The dark side of the moon

#1332
13 Jun 2019
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Classes with students, Popular science, STEM

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These are the lunar phases we see.

content picture

🌑 = new moon
🌒 = waxing crescent
🌓 = first quarter
🌔 = waxing gibbous (approaching full moon)
🌕 = full moon
🌖 = waning gibbous (past full moon)
🌗 = third (final) quarters
🌘 = waning crescent

When we look at the sky during night time, and not only, we can see the moon. Few of you probably know, however, that we only ever see one side of it all the time.

Just as you see in the image above, one side of the moon is always facing us. You can picture it more so like a coin that always turns it's one side towards us, but we know there is another side as well. We call it the dark side of the moon.

People frequently call it "the dark side" of the moon, but that is false. This is because the entire moon is evenly lit. This is why we cannot see the moon during a new moon - it's opposite side is fully lit.

This "lockdown" of The Moons and Earth's spin is called "synchronous spinning".

Luna 3 is the first autonomous spacecraft sent in 1959 to tour the moon and take pictures of a side we never see. There were difficulties on this mission and some of the equipment was shut off before the spacecraft even reached the moon, causing an unplanned 10-degree drop in the spacecraft's temperature. After the spacecraft circled the moon, the signal to Earth was too weak to send the photos and had to be pointed to Earth so it can send the photos before it burnt in the ozone layer.

Courses and lessons with this Tutorial

This Tutorial is used in the following courses and lessons

Robotics with LEGO - Level 1.0 - Adventure in Space

The first level of the Robotics with LEGO curriculum for students in fifth to twelfth grades.

Various constructions with robots are built. Learn how to control the motors so that the robot navigates around the Moon and Earth in various ways. Getting to know the first two sensors. The robot can feel its surroundings with the help of the Touch sensor and avoid obstacles.
The Ultrasonic distance sensor can help the robot avoid obstacles. Students work with concepts like loop, degrees and medium motor. Robots can now do two different actions at the same time - while solving missions on a field, the third motor clears detected obstacles.

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Lesson 2 - The far side of the Moon

Introduction

Level A1. Introduction. Robotics with LEGO

Introduction to robotics - The first level of the Robotics with LEGO curriculum for students in second, third or fourth grades. A journey in space, with robots. Various constructions with robots are built. Learn how to control the motors so that the robot navigates around the Sun, the Moon and Earth in various ways. Getting to know the first of the sensors. The robot can feel its surroundings with the help of the Touch sensor and avoid obstacles.

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Lesson 4 - Lap around the Moon

Introduction

Today the robot we are building is a spaceship once again. The aim for today, however, is exact - to reach the further (dark) side of the moon!

Where is located the dark side? Why is it so hard to be reached? Why is it called "dark"?

Python with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 - Level 1

The course introduces students to the programming language Python. We use LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Robots. Python is a popular programming language. It could be used for introducing students to programming, for academic studies, for developing machine learning algorithms and as a general-purpose language.

During the course, students learn how to read and how to develop Python programs. They use an Integrated Development Environment called Visual Studio Code. Robots are programmed to perform interesting and funny tasks like "bringing you water". The level ends with competition on a playing field with boxes.

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Lesson 3 - Luna 3

Introduction

Today we are going to look at a favorite historic moment of ours, namely the Moon landing by the Luna 3 spaceship. Our robot is also called Luna 3 and we will choose an object to represent The Moon.

The robot will go around the "Moon", take a picture and return to base. We will take the picture with a phone set to "continuous shot" or a timer.

If you work fast, you will have a picture at the end of the lesson that you can use to remember it.

[In Development] The fun level - Game-oriented introduction to LEGO robotics

A level, designed for introduction in LEGO-robotics, focused mostly on games. We use goal-oriented challenges to make the students want to accomplish a certain task, learning a lot in the process. Some of the games we have included here are football, bowling, paper-plane competition and many more. It is suitable for studens 8 to 12 years old, but even older students will have a lot of fun with the activities.

This is a brand new course that we are experimenting with in a groups in June 2019. Keep in mind that it is possible to use it for summer camps and groups, but there are a few lessons that will be improved on the fly.