National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lunar Surface Exploration Guide

Grades 5-8

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

MOON | FOR THE BENEFIT OF HUMANITY

ENGINEERING DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Next Gen STEM-Moon

For more about Next Gen STEM visit www.nasa.gov/stem/nextgenstem/index.html

Education Product

Educators and Students Grades 5-8
Contents

Preface...................................................................................................................................1

STEM Education Standards.................................................................................................1

Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) Strategies..........................................................2

Engineering Design Process...............................................................................................3

Teamwork..............................................................................................................................3

Curriculum Connection........................................................................................................4

Introduction and Background .............................................................................................5

 The Problem with Moon Dust ............................................................................................5

 Drilling on the Moon...........................................................................................................6

 Print a Lunar Habitat..........................................................................................................7

 Extract, Pack, Transport ....................................................................................................8

Activity One: Electrostatic Moon Duster............................................................................9

 Educator Notes..................................................................................................................9

 Student Handout..............................................................................................................14

Activity Two: Drilling on the Moon....................................................................................16

 Educator Notes................................................................................................................16

 Student Handout..............................................................................................................22

Activity Three: Print a Lunar Habitat ................................................................................24

 Educator Notes................................................................................................................24

 Student Handout..............................................................................................................29

Activity Four: Extract, Pack, Transport............................................................................32

 Educator Notes................................................................................................................32

 Student Handout..............................................................................................................38

Appendix A.—Rubric for Engineering Design Process ......................................................43

Appendix B.—Glossary of Key Terms.................................................................................44
Preface

Lunar Surface Exploration was published by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement as part of a series of educator guides to 

help middle school students reach their potential to join the next-generation STEM workforce. The activities are suited for 

both formal and informal education settings as well as for families at home. Each activity is aligned to national standards for 

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and the NASA messaging is current as of June 2023.

STEM EDUCATION STANDARDS

The STEM disciplines matrix shown below aligns each activity in this module to standards for teaching STEM according to 

four primary focus areas within each discipline. The four focus areas for science were adapted from the Next Generation 

Science Standards (NGSS) middle school disciplinary core ideas. The four focus areas for technology were adapted from 

the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students. The four focus areas for engineering 

were adapted from the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) and NGSS science and engineering practices. The 

four focus areas for mathematics were adapted from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Math middle school 

content standards by domain. 

STEM Disciplines

Activity

Science Technology Engineering Math

NGSS Disciplinary

Core Ideas ISTE Standards for 

Students

NSTA and NGSS

Practices CCSS Content Standards

by Domain

Physical SciencesLife SciencesEarth and Space SciencesEngineering, Technology, and the Application of SciencesKnowledge Constructor Innovative DesignerComputational ThinkerGlobal CollaboratorAsk Questions and Define ProblemsDevelop and Use ModelsPlan and Carry Out InvestigationsConstruct Explanations and Design SolutionsRatios and Proportional RelationshipsThe Number SystemStatistics and ProbabilityGeometry

Activity 1 

Electrostatic Moon Duster P P P P P P P P P P P

Activity 2 

Drilling on the Moon P P P P P P P

Activity 3 

Print a Lunar Habitat P P P P P P P P

Activity 4 

Sample Return Mission P P P P P P P P P P P P P

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CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE EDUCATION (CRE) 

There are six culturally responsive strategies for student engagement. The table below shows the cultural capital approach 

and corresponding icon, and indicates how strategies are integrated throughout the guide. Each example corresponds to at 

least one of six major strategies as noted below and recommended for best practices in CRE. 

Section Title (page #) CRE Strategy CRE Tips

Activity One, Two, Three, 

and Four: Introduce the 

Challenge 

(pg.9, 16, 24, 32)

Making Cultural Connections

y The students are introduced to the challenge using

a video

y Allow opportunity to activate prior knowledge and

offer complementary sources such as a video

Teamwork section 

(pg.3) Power and Participation

y Consider assigning teams team roles. An example

is found in the Teamwork section of the guide

Glossary of key terms 

(pg.44)

Activity One - ask section

(pg.11)

Share Section of

each activity 

(pg.13,21,28,36)

