What is the relationship between Earth and the Moon?

The Moon revolves around, or orbits, the Earth. We know that it takes approximately 27 days for the Moon to complete one round trip of Earth. Similar to Earth, the Moon rotates on it's axis as it travels. One word frequently used when people compare the Earth and the Moon is gravity. 

What is gravity? Gravity is a force. Forces are things that cause actions or movements. In the case of gravity, the movements of things (whether they be people or objects), tends to be towards the centre of the Earth. If you drop a pen standing up, it falls to the ground due to gravity. The gravity on the Moon is less than the gravity on Earth. In this episode, we will examine what this might mean if we were on the Moon, or if we wanted something to land there!

Did you know? There are lots of Moons. Some planets like Jupiter even have 79 known Moons. However, when we talk about "the moon", we tend to be talking about Earth's Moon. 

Based on all of this information, it is clear that there are a lot of things that we know about space but there is also a lot more that we want to know. A fantastic way to be involved in learning more about the unknowns of space would be to become an astronaut. Luckily for us, we are joined in this episode by Dr Norah Patten. She wants to be Irelands first ever astronaut and has even participated in a scientist-astronaut training programme.  In this episode we will hear all about Norah’s journey and her experiences to date. 

Before you begin to watch the episode, please gather the equipment you will need for the maker challenge:

So, if you have your equipment ready, let's go and learn more with the DreamSpace team and their special guest, Dr Norah Patten.

Hopefully, now you can attempt to: 

  • Plan and construct your very own lunar lander
  • Create a parachute for your lander to see if it would assist in a softer landing
  • Test your lander with a boiled egg to assess the impact the landing has. If the egg cracks can you change around your design to prevent this happening again. 
  • Complete Norah's challenge and build a habitat on the Moon taking all of her guidelines into consideration.

Download our planning sheets here to help with the preparation of your lunar landers and to note anything you learn along the way.