Build a spaceship control panel lesson plan
Arming switches, a mission display, a countdown, an engine and a master alarm, then fly the whole panel to orbit.
Objectives and materials
By the end, students can
- Two-step arming with lit buttons, and a display that tells the truth.
- A guarded launch button, a countdown that holds, and an engine that glows.
- Read fuel and pitch at a glance, and stay calm when the alarm goes.
- Everything at once, from checklist to orbit.
Materials for the whole unit
- 8-resistor network
- Addressable RGB LEDs
- Arduino Mega 2560 R3
- Character LCD, 20x4, with I2C backpack
- Four-digit display, TM1637
- Full-size breadboard
- Hobby servo
- LED arcade button x 5
- LED bar graph, 10 segments
- Piezo speaker
- Resistor x 2
- Slide potentiometer
- Slide switch x 4
- Thumb stick
Every part is already on the simulator’s bench, so there is nothing to buy or hand out. The counts are the most any one lesson uses, if you build it on real breadboards too.
Arm the ship
Two-step arming with lit buttons, and a display that tells the truth.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Arming switches with lit buttonsThree toggles and three lit arcade buttons on a Mega. Flip a switch and its lamp asks, press the lamp and it answers: two-step arming, the way real panels guard against a stray hand. | 40 min |
|
| A mission display and a throttleAdd a 20 x 4 LCD that shows the pre-flight checklist, and a slide-pot throttle that has to sit at minimum before the checklist completes. | 30 min |
|
Materials
- Arduino Mega 2560 R3
- Character LCD, 20x4, with I2C backpack
- Full-size breadboard
- LED arcade button x 3
- Slide potentiometer
- Slide switch x 3
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "A mission display and a throttle" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Open the throttle".
Count it down
A guarded launch button, a countdown that holds, and an engine that glows.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| A safety switch and a countdownA LAUNCH button that only works with the MASTER ARM safety up, and a TM1637 that counts down from T-10 and holds if the safety drops. | 50 min |
|
| Engine glow and thrust against weightA ring of 16 NeoPixels flickers like an engine bell as the throttle opens, and the LCD shows when thrust beats weight and the rocket would climb. | 30 min |
|
Materials
- Addressable RGB LEDs
- Arduino Mega 2560 R3
- Character LCD, 20x4, with I2C backpack
- Four-digit display, TM1637
- Full-size breadboard
- LED arcade button
- Piezo speaker
- Slide potentiometer
- Slide switch
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Engine glow and thrust against weight" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Hear it cross".
Gauges and alarms
Read fuel and pitch at a glance, and stay calm when the alarm goes.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| A fuel gauge and a pitch needleA practice burn on the pad: the throttle drains a ten-bar fuel gauge, a servo needle shows the pitch tipping toward the horizon, and the stick trims it. | 40 min |
|
| A master alarm drillTurn three systems on and a fault trips the master alarm: silence it with the red button, read the fix on the LCD, and cycle the right switch. | 50 min |
|
Materials
- 8-resistor network
- Arduino Mega 2560 R3
- Character LCD, 20x4, with I2C backpack
- Full-size breadboard
- Hobby servo
- LED arcade button x 4
- LED bar graph, 10 segments
- Piezo speaker
- Resistor x 2
- Slide potentiometer
- Slide switch x 3
- Thumb stick
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "A master alarm drill" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 6 of its 6 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Finish the drill".
Fly to orbit
Everything at once, from checklist to orbit.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Fly to orbitThe finished panel: checklist, go/no-go poll, countdown, liftoff, staging and a fault or two on the way to orbit, with real orbital math deciding when you are there. | 55 min |
|
Materials
- 8-resistor network
- Addressable RGB LEDs
- Arduino Mega 2560 R3
- Character LCD, 20x4, with I2C backpack
- Four-digit display, TM1637
- Full-size breadboard
- Hobby servo
- LED arcade button x 5
- LED bar graph, 10 segments
- Piezo speaker
- Resistor x 2
- Slide potentiometer
- Slide switch x 4
- Thumb stick
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Fly to orbit" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 7 of its 7 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Orbit".
Teach this unit as a class
Start a class from this course and its 7 lessons are assigned in one go, in order. Students join with a six-character code or printed login cards, and each one’s work comes back to you.
The class tools are free for 30 days for one class of up to 20 students, with no card. The lessons themselves are free either way.