Language and Communications

y Give students a copy of the glossary or make it

accessible to all students

y Have students share information or examples in

groups

y Have students present their final designs to other

groups in the class

Engineering Design 

Process Rubric 

pg. 43

Ask section for 

each activity 

(pg.11,19,26,35)

High Expectations

y There is a rubric provided that may be used for

grading

y Student inquiry and critical thinking can be

promoted by asking students to make predictions,

which can then be tested

y Cooperative learning that promotes problem

solving

Plan and Create sections 

for each activity 

(pg.12,20,26,36) Student Identity and Funds of 

Knowledge

y Students design their own prototype to solve a

specific challenge. Throughout the planning and

creating sections, students are given questions

that allow them to self-reflect about their design.

Share sections for each 

activity (pg.13,21,28,36)

Critical Knowledge and 

Social Justice

y Make connection to personal/community/cultural

knowledge and role models from the community

y In this activity, the Brain Booster gives students

more information about engineers and what they

do. Students can find engineers in their community

to ask questions.

Sangam, D., Collins, K.H., & Huling, L. (2023). Identifying and Utilizing Cultural Capital Approach to Implement Culturally 

Responsive Strategies. STEM Research White Paper Series, Vol.6 No.1, LBJ Institute for STEM Education and Research, 

Texas State University. https://lbj-stem.education.txst.edu/Research-and-Publications.html

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ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS

The Engineering Design Process (EDP) is crucial to mission success at NASA. The EDP is an iterative process involving a 

series of steps that engineers use to guide them as they solve problems. Students can use the seven steps outlined below 

for many of the activities in this guide. Learn more about the EDP with astronauts Tom Marshburn and Matthias Maurer 

aboard the International Space Station at www.nasa.gov/stem-content/stemonstrations-engineering-design-process/. 

ASK: Identify the problem, the requirements that must be met, and the constraints that must be considered.

IMAGINE: Brainstorm solutions and research what others have done in the past.

PLAN : Select and sketch a design.

CREATE: Build a model or a prototype.

TEST: Evaluate solutions by testing and collecting data.

IMPROVE: Refine the design.

SHARE: Communicate and discuss the process and solutions as a group.

Create

Plan

Ask Imagine Test Share

Improve

TEAMWORK

Everyone is a scientist and an engineer! It is important that everyone on the team be able to participate and contribute 

throughout these activities. If one student does all the building, the other students may be very bored during the building 

process. If one student is the leader, other students may not have a chance to share their ideas. Here are some possible 

roles that students can take: 

Student Role Description

Communications and 

Outreach

Takes notes on all team decisions and actions for use in a final presentation. If a camera is available, takes video and/or photos throughout the investigation or challenge for use in a final presentation.

Logistics Makes sure that the team has all the resources they need, that resources are distributed fairly, and that the team knows when 

resources are running low. 

Mission Assurance Makes sure the team is following the plan. Keeps track of time and makes sure that everyone has a chance to have their 

voice heard.

Safety Ensures all team members are wearing their safety goggles and following safety protocols. 

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CURRICULUM CONNECTION 

In this module, students will take on the role of scientists and engineers that will lead the way in lunar surface exploration. 

Artemis III will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface in an area that humans have not yet 

traversed: the lunar South Pole. This is the ideal location for a future base camp given its potential access to ice and other 

mineral resources. The unexplored south polar regions provide unique opportunities to unlock secrets about the history and 

evolution of the Earth and Moon, as well as our solar system. NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative is a technology 

development portfolio to ensure human and robotic exploration on the Moon. Each activity in this module will allow 

students to discover problems encountered as well as solutions as we explore the lunar surface. Each activity encourages 

collaboration to apply the engineering design process to lunar surface exploration and provides a variety of additional 

resources to help the educator and student experience what it's like to be a NASA scientist and engineer in lunar surface 

operations.

The spinoff highlights below are NASA technologies that benefit life on Earth in the form 

of commercial products. There have been more than 2,000 spinoffs highlighted since 1976; 

therefore, there is more space in your life than you could ever imagine!

Measuring Moon Dust to Fight Air Pollution 

Moon dust isn’t like the stuff that collects on a bookshelf 

or on tables – it’s ubiquitous and abrasive, and it clings to 

everything. It’s so bad that it even broke the vacuum NASA 

designed to clean the Moon dust off Apollo spacesuits.

