DIY Moon Rover Project

Noah (Grade 4)

 

If you want to know how to build your own rover, then the steps are below.

 

Materials

•  scissors

• masking tape

• a pencil

• a cardboard box about one foot long

• two hard round candies with holes in them

• two rubber bands

• a plastic drinking straw

• a ruler

 

Directions

 1. Cut the cardboard into 2- 6” squares.

 2. Cut 4 wheels 5” squares.

 3. Fold the body into thirds along the corrugated tubes.

 4. On the square wheels, draw diagonal lines from corner to corner and poke a hole in the center.

 5. Poke two holes close to the end of the rover’s body and make sure the pencil can spin freely.

 6. Slide the pencil through the axle holes and secure with tape.

 7. Tape the straw underneath the back end of the rover. Put a piece of candy on each side and bend the sides of the rover over them. Tape the straw so that it doesn’t fall off.

 8. Cut small slits on the back of the rover’s body and attach the rubber band on the pencil side and in the slits.

 9. Wind up your rover and watch it go!

(You may have to change your design to make it go farther!)

 

My notes & observations as I made the project:

• First we started off with square wheels but it did not work.

• We made the wheels circular and it didn't work.

• We then put it on pavement and it traveled about an inch.

• Next we added a rock as a weight and it traveled about one foot.

• We tried a thicker rubber band and it went shorter than before. 

• We switched the rubber bands out and wound it up more every time until we got it to go 73” as seen in the video.