Image: Students growing plants in lunar regolith simulant.
Imagine walking into your classroom and seeing students not just learning about space, but building it, testing it, and questioning it like real engineers. That’s exactly what happens when you introduce regolith simulants.
And here’s the part most teachers don’t realize:
As space exploration expands through programs like Artemis, classrooms are becoming the starting point for the next generation of space engineers.
What Are Regolith Simulants? (And Why They Matter)
Regolith simulants are materials designed to mimic the soil found on the Moon or Mars. Which means… students aren’t just imagining another planet.
They’re holding a version of it in their hands.
Regolith simulants support learning in planetary science by helping students explore the composition and behavior of the Moon and Mars. This hands-on approach makes it easier to understand how planetary surfaces differ from Earth.
It supports engineering design by allowing students to build, test, and improve their ideas using realistic materials. Students learn how to apply design thinking and problem-solving in a practical way.
Regolith simulants encourage real-world problem-solving by exposing students to challenges like construction, mobility, and resource use in extreme environments. These activities reflect real space engineering problems.
They also introduce students to how humans will live and work in space. This helps connect classroom learning to future space exploration and careers.
Instead of abstract lectures, students interact with the same concepts shaping future lunar missions.
Changing Student Engagement Instantly
These aren’t just cool materials; they’re powerful teaching tools that transform how students learn. Instead of passively listening, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences that naturally combine science, engineering, and design. As they experiment, collaborate, and iterate, they develop teamwork skills and a mindset focused on problem-solving. Most importantly, giving students the experience of “touching the Moon” makes abstract space concepts tangible, helping students truly understand and connect with what they’re learning.
Image: Lunar geology teaching class.
Classroom Activities That Feel Like Real Space Missions
🌕 Build a Moon Base
What if your students had to build a structure… on the Moon?
In this activity, students take on the role of space engineers, designing and testing structures using simulant-based “lunar bricks.” With no familiar materials, they must rethink everything they know about construction.
Image: Students' project on lunar construction.
As they experiment, students naturally explore concepts like structural engineering, material science, and problem-solving under extreme constraints. They begin to understand one of the most important ideas in space exploration: ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization), using local materials to survive and build beyond Earth.
How to do it:
Have students mix regolith simulant with a binder such as water, glue, or starch, then mold it into bricks or structural shapes. Once dry, they can test their designs by evaluating strength, stability, and weight, improving their structures through iteration just like real engineers. Recommended simulant LHS-1E, which closely mimics real lunar soil used in construction research, making the activity feel even more authentic and connected to real-world space missions.
Crater Formation Lab
What if your students could recreate the surface of the Moon… in a tray?
In this activity, students become planetary scientists, exploring how impacts have shaped the surfaces of the Moon and Mars over billions of years. Students begin to uncover the science behind impact physics, how energy, size, and velocity influence crater shape and depth. What once looked like random marks on the Moon suddenly becomes a story of constant collisions and surface evolution.
Image: Students working on a regolith simulant bin.
How to do it:
Fill a tray with regolith simulant and have students drop objects of varying sizes from measured heights. After each drop, they measure crater diameter and depth, comparing results to understand how impact energy affects planetary surfaces. Recommended simulant LHS-1E and MGS-1 to recreate realistic Moon and Mars conditions.
Can Plants Grow on the Moon?
What if growing food wasn’t guaranteed?
In this experiment, students step into the role of space biologists, investigating one of the biggest challenges of living beyond Earth: how to grow plants in environments that weren’t designed for life.
Image: Planting crops in lunar regolith simulant.
By planting seeds in both regular soil and regolith simulant, students quickly see the differences in growth, health, and survival. This sparks deeper questions like what nutrients are missing? How can we modify the soil? What would humans need to survive on the Moon or Mars?
This activity connects directly to real research in space agriculture and highlights the challenges future astronauts will face.
How to Do It:
Have students plant the same seeds in different ratios of regular soil and regolith simulant, then track germination rates, plant height, and overall plant health over time. As they compare results, students can analyze how soil composition impacts growth and propose improvements. For a complete, ready-to-use classroom experience, educators can use the AstroFarmer Kits for the Moon and Mars, which include optimized setups using LHS-1E and MGS-1 simulants. These kits are specifically designed to simulate extraterrestrial growing conditions, making it easy to run this experiment while introducing students to real-world space agriculture and ISRU concepts.
Design a Space Robot
What if your robot had to survive the Moon’s surface?
In this challenge, students become robotics engineers, designing small rovers or wheel systems that must move across loose, uneven regolith terrain.
Students experience firsthand the real engineering challenges faced by NASA and other space agencies when designing mobility systems for planetary exploration.
Image: Students rover in lunar regolith simulant.
How to do it:
Have students build small Arduino rover prototypes or simple wheel systems and test them on different simulant variables. This iterative process helps students understand how terrain directly impacts robotic movement, similar to real planetary rovers. For a ready-to-use classroom solution, educators can incorporate an Arduino-based rover, which is designed to replicate real rover functionality, including mobility across varied terrain and a programmable control system. Recommended simulant LHS-1E and MGS-1 to replicate different planetary terrains and test how designs perform under varying conditions.
Connecting to the BIG Idea: Humans Beyond Earth
These classroom activities naturally open the door to meaningful discussions about the future of human space exploration. Students begin to explore critical questions such as how humans will live and work on the Moon or Mars, what local resources can be used to sustain life, and what engineering challenges still need to be solved. Through this process, they start to see themselves not just as learners, but as future engineers, scientists, and innovators who may contribute to humanity’s expansion beyond Earth.
Image: Astronaut working in a futuristic lunar base.
When students are given the chance to explore materials and challenges connected to other worlds, something deeper begins to take shape. What starts as a classroom activity becomes a window into real problems scientists and engineers are working to solve today.
In those moments, when they’re experimenting, questioning, and creating, students aren’t just learning concepts. They’re developing the mindset to navigate complex challenges, to think beyond what exists, and to imagine what could.
And maybe that’s the bigger opportunity in all of this.
Not just to teach planetary science or engineering, but to give students a glimpse of where they might fit in a future that’s still being built.
So the question becomes:
What might your students discover about themselves if they were given the chance to explore the same challenges shaping humanity’s next frontier?