Terrestrial - Game Based Exoplanet Outreach
Year Awarded
2023
Amount
€58,100
- Organisation:Cosmos Education Ltd T/A Blackrock Castle Observatory
- Audience:General Public
- Format:Informal Education
- Location:Cork, Galway, Kerry, Limerick
- Topic:Space Related
Project Summary
Terrestrial is a Game Based Learning project that will teach the public about exoplanets and space exploration using a tabletop game. The project was created by MTU Blackrock Castle Observatory as a response to the Creating Our Future initiative, wherein the Irish public expressed an interest in learning more about exoplanets and space exploration.
The game will see players acting as astronauts stranded in a new solar system. They must race to find and inhabit an Earth-like exoplanet in the system before their oxygen supply runs out. Players will need to use every scientific tool at their disposal to establish whether a planet has breathable air, water, a protective magnetosphere and more! The first player to land on a habitable planet wins the game.
The game will see players completing puzzles based on real scientific analyses such as spectroscopy, photometry, and hydrology while also exposing players to information about real world space missions that use these very techniques.