Space Exploration
Merit Badge Workbook
This Scoutmaster Bucky Merit Badge Workbook is based off the 2020 Scouts BSA Requirements.
Type your work on this page or download the Space Exploration
Workbook PDF.
Consider also using the Space Exploration merit badge class preparation page for clarification and expections when participating in a Scoutmaster Bucky merit badge opportunity (online or in-person).
https://scoutmasterbucky.com/merit-badges/space-exploration/
Scout's Name:
Requirement 1: Tell the purpose of space exploration and include the following:
Requirement 1a: Historical reasons
Requirement 1b: Immediate goals in terms of specific knowledge
Requirement 1c: Benefits related to Earth resources, technology, and new products
Requirement 1d: International relations and cooperation
Requirement 2: Design a collector's card, with a picture on the front and information on the back, about your favorite space pioneer. Share your card and discuss four other space pioneers with your counselor.
Requirement 3: Build, launch, and recover a model rocket. Make a second launch to accomplish a specific objective. (Rocket must be built to meet the safety code of the National Association of Rocketry. See the "Model Rocketry" chapter of the *Space Exploration* merit badge pamphlet.) Identify and explain the following rocket parts:
Requirement 3a: Body tube
Requirement 3b: Engine mount
Requirement 3c: Fins
Requirement 3d: Igniter
Requirement 3e: Launch lug
Requirement 3f: Nose cone
Requirement 3g: Payload
Requirement 3h: Recovery system
Requirement 3i: Rocket engine
If local laws prohibit launching model rockets, do the following activity: Make a model of a NASA rocket. Explain the functions of the parts. Give the history of the rocket.
Requirement 4: Discuss and demonstrate each of the following:
Requirement 4a: The law of action-reaction
Requirement 4b: How rocket engines work
Requirement 4c: How satellites stay in orbit
Requirement 4d: How satellite pictures of Earth and pictures of other planets are made and transmitted
Requirement 5: Do TWO of the following:
Requirement 5a: Discuss with your counselor a robotic space exploration mission and a historic crewed mission. Tell about each mission’s major discoveries, its importance, and what was learned from it about the planets, moons, or regions of space explored.
Requirement 5b: Using magazine photographs, news clippings, and electronic articles (such as from the Internet), make a scrapbook about a current planetary mission.
Requirement 5c: Design a robotic mission to another planet, moon, comet, or asteroid that will return samples of its surface to Earth. Name the planet, moon, comet, or asteroid your spacecraft will visit. Show how your design will cope with the conditions of the environments of the planet, moon, comet, or asteroid.
Requirement 6: Describe the purpose, operation, and components of ONE of the following:
Requirement 6a: Space shuttle or any other crewed orbital vehicle, whether government-owned (U.S. or foreign) or commercial
Requirement 6b: International Space Station
Requirement 7: Design an inhabited base located within our solar system, such as Titan, asteroids, or other locations that humans might want to explore in person. Make drawings or a model of your base. In your design, consider and plan for the following:
Requirement 7a: Source of energy
Requirement 7b: How it will be constructed
Requirement 7c: Life-support system
Requirement 7d: Purpose and function
Requirement 8: Discuss with your counselor two possible careers in space exploration that interest you. Find out the qualifications, education, and preparation required and discuss the major responsibilities of those positions.