With NASA’s return to the Moon and its orbit, we will need 

to manage the dust, which is dangerous for people too. The 

first step is knowing how much dust is around at any given 

time. Efforts to assess that are already paying off on Earth in 

the fight against air pollution.

Working as a contributor on a NASA NextSTEP lunar habitat 

project, a NASA Spinoff company developed an air-quality 

sensor system to detect and measure the amount of lunar 

dust in the air. The same technology now also detects 

pollutants on Earth.

Above: While astronaut Gene Cernan was on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission, 

his spacesuit collected loads of lunar dust. Credits: NASA. Right: The Space Canary sensor 

developed by a NASA Spinoff company can detect the ultra-fine lunar dust particles inside 

a habitat, alerting astronauts should an elevated level of contamination occur. Adapted for 

use on Earth, the same technology, now renamed the Canary S, can monitor forest fire 

emissions, evaluate urban air quality, and more. Credit: Lunar Outpost 

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With NASA’s Help, the Moon Becomes a 

Commercial Destination

The first of many commercial landers are headed to the 

Moon, paving the way for future missions. On a Houstonbased company’s first trip to the Moon under NASA’s 

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, its 

Nova-C lunar lander will carry both experimental NASA 

technologies and several other payloads from commercial 

customers. The International Lunar Observatory Association, 

for example, bought a ticket for a pair of cameras that 

will precede the organization’s flagship project – a space 

observatory on the Moon. Other commercial cargo includes 

a camera system designed by university students, a time 

capsule containing data from a million customers, and a 

NASA Spinoff company newest reflective insulation for 

testing in the harsh lunar environment. But NASA will be this 

mission’s biggest customer, sending science and technology 

payloads to pave the way for future lunar activities, such 

as demonstrations of new landing navigation technology, 

cameras to see how lunar dust interacts with engine plumes, 

and a device to determine how much interference radio 

antennas will experience on the Moon. This is the first of 

three landers that will be sent to the Moon under NASA’s 

CLPS initiative. More than a dozen other companies have 

also been selected as part of the CLPS vendor pool, and all 

have the chance to compete for lunar delivery services via 

task orders. 

One of the commercial partners will test the ability of its new Omni-Heat Infinity thermalreflective technology to protect parts of the first Nova-C lander to touch down on the Moon. 

Credit: Intuitive Machines LLC

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 

NASA must overcome several challenges to explore and inhabit the surface of the Moon. These challenges include dealing

with Moon dust, finding resources, building infrastructure, and finding, handling, and transporting fuels. 

NASA’s exploration of the Moon has always been made possible by working with American companies, and the return to 

the lunar surface through the Artemis program will continue this collaboration. Through the Commercial Lunar Payload 

Services (CLPS) initiative, NASA is working with companies to deliver scientific, exploration, and technology payloads to 

the Moon’s surface and orbit. The CLPS model aims to enable new avenues of completing high-value/high–priority scientific 

investigations and exploration while expanding the lunar economy and build a marketplace on the Moon, where NASA 

will be one of many customers, along with universities and international partners, sending payloads to the Moon. NASA’s 

goals for CLPS are to enable science at and about the Moon using low- to mid-size commercial landers; enabling NASA to 

advance technologies and systems on the lunar surface; and to develop a commercial community of service providers for 

Artemis.

In 2018, nine U.S. companies were selected to be part of a pool of vendors eligible to bid on contracts. A year later, 

five more vendors were added, bringing the total of CLPS participants to 14. The first payloads heading to the Moon 

through CLPS are being launched ahead of crewed missions to help NASA better understand how to operate in the lunar 

environment before landing the next generation of explorers. There are now numerous commercial partners who all offer 

unique contributions to Commercial Lunar Payload Services. Visit the CLPS website at www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunarpayload-services to see all the other technologies being developed that are just waiting for applications here on Earth.

