Solar storms are powerful bursts of radiation and particles from the Sun that spread
across the solar system. The radiation travels at the speed of light. The particles
travel a little slower.
When the solar flare appears, you need to schedule a power-down to make sure the
flare does not harm the instruments in Maggie's spacecraft!
Which of the rulers below is most helpful for predicting when an observed solar storm will reach Maggie?
When you're ready, hit START to begin.
00
:
00
:
00
Days
Hours
Minutes
You did it! Good job! You got Maggie all the way to Mars!
It's now:
Days
Hours
Minutes
into Maggie's Flight.
Oh no! A solar storm lasting
00 Hour
00 Minutes
just left the Sun and is heading for Maggie's craft at about the speed of light!
Maggie's craft needs to be powered down when the storm hits it and stay powered down for the duration of the storm in order to protect its sensitive electronic equipment.
Use the appropriate ruler to measure how long it'll take the storm to reach Maggie.
Use this measurement to calculate when the power down should start and enter it in the top row below.
Remember that the craft needs to be powered down for the duration of the storm.
When can the craft power back up safely? Enter it in the bottom row below.
Press "Schedule" when you're ready to proceed!
Hint: One of the rulers is much more useful than the others. Move this box out of the way to make space for measuring!
Power down at:
:
:
Days
Hours
Minutes
Power up at:
:
:
Days
Hours
Minutes
Sorry, Maggie's craft did not survive that solar storm:
You didn't power-down for the full duration of the storm. The electronics got zapped.
You powered-down for too long a time, which means Maggie's craft couldn't make necessary course adjustments to stay headed to Mars.
You powered-down too late! The electonics got zapped.
