Mars Yard Mission Simulation
This resource introduces a Mars Rover mission at the Open University (OU) in the UK. The OU has developed a simulated Martian landscape and a rover that reacts to your commands in the same way a real rover on Mars would.
In 2024/2025, the OU ran a project to increase the flexibility of the facility for more frequent use outside the OU curriculum, and reduce staff time needed to run the activity. This was funded by the UK Space Agency through the Space Universities Network.
Learn more about the activity and how it can be adapted for your course in our webinar by Professor Susanne Schwenzer and Dr Ben Dryer from the OU below. This webinar runs for around an hour.
- 1. Learning Outcomes
- 2. How to Use the OU's Mars Yard
- 3. Adapting the Mars Yard Activity to Your Course
- 4. Participant Reviews
This activity primarily aims to demonstrate a teamwork activity in a real-life scenario.
- Students learn to use a simulation of an authentic rover planning interface and rover operations team structure developed based on expert experience as members of NASA rover teams.
- All students will have had to handle themselves in time-pressured situation and make decisions with incomplete information.
- Students concentrate on rover operations and science, allowing teamworking and time management skills to develop organically alongside.
- Students report higher confidence in presenting data and facts in front of others
- Students report higher confidence in making points of discussion and contributing is decision making.
- Following method of assessment used by the OU, students are encourage to reflect on their strengths and how to further improve them, but also to reflect on their areas for improvement,
- Students learn how to ask precise questions and get the answer to the problem they are trying to solve
- Students learn to search for information.
- Students learn how to combine information that they find with existing knowledge that they have to put the puzzle together.
- Students learn how to be team-reliant
At the OU, the Mars Yard Activity runs over 7 days, with up to 5 hours of engagement per day.
The typical format is as follows:
- Saturday Afternoon: Briefing
- Sunday Afternoon: Drop In Session
- Sunday-Thursday Evening: Mission Planning (Live Time)
- Monday-Friday: Data Downlink Processing (Asynchronous)
- Friday Evening – Debrief and Wrap-Up
The team at the OU are open to developing different formats to fit within user needs.
What is the setting of the mission?
The activity is a real rover, in a real landscape. Participants can see the map, and thus a rough size.
The rover has real cameras, with all images directly from the mission.
The rover drives where the participants tell it to go, in any direction. And they will see the tracks in the sand.
It retrieves data from an archive of real Martian data from the Curiosity and Mars Exploration Rover missions.
Just like rover operations on Mars, there is no ‘answer’ and many possible paths the mission can take, with decision making starting on day one and going non-stop until the end of the mission.
The mission in the scenario has goals that can be fullfilled regardless of the route taken!
Participants are split into 6 subteams: Mission Lead, Mission Science, Drivers, APSX, LIBS, MastCam for the duration of the mission
Live sessions are held using Adobe Connect and a forum is provided for asynchronous communications.
How can participants control and get data from the rover?
The OU provides a web interface where each subteam can develop plans for their subsystem. The mission lead team is responsible for bringing this all together and making sure the power used by each team is available.
The data requested is also made available to each subteam, with them being responsible for sharing it to the the rest of the team.
The team at the OU is interested in enabling more student teams to participate in the activity.
How can the OU Mars Yard timeline be adapted for your course?
The current method of operation works best for the students at the OU, but they are interested to develop other operating modes with partners.
The OU team have previously run a compressed timescale with several planning sessions per day, condensing the activity into a few days.
The team have also recognised the potential for a more relaxed delivery of the activity over a few weeks – suggesting something like one planning session per week to fit with typical lab schedules.
Open and flexible for other ideas – including new and different scenarios!
How can the OU Mars Yard fit into and help delivery of your desired learning outcomes?
They can modify how the data is delivered from instruments to help students with analysis
They can introduce ‘crises’ into the mission and help to support the team to overcome these.
Contact Ben Dryer at the OU to work out how to adapt the activity into your course.
“The activity helps to learn about the instruments [on Curiosity] as well as improving teamworking skills and confidence. Also, you can learn a lot more about geology and other disciplines. I realised I can speak in-front of a large-ish group of strangers (who became my friends during the week) and I really enjoyed the activity”
3rd Year Undergraduate in Geology/Space Science
“I would strongly recommend this to academics at my institution. This activity is a great way to understand what it is like to be in the room that shapes up our understanding of the universe. I got a chance to bring forth everything I could offer to make the mission work and be a part of an incredibly talented team. I was able to finally understand and apply the theory I have learned in my education all these years.”
Masters Student in Space Science
“The rover simulation was a hands-on, learn-as-you-go, experience that was interactive and really fun! I learnt a lot about myself, mission operations and teamwork. If this becomes available again for students outside of the OU, I would really recommend [anyone] applies!”
PhD candidate in Planetary Science Instrumentation
“Mars Yard is one of my favourite experiences to date. Going from a rag-tag group of nervous students and professionals into a well-oiled machine over the course of the week was hugely eye-opening, and getting the opportunity to practice my specialist skills with the advice of industry experts was invaluable. You won’t find a better opportunity to get hands-on in a real team to achieve real goals on a real rover.”