Frequently Asked Questions

Space Teams Academy is designed for students, teachers, STEM leaders, after school clubs, museums or other organizations to run the Space Teams education program locally, OR to join our ongoing 12-week semester-based webcast. It can also be used directly by an individual student (or anyone) by simply signing up on their own. All of the lessons, tutorials, quizzes, and virtual activities are available to customize a program and a set of activities for the students on any desired schedule. It can be used stand-alone, as a Space Club, or to supplement a space curriculum as part of a science or engineering class. It is aligned with the NGSS middle and high school science objectives, certified as an ESSA Level 4 STEM program, and it is sponsored by NASA under the Space Grant KIDS program. Students can do the program (or parts thereof) in teams or individually as desired by the teacher/mentor. Teachers/mentors get support directly from Space Teams to set up, organize and run the program with their students.

Now! Individuals can follow a self-guided program. Schools, clubs, and STEM organizations - Join our semester-based 12-week (once-per-week) webcasts, or customize and run it on your own schedule with our support. Semester Program Information (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ocypXIbYI5ztuZTsr3ln-1T7_cWIlqVz/view?usp=sharing)

Space Teams Academy ● $150 USD per student ● 15% discount for groups of 10 or more students All prices cover costs related to the program and access to virtual machines For Competition Programs, Custom Camps/STEM Events: See Posted Event Pricing or for country-specific or special event pricing contact us: Support@SpaceTeamsAcademy.com(mailto:Support@SpaceTeamsAcademy.com) Negotiable prices for large scale events and in different countries/currencies.

Starting each February and September, Space Teams launches a 12-week ((once-per-week) webcast that is easy to join and use in the classroom, after school Space Club, or other STEM organization program. This includes amazing speakers (astronauts, scientists, and engineers), incredible virtual reality (VR) space mission experiences, and team-based high-fidelity mission design activities using the Space Teams simulation software.

Anywhere from 1 to 10 students can be on a team, but the best size is 2 to 4

There are many ways to get help. ​ 1. Within each activity in the SpaceCRAFT Application you will see a tutorial button as you enter the activity. Guidance, explanation, instructions and some tips are all found in these tutorials. Start here for help. 2. Keyboard and mouse commands are always available in popup menus at the bottom of the screen in the application. Tool tips are frequently available if you hover the mouse over something. 3. Watch the tutorial for each activity. If you try to do the activity without watching this tutorial video, you are not giving yourself the information you need to succeed. A ton of great information is in each tutorial video - find these on the Activities page in your Dashboard. 4. On the Learning tab in your Dashboard there are several Help documents for all aspects of Space Teams. One of these - called Hints, Tips and Tricks - has many very helpful suggestions for how to improve your design and maximize your team's score. 5. There is a HELP button on the right side of your Dashboard. Select this to send the Space Teams support crew a ticket on anything at all. The response will be via Email, so keep an eye on your inbox.

Teams can be entirely remote and work together virtually on each of the activities. When doing an activity you automatically have live voice communication with your team, and you can also use text chat if you wish. But you don't have to be far part. You can just as easily be sitting next to each other and your team can be in the same room. All options are possible.

Any spacecraft, habitat or other space system will have to meet certain requirements. In this case, you must reach your destination, carry lots of cargo, and survive the journey. Life support for your crew means that you require a certain amount of water, oxygen and food, and of course many other things such as clothing, exercise equipment, etc. There are also science objectives for the duration of the mission using specialized instruments and facilities. To save weight, you will also want to recycle everything to the greatest extent possible. The AI system that is monitoring your team's design is looking at all of these objectives and performing simulated mission calculations to see what will happen in the future. Will you run out of power? Do you have enough supply and recycling capability for oxygen that your crew will survive, even if there is a failure? The AI examines all of these things and lets you know if a particular resource or capability is missing or insufficient for your design. This gives you the opportunity to figure out how to improve the design. During this process, you will need to apply your knowledge and skills to solving each problem that the AI finds with your design. Eventually, the AI will tell you that your mission is going to work!

Our support team will help get your computer(s) set up, teach you how to create student accounts, and show you how your students will access the software. There are a few short teacher videos and documentation, but our support crew can help with anything. If participating in a competition or running our 12-week webcast program, the rest is up to us. If you want to customize the program for your classroom, camp or STEM program (based on time available and desired topics), this is easy to do and we can assist. Once students have their own accounts they tend to figure out most things on their own, or using the in-application tutorial, AI feedback, video lessons, and Help information. Any questions can be answered by our support team.

It's a blast - see the videos and photos of students on the Past Events page!

Yes, on the leaderboard, which is found on the dashboard (main) website.

Space Teams PRO is the actual software used for real system and mission design and simulation for NASA and space industry applications. LEVEL 2 is an advanced weekly webcast that teaches students how to use the professional software to truly design any space mission of their imagination. This is available to high-school juniors or seniors (as well as university students), and run in an after-school space club format. Weekly workshops delve into space mission topics more deeply and teach UI and programming-based approaches to customizing more complex missions.