Mission: SPACE

Mars Challenge

Expressions of interest for participation in 2026 close Friday 29 May.

Funded by the Australian Space Agency, Scitech invites you to participate in this free program for up to 100 Australian primary schools. Through hands-on student challenges and professional learning for teachers, your students will discover what it takes to get humans to space.

Mission: SPACE includes two components aimed at inspiring primary-aged students to explore STEM careers in the space sector while equipping them with the essential skills needed to pursue them.

Please note, places are limited – participating schools will be selected after the expression of interest closing date. Read our Frequently Asked Questions and register your interest below.

Mars Challenge Kit

Participating schools will receive materials in the Mars Challenge Kit to run the Mars Approach Challenge with up to 30 students at a time. The challenge tasks students to design, build, and test their own prototypes to overcome common obstacles when trying to land on the red planet. The kit also includes digital and printable supporting materials to guide you and your students through this hands-on activity.

If you’re ready for more, you can also complete the Mars Explore Extension Challenge. In this activity, students can use the kit resources to take their mission further by employing everything they’ve learned to figure out how to navigate the Martian surface once they’ve landed.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions.

Professional Learning

Two teachers from your school will get exclusive access to a virtual professional learning session with our Digital Technologies curriculum experts. In this session, you will learn how to use the Mars Challenge Kit, get tips for running an epic challenge day, connect with other opportunities across Australia and discover ways to keep the excitement alive by integrating tech into your classroom, challenge day and beyond.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions.

Mars Challenge Expression of Interest

To express your interest in participating in the Mission: Space Mars Challenge and accompanying professional learning workshop, please provide your information below:

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School Name *

Address *

To receive the Mars Challenge Kit, please provide the shipping address of your school.

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First Participating Teacher's Name *

Year Group *

Contact Email *

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Second Participating Teacher's Name

Year Group

Contact Email

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How did you hear about this program?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Download the PDF here instead.

As many as you like! The kit includes enough resources to run the Mars Challenge activity with up to 30 students at a time. If you would like to run this activity with more than 30 students, you may need to provide additional consumable resources, but the materials can be strategically recycled, and the tech is yours to keep! So, feel free to continue using the resources to run multiple sessions, with multiple classes, if you would like to.

You will need:

A screen to project the PowerPoint slides that step you and your students through the challenge activities,

Some basic consumables that would be used in the prototyping process, like scissors and tape,

Everything else is provided! On the day, simply print off the student resources provided by us and ensure that you have a dedicated space for student groups to build their designs and launch them over a 2-and-a-half meter distance.

The challenge is broken down into discrete 40-minute sessions, making it easy to complete the activities across a single day or several weeks – whatever works for you. It is designed to be flexible to accommodate for classroom teachers and specialist teachers alike!

The challenge consists of three sections:

Part A Coding Challenge (optional): two 40-minute sessions
Part B Mars Approach Challenge: three 40-minute sessions
Part C Mars Explorer extension activity (optional): one 40-minute session.

The three sessions in Part B make up the core activities of the challenge, so you can complete these three sessions only if you like. However, if you are eager to have a go at the additional challenges, consider starting with Part A (Coding Challenge) and/or finishing at Part C (the Mars Explorer extension activity). Our Professional Learning consultants and Digital Technologies expert will walk you through how to navigate this.

Definitely not! Before running the challenge, you will have a virtual information session with our Professional Learning consultant that will assist you in understanding the resources provided, work through the challenge and teach you the basics of block coding. This will help you decide how comfortable you are with running each part of the challenge with your students and choose how to best implement the resources we provide.

During the challenge activity, we explain coding concepts to your students in simple terms, using tried and tested techniques, so that students can complete a basic coding challenge if they would like to. You also have the option of teaching the coding principles and trying out coding ‘just for fun’ or you can task your students with the challenge of coding the device given to them in the Mars Challenge kit – choose your own adventure! Whatever you choose to do, you will be supported by our consultants to help you along the way.

Once your school has been selected to participate, our Professional Learning consultant will be in contact with you. They will organise the initial information session, as well as follow-up meetings to ensure that there are several opportunities to ask for help, seek assistance from an expert or simply share your experience with other participants in your state.

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