SPACE EXPLORATION MERIT BADGE

MMU

Welcome to the Home Page for Space Exploration. This Web site provides you with all the information you need to complete the Boy Scout Space Exploration Merit Badge, along with links to more information that is either useful or way fun.

On this page you will find the requirements for the merit badge, listed below. For each requirement there are links to my pages, or NASA's pages or others, that provide you with the information you need to complete the requirement.

This merit badge is too cool for words. Launching your own rocket, one that you built yourself, is so much fun you may become addicted. There is a lot of research to do - and the more you learn the more interesting it gets. This web site will make it much easier to get started, and once you're started you won't want to stop.

Enough talk. Buckle in and let's go!

LAUNCH

INTO REQUIREMENTS

Merit Badge Requirements

  1. Tell the purpose of space exploration and include the following:
    1. Historical reason
    2. Immediate goals in terms of specific knowledge
    3. Benefits related to Earth resources, technology, and new products

    Go To Reasons for Space Exploration

  2. Tell about the main steps in humanity's movement into space and tell the contributions of these individuals: Jules Verne, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth, and Wernher von Braun.

    Go To History of Space Travel
    Go To History of Space Exploration
    Go To Time Line of Space Exploration
    Go To NASA Historical Archive for Manned Missions

  3. Build, launch, and recover a model rocket. Make a second launch to accomplish a specific objective. (Rocket must be built to meet the safety code of the National Association of Rocketry.) Identify and explain the following rocket parts.
    1. Body tube
    2. Engine mount
    3. Fins
    4. Igniter
    5. Launch lug
    6. Nose cone
    7. Payload
    8. Recovery system
    9. Rocket Engine

    Go To The Flight of the Rocket
    Go To Model Rocket Assembly
    Go To National Association of Rocketry: Model & High Power Rocketry
    Go To NAR -- Model Rocket Safety Code
    Go To Altitude Estimation
    Go To Rocket Launch Checklists
    Go To Glossary of Model Rocketry

  4. Discuss and demonstrate each of the following:
    1. The law of action-reaction
    2. How rocket engines work
    3. How satellites stay in orbit
    4. How satellite pictures of the Earth and pictures of other planets are made and transmitted

    Go To Newton's Laws
    Go To Rocket Propulsion
    Go To How Orbits Work
    Go To How Fast Is Fast?
    Go To Satellite Pictures

  5. Discuss what has been learned about the Moon and planets by manned and unmanned spacecraft exploration and the possible benefits of new knowledge. Do TWO of the following:
    1. Construct a data table of recent information about the planets. For each planet, give important facts, including distance from the Sun, period of revolution, rotation, number of moons, etc.
    2. Make a scrapbook of magazine photographs and news clippings about planetary research.
    3. Design a spacecraft that will be sent on a mission to another planet to take samples of its surface and return them to Earth. Name the planet your spacecraft will visit; and, in your design, show how the spacecraft will work and cope with the environment of that planet.

    Go To How to Design Your Spacecraft
    Go To Views of the Solar System

  6. Describe the purpose and operation of the space shuttle. Discuss the following:
    1. Main components
    2. Typical mission profile
    3. Payloads

    Go To Space Shuttle
    Go To Shuttle Flights to Date

  7. Design an Earth-orbiting space station. Make drawings or a model of your station. Within your design, consider and plan for the following:
    1. Source of energy
    2. How it will be constructed
    3. Life-support system
    4. Purpose and function

    Go To How to Design Your Spacecraft
    Go To International Space Station Diagrams
    Go To NASA's International Space Station Home Page

  8. Discuss with your counselor two possible careers in space exploration.

    Go To NASA Careers

Hubble In Orbit

Questions

Your questions and comments regarding this page are welcome. You can e-mail Randy Culp for inquiries, suggestions, new ideas or just to chat.
Troop 93, Potowatami Council, New Berlin, Wisconsin
Tripoli #6926
Updated 24 February 2001

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