. The acitivty will be guided with the provided slides and, when asked, the students will be playing in groups. The games will be distributed during the activity, when specified in the presentation.
DURING THE ACTIVITY
Start showing the slides to the classroom, below is a hint of what you can say to the classroom to guide the activity. The students will be asked to do the activities following yoyr instructions.BE CAREFUL: some slides contain the solutions of the quizzes you will introduce
Slide 1-2:
This game is an escape room. Mazem, who lives on the Moon, receives a message:
“Find shelter, a meteoric shower is coming!”
What is a meteoric shower?Where does it come from?Who sent this message?Where could Mazem find shelter?
Slide 3:This game is called “Escape Moon” and it is motivated by an ESA CubeSat mission, LUMIO, that will observe ‘flashes’ on the hidden face of the Moon (the far side).
What are these flashes?
We will learn this and gain some important knowledge on the Solar System, by solving different enigmas.
Slide 4 (ENIGMA 1):
From the Moon, Mazem sees a star and a planet: what other things exist in space?
Distribute ENIGMA 1 and ask to cut the pieces of the riddle and to put them together to read a rhyme.
Slide 5 (SOLUTION):
The solution is:
In our Solar System, far and wide,there are many planets where wonders hide.Then come the bodies, tiny and small:asteroids, moons, and comets for all.And don’t forget the dwarf planets' crew,they’re Pluto’s neighbors, very important too.
Image: ESA Video
Slide 6:
Show ESA video on the Solar System linked in the presentation.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mibxJwpennU
Slide 7:
Show the poster on the Solar System and explain it , showing these bodies, which planets have moons, where comets come from, why Pluto is a dwarf planet and not a planet (see background text).
Main concepts to be introduced in Slide 7:
Slide 8:
Show the slide where the average distance between the Sun and a planet in astronomical units.
Main concepts to be introduced in Slide 8:
Slide 9:
Orbits are the roads in space.All the bodies (natural like planets or artificial like satellites) move on ellipses (or in very special cases on hyperbolas or parabolas). Thus, when we design a space mission, we design the geometry (size, orientation, ellipticity) of these ellipses and we try to connect different ones.
Slide 10 (ENIGMA 2):
These distances are quite large, what can approach the Earth and the Moon so much to represent a danger for Mazem?To answer to this question, distribute ENIGMA 2 to the students and ask them to solve it. All the groups will receive three different sheets, each of them with figure A, B, and C, respectively, and a page with coloured pieces to be cut out.Only one figure between A, B and C can be filled in and matched by the seven coloured pieces.
Depending on the solution, the answer to the question of slide 10 will be:A: AsteroidsB: Asteroids and cometsC: Comets
Slide 11 (SOLUTION):
The solution is B: Asteroids and comets!
You can explain that asteroids, because their orbit around the Sun can change, either rapidly due to a collision with another asteroid or very slowly due to orbital perturbations, as much as to cross the one of the Earth.Also comets, because of their highly elliptical orbit, can approach the Sun and thus intersect the orbit of the Earth.In Spanish, kite is “cometa”.
Slide 12:
Show ESA video on comets and the Rosetta mission linked in the presentation.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AvjKwi9RqA
Slide 13:
A comet is a “snowball” that loses pieces along its orbit. When these pieces meet the Earth’s atmosphere, they become meteors!There are different meteor showers that can be observed during the year.Do you know any? The most spectacular ones are maybe these ones.
Slide 14 and 15 (ENIGMA 3):
Crosswords to be solved.You can distribute to the different groups either crossword of slide 14 or 15, randomly.
Slide 16 (SOLUTION):
Solution of the first crossword.
Slide 17 (SOLUTION):
Solution of the second crossword.
Slide 18:
Go to the website linked in the presentation (https://www.meteorshowers.org/) and show the comet and the associated particles corresponding to a given meteor shower (selecting it on the top left).On the same website, on the bottom left there is a small frame. Click on it and you will see the direction where the meteor stream seems to come from.Explain that Meteor streams are named after the constellation from which they seem to arrive from in the sky.
Slide 19 (ENIGMA 4):
We are not scared of meteor showers, why should Mazem be?
Distribute ENIGMA 4 and ask to solve it: the answer is obtained by solving this rebus. The red letters must be removed, the black ones to be added.
Slide 20 (SOLUTION):
The solution is “atmosphere”.
(cAT + MOSs+P+ wHERE)
Explain that on Earth the atmosphere protects us, because the meteoroid burns and fragments almost completely while traveling at a very high speed through the air. On the Moon, we do not have an atmosphere and thus the meteoroids arrive straight to the surface.
Slide 21:
Show the Video of the formation of meteor crater.
It shows what happens when an asteroid impacts the Earth: part of it burns up in the atmosphere, and what is left creates a crater that generates dust and boulders of different size ejected in the atmosphere at different speeds, and then deposited around the crater. The meteoroids considered in this game do not usually reach the Earth’s surface, or at least do not form a crater, because they are very small and they thus burn completely before reaching the ground. On the other hand, on the Moon, missing a protecting atmosphere, such meteoroids can generate small craters.
Slide 22 (ENIGMA 5):
Now Mazem has understood what is coming, but who sent the message?
Distribute a crossword puzzle to solve as explained: find all the words indicated, the remaining ones will give you the answer.
Image: Enigma 5
Slide 23 (SOLUTION):
The solution is: “A satellite”!The LUMIO mission aims at observing the meteoroids impacting onto the far side of the Moon.
What will it see? It will see flashes due to the impacts, like small explosions.
Slide 24:
Image on the lunar missions.Notice how many there are, the different purposes, countries and rate of success.Explain that satellites in the lunar and cislunar environment are very important for conducting science and gaining a better understanding about the Earth-Moon system, but also to support the astronauts that will live there.
Slide 25-26:
In the future, satellites like LUMIO will support astronauts on the Moon.
Now Mazem receives another message: “find the crater Jules Verne and find shelter there.”Can you see it on the lunar far side map that we have printed?Have you seen how many craters? They are almost all caused by the impact of asteroids or comets on the Moon over its geological history.Each group tries to find the crater on the printed map.
Image: the lunar far side map with Jules Verne crater circled. Credits: Beinahegut, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Slide 27 and 28:
The coordinates of the crater in terms of row and column and circled in red on the map.
Slide 29:
Show different images of craters to show the different sizes and shapes.
Slide 30:
We have reached the end.To open the door of the shelter you must answer these questions:
Possible answers to the above questions:1. It means moving along a closed path (an orbit, almost always an ellipse) around the Sun, held in place by its gravitational attraction. Planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and comets (and artificial satellites) all do this. Moons do the same thing around planets
2. Asteroids, comets and their fragments (meteoroids). On the Moon, with no atmosphere, they reach the surface directly and create craters
3. The Perseids (in August).
4. Some of the possible answers to this open question:
The teacher is free to vary/add the questions.
At the end of the activity (last slide), participants are asked different questions that the teacher can use to evaluate the learning. These questions are provided to test what they have learnt and for an interactive discussion among each other (the last question).
To know more:
You can also read: Celestial Mechanics: The Waltz of Planets, Alessandra Celletti and Ettore Perozzi (Spring Praxis Books).
This work has been funded by the Italian Space Agency through the agreement n. 2024-6-HH.0, CUP n. F43C23000340001, entitled “Supporto scientifico alla missione LUMIO”.