The Problem with Moon Dust 

During the Apollo missions, astronauts faced a high risk 

of dust-related damage to space hardware and astronaut 

health. The lunar surface is covered by a layer of dust 

particles called regolith. The lunar regolith, or lunar dust

as it is commonly called, was created over billions of years 

by the bombardment of the solid lunar crust by meteoroids, 

solar UV flux, solar wind, and radiation. During impacts 

from micrometeorites, some of the surface particles formed 

into something called agglutinates, which are fused particles 

of impact glass, rock, and mineral fragments. These dust 

particles can be stirred up during robotic and human 

exploration activities or released by natural processes such 

as meteorite impacts. Apollo astronauts noted that lunar 

dust particles readily stuck to surfaces such as spacesuits, 

optical lenses, and thermal blankets, causing numerous 

problems. Apollo mission spacesuits were damaged by 

abrasive lunar dust, and several astronauts noted that 

Moon dust was resistant to cleaning efforts; even vigorous 

brushing could not remove it. Mission documents from 

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Astronaut and geologist Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt collects a soil sample during an Apollo 

17 EVA Credits: NASA 

Drilling on the Moon

As NASA travels to the Moon and beyond, there is a plan to 

put in place a sustainable infrastructure. This will allow for 

the exploration and study of more of the Moon. Astronauts 

will live and work in space for longer periods of time, which 

means that their access to supplies will be less immediate. 

But what if we could generate products from local materials 

that are on the Moon’s surface? This practice is called insitu resource utilization (ISRU). 

Before Artemis astronauts land on the Moon, robots will 

scout the surface and collect information about the South 

Pole. The Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 

(PRIME-1) will be the first in-situ resource utilization 

demonstration on the Moon. The data from PRIME-1 will 

help scientists understand in-situ resources and will help 

NASA’s search for water on the Moon poles. PRIME-1 will 

help identify and assess the abundance and quality of water 

in an area expected to contain ice.

the six Apollo missions that landed on the lunar surface 

have been studied to catalog the effects of lunar dust on 

Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) systems, primarily the Apollo 

surface space suit. It was found that the effects could 

be sorted into nine categories: vision obscuration, false 

instrument readings, dust coating and contamination, loss 

of traction, clogging of mechanisms, abrasion, thermal 

control problems, seal failures, and inhalation and irritation. 

Although simple dust mitigation measures were sufficient 

to mitigate some of the problems (i.e., loss of traction) 

it was found that these measures were ineffective to 

mitigate many of the more serious problems (i.e., clogging, 

abrasion, diminished heat rejection). The severity of the dust 

problems was consistently underestimated by ground tests, 

indicating a need to develop better simulation facilities and 

procedures. 

Fortunately, today NASA is exploring use of non-contact, 

electrostatic, dust-charging technology to protect the 

Agency’s important space assets without restricting 

mission parameters. NASA’s Artemis program will develop 

extensive resources on the Moon starting in 2024 and will 

require advanced technologies to enable a sustained lunar 

presence. Mitigation of lunar dust adhesion will be central 

to these efforts and to Artemis’s success. However, lunar 

dust exhibits several characteristics that make it difficult to 

remove. For example, unlike Earth, the Moon does not have 

an atmosphere and magnetic field to protect its surface from 

impacts and solar radiation. The solar wind can electrically 

charge dust particles on the Moon, causing the charged 

particles to stick to each other and to other surfaces. In 

addition, lunar dust particles are very jagged and rough, 

which also increases their “sticking power.” In the first lesson 

of this guide, students will identify the properties of lunar 

dust that make it a big problem on the lunar surface and use 

the engineering design process to create a dust mitigation 

device.

An artist's concept of the completed design of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar 

Exploration Rover, or VIPER. Credits: NASA/Daniel Rutter

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After the PRIME-1 mission, the Volatiles Investigating Polar 

Exploration Rover (VIPER )will explore the relatively nearby 

but extreme environment of the Moon in search of ice and 

other potential resources. VIPER will directly look for water 

as a usable resource on the surface and subsurface of 

the Moon at varying depths and temperature conditions. 

VIPER’s findings will inform future landing sites under 

Artemis by helping to determine locations where water and 

other resources can be harvested to support a long-term 

presence on the Moon.

