[♪ INTRO]
[Jessi] Hey there!
We were just playing with Squeaks’ remote control car!
Say…I noticed that your car has really big tires.
I don’t remember them being so big when we bought it.
[Sam] Ah-ha! I’m glad you noticed.
The car had a little trouble going over bumpy spots on the ground.
So Squeaks and I thought about things we could do to fix that problem.
And we worked together to find an answer.
It took a couple of tries … but we found that the bigger tires help a lot!
[Jessi] What a great solution!
I had no idea that you and Squeaks were such great engineers.
[Squeaks squeaks]
[Jessi] Oh, an engineer is someone who identifies problems,
and then designs ways to solve them.
And that’s exactly what you and Sam did!
In fact, remember how we were talking about the Mars rovers?
The remote control vehicles that we use to study Mars?
[Squeaks squeaks]
Well, engineers once solved a problem really similar to yours!
Engineers noticed that the wheels on the rover Curiosity
were starting to wear out faster than they expected.
That’s because the surface of Mars is super rough and bumpy.
So when they were designing the next Mars rover, Perseverance, they made some
changes to the design and added new wheels that were bigger and thicker.
And engineers are always thinking of ways to make their designs even better.
Especially for things like Mars rovers,
since we still have lots of things we want to learn about Mars.
We’d like to send even more rovers to help us study it.
Let’s be engineers today and design our own Mars rovers!
[Sam] Okay!
[Jessi] Great!
The first thing we need to do is to think about what things we want our rover to do.
Let’s each think of one thing!
Okay — let’s share our ideas!
Mars is super cold compared to Earth.
So I think the rover should be able to keep itself warm
so the tools on board don’t freeze.
[Sam] Ah, cool idea!
[Jessi] What’s your idea, Squeaks?
[Squeaks squeaks]
[Jessi] Squeaks says he thinks the Rover should be able to drive really fast
so it can cover a lot of area every day.
Oooh, that’s a good idea.
How about your idea, Sam?
[Sam] I think the Rover should be able to help figure out
why the dirt on Mars is red.
[Squeaks squeaks] [Jessi] Ooh, I like that idea, too!
Let’s use that as our problem.
How can the rover help scientists figure out why the dirt is red?
Okay, it’s time to use our imaginations!
Let’s split up and each come up with a design to solve this problem!
Grab a pencil and paper, and I’ll meet you back here in a little while!
[Sam] Sounds good!
[Jessi] Alright, now for my favorite part: Sharing ideas!
Sam, why don’t you go first?
[Sam] I think we can find out why the dirt is red by looking at it more closely.
So my rover has tools on board like magnifying glasses
and microscopes that can help us see things better.
[Jessi] I love this design!
How about you, Squeaks?
[Squeaks squeaks]
[Jessi] Oh!
Squeaks says the rover should be able to taste the dirt.
Maybe it has a flavor that makes it red!
So he’s included a tool that acts like a robotic tongue!
That’s awesome!
[Sam] How about your design, Jessi?
[Jessi] Oh, well, I think that the Rover should be able to bring back some dirt
to Earth so scientists can study it up close.
So my Rover has a scoop that it can use to dig up some dirt!
[Sam] Whoa, that’s a great idea, Jessi!
[Jessi] Thank you!
Wow, we came up with three different ways to solve the problem.
That’s exactly what engineers do!
If we were really going to try out any of these ideas to send them to Mars,
our next step would be to build a model.
Engineers and scientists use models to see how well their solutions work.
So, for example, we might build a model rover
with a robotic tongue, like yours, Squeaks.
Then we would try it out somewhere on Earth
that’s a little like Mars, like the desert.
If that worked well for helping us learn about the dirt on Earth,
it would probably work well on Mars, too.
So we’d add it to our design.
[Squeaks squeaks]
You can think like an engineer, too!
All you need to do is to come up with a problem to solve.
Then imagine a way to solve it … and draw out your design!
Have more than one idea?
Then you can make more than one design.
[Sam] Oh, I think I have another idea!
[Jessi] Awesome!
Let go and make some more designs!
Thanks to our partner, the Museum of Science,
for collaborating with us on this episode of SciShow Kids.
Are you interested in exploring Mars in your own Mars Rover?
Mission: Mars on Roblox from the Museum of Science gives you that opportunity!
You can discover the wonders of Mars as you build a rover,
explore massive canyons, and search for ice in this exciting experience,
designed using scientific data from NASA.
Thanks again to the Museum of Science,
and thanks for joining us today here at the Fort.
[Sam] See ya!
[♪ OUTRO]