The Bridge V Learning Edition 1 ; our solar system | Page 37

Tip: If it’s raining outside, or there is no open place nearby, you could just do the exercise with
the Sun and the Earth, which will still leave an impression, especially if you tell the children that
in reality the distance should be 20 times larger.
Related activities: 4.2, 4.3, 4.5
4.7 Journey to Planets
Brief Description
Use an origami paper rocket to travel through the large distances of our solar system.
Keywords
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Rocket
Origami
Materials
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Template for building an origami rocket (Appendix)
Coloured square papers
Learning Objectives
Learn about the large travel times in space.
Background Science
We want to travel to the planets and get to know them more closely. Our card game and the
planets’ paths already told us a lot about the planets. But we also need suitable rockets and
surely have to think about how long our journey will take.
Celestial body Escape velocity (at the equator) [km/h]
Mercury
Venus 15,480
36,720