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Space Camp Mission: Gravity Near a Small Asteroid

Grade 8 gravity practice: use asteroid observations and space camp mission data to argue that gravity attracts and depends on both masses.

Grade 8ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned toMS-PS2-4

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
10 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 8
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use observations of objects near asteroids as evidence that gravity is an attractive force.
Students analyze force data to show that gravity depends on the masses of both objects.
Students argue from evidence against the idea that there is no gravity in space.

How to use

Read the briefing together and sort the observations first; then let students work through the mission data and write the argument on their own.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

MS-PS2-4

Argue from evidence that gravity is attractive and depends on the masses of the objects.

Preview

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Space Camp Mission: Gravity Near a Small Asteroid

Use spacecraft observations and mission data to argue about gravity.

Evidence from small asteroids

Read the mission briefing. Then answer the questions.

Mission Briefing: Sampling a Small Asteroid

At a summer space camp, eighth graders Rafael Sundqvist and Amara Quinlan joined a team planning a pretend mission. Their probe would fly to a small asteroid, collect a scoop of dust and rocks, and bring it back to Earth. The asteroid they chose is only about 500 m across, about as wide as five soccer fields placed end to end. Counselor Imani Szabo warned the team that steering near an asteroid this small is tricky, because its gravity is very weak compared with Earth's. The team had to plan how the probe would approach, how close it could safely get, and how it would touch the surface for just a few seconds to grab its sample.

Imani shared observations that real spacecraft have made near small asteroids. Pebbles knocked loose from the surface often curved back and landed on the asteroid again. Some asteroids have a tiny moon that circles them instead of drifting off in a straight line. Probes with their thrusters switched off slowly drifted closer to the asteroid they were visiting, so mission teams fired the thrusters now and then to keep a safe distance. In photos, many of these asteroids look dark gray, and the probes' solar panels made more electricity when they faced the Sun.

Next, the team used the camp's mission software. It calculates the gravitational force between the probe and an asteroid in millinewtons (mN). One millinewton is one thousandth of a newton, and on Earth a single paper clip weighs about 10 mN. In every calculation, the centers of the probe and the asteroid were 1 km apart, so only the masses changed.

First, Amara kept the probe's mass at 1,500 kg and tried three asteroids with different masses, given in billions of kilograms. The bar graph shows her results. Then Rafael kept asteroid B, which has a mass of 120 billion kg, and changed the mass of the probe. His results are in the table.

Rafael was surprised by how small the numbers were. "That's less than a paper clip weighs," he said. "Out in space there's basically no gravity, so our probe could just float in one spot next to the asteroid."

Sort each observation from the briefing.

Pebbles knocked off an asteroid curve back and land on it.Many small asteroids look dark gray in photos.A tiny moon circles an asteroid instead of drifting off in a straight line.Solar panels make more electricity when they face the Sun.A probe with its thrusters off slowly drifts closer to the asteroid.