What future awaits us if we do not take action against climate change? CHANGE TO ANOTHER PLANET

Tackling climate change and promoting sustainable development are two mutually reinforcing sides of the same coin; sustainable development will not be achieved without action against climate change. Conversely, many of the SDGs address the drivers of climate change.

My school has designed and implemented a project called “An interplanetary travel” thanks to the collaboration of the ESERO Spain which provides us with a kit of materials for our purpose.

The project is structured in different parts:

-First, we ask our students what will happen if we do not take care of our planet today by recreating a radio program.

Through a previous brainstorm the students consider the possibility of colonizing other planets of the Solar System in order to survive.

-Second, to be able to choose the ideal future home, they must investigate various planets that match the requirements for the human being to live and do experiments in order to detect the existence of life.

-Third, while some students are dedicated to designing and selling one-way tickets for this new place, through the creation of their own travel agency, and all the logistics involved others are dedicated to studying how to plan that trip . Subsequently, the "clients" select the agency that provides the best services.

-Fourth, for the planning of the trip it is necessary that our students become spaceship engineers to design the space vehicle and the pertinent tests for its takeoff.

To be able to build that spacecraft, it is necessary to investigate the different properties of the materials to find the perfect features that the different parts of the space vehicle must have: impact resistance, magnetism, densities, electrical properties and thermal conductivity, etc. and select the suitable ones to carry it out both the water rocket and the reentry capsule are designed and tested in an open field. The idea is to land in our future home.

-Fifth, calculations are made for the different phases of our trip: launch phase, space phase and reentry phase. (Level adapted for high school students). For the reentry phase the parachute is designed and tested with an egg so that it can land without breaking.

-Sixth, the students study the possible health consequences of future colonizers.

For this we propose to design, through Arduino programming, an automatic irrigation of plants to be able to self-supply water and not waste it, making use of humidity sensors.

-And finally, all student groups teach their peers the achievements through exhibitions.