VIPER’s instruments all use spectrometers, scientific tools 

that look at light emitted or absorbed by materials to help 

identify their composition. The Neutron Spectrometer 

System (NSS) will indirectly detect potential water present 

in soil. The Regolith and Ice Drilling Exploring New Terrains 

(TRIDENT) will dig up soil cuttings from as much as three 

feet below the lunar surface. The Near-Infrared Volatiles 

Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) can tell the nature 

of hydrogen in the lunar soil. The Mass Spectrometer 

Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) will assess the gases 

in the environment after touchdown to understand which 

ones are from the lunar surface and which are introduced 

by the lander itself. All the instruments work together to 

accomplish the mission’s goal of prospecting for resources 

like water on the Moon. In the second activity of this guide, 

students will be challenged to compare the properties of 

ice to simulated icy-regolith on the Moon’s south pole and 

design and build a drill bot that will be able to drill through 

simulated icy-regolith.

Print a Lunar Habitat

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) can also be used on a 

much larger scale. The infrastructure required for a base to 

support sustained missions on the lunar surface will involve 

large scale construction projects. Large storage facilities 

will need to be built that will contain materials and resources 

harvested and produced on the Moon. Landing pads and 

roads will need to be constructed to mitigate the abrasive 

regolith that could be blown around during launches and 

landings and picked up through general transportation. 

Finally, habitats would need to be constructed that would 

not only provide the space needed for astronauts to 

live and work, but also provide safety from the constant 

bombardment of solar and cosmic radiation.

It would be virtually impossible to transport from Earth the 

resources needed to build this infrastructure. Instead, NASA 

and its partners have been developing ways to use lunar 

regolith as a basis for creating concrete-like material on the 

Moon. Turning this lunar concrete into structures will be 

accomplished by new additive manufacturing techniques. 

NASA partners are already working on the architectural 

designs for a lunar base camp and developing the 

automated 3D printers that will be used on the lunar surface 

to create them. These technologies are being tested in a 

large vacuum chamber using lunar simulant (i.e., simulated 

lunar regolith) to closely mirror the conditions of the lunar 

surface. In the third activity, the students will understand 

the necessity of ISRU and design and construct a model 

lunar habitat using simulated lunar concrete in an additive 

manufacturing process.

Team AI SpaceFactory's printer autonomously inserts a window into their 3D-printed subscale habitat structure at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, held at the Caterpillar Edwards 

Demonstration & Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois, May 1-4, 2019 Credits: NASA

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Extract, Pack, Transport

Many discoveries were made about the Moon and the 

history of our Solar System during the Apollo missions. 

Much of this knowledge comes from the rock samples the 

astronauts brought back with them from the Moon. Before 

their missions, the astronauts went through training to 

recognize different types of rocks and their significance. 

NASA’s vision for space exploration calls for a return to the 

Moon before going to Mars and beyond. We’ll learn how to 

“live off the land” by making oxygen and rocket propellants, 

also known as cryogenic propellants, and we’ll be testing 

new technologies and operations. Cryogenic propellants 

must be stored at a constant temperature to prevent fuel 

loss due to “boil off.” What is “boil off?” Since the Sun is 

heating the storage facility, the cold liquid wants to expand. 

Boil off is the vaporization of a liquid when it is being 

heated by its natural surroundings. On Earth, at normal 

room temperatures, this would be called evaporation. But 

in space, where the atmospheric pressure is different and 

the fuel is stored at such cold temperatures, it turns into a 

vapor and is vented into space to prevent the storage facility 

from exploding. Why are cryogenic propellants a benefit to 

spaceflight? They dramatically increase the amount of the 

energy density of the propellant and the efficiency of the 

engines. As NASA seeks paths for human space exploration 

of multiple potential destinations such as the Moon, 

asteroids, the Lagrange points, Mars, and beyond, highperformance and highly efficient technologies are crucial.

Living and working on the Moon will be a test run for living 

and working on Mars and beyond. In the last lesson of this 

guide, you will locate and simulate the mining of ilmenite, 

a mineral composed of iron and titanium oxide, which is a 

major resource for its oxygen on the surface of the Moon. 

You will then collect the oxygen that is extracted from the 

ilmenite and be challenged to build a cold storage and 

transfer system to store and safely transfer the fuel to a 

spacecraft.

Artist’s rendering of astronauts conducting science and exploration activities on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA

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