Mission Mars is a flagship Roblox education pilot from the Museum of Science Boston. It is the clearest example of a museum using Roblox to teach engineering and space science at scale.
# Origins And Partners Mission Mars grew out of a partnership between the Museum of Science Boston Roblox Education and Filament Games. Key points: - Announced in 2021 as one of the first grants from the Roblox Community Fund - Launched in December 2022 on Roblox as the museum s first immersive online experience - Developed by Filament Games a studio specialising in learning games - Built in partnership with Roblox Education and drawing on real Mars and NASA data for terrain and mission context
The Museum positions this as part of its goal to reach 100 million people a year by 2030 across museum visits classrooms and online experiences.
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# Core Experience Mission Mars is a free Roblox game where players become engineers and explorers on the Martian surface Core loop: - Put on a Mars survival suit in a base hub - Design and customise a rover or vehicle using different parts and configurations - Accept missions that reflect real challenges of living and working on Mars - Drive the rover across rough terrain to complete objectives and bring back results - Use what went wrong to iterate on the design and try again Typical missions include: - Finding evidence of past water and ice - Collecting samples under time and terrain constraints - Rescuing stranded robots or astronauts from difficult locations The tone is more engineering challenge than combat and the focus is on tinkering with designs to meet mission criteria.
# Engineering Design Process
At the heart of Mission Mars is the engineering design process. The game asks players to: - Identify a mission goal and constraints - Choose components for their rover to meet that goal - Test the design in a live mission on the Martian terrain - Observe where the design fails or struggles - Adjust parts and try again with an improved version The Museum and Roblox both describe the experience as Next Generation Science Standards aligned with a strong emphasis on iteration and problem solving rather than right answer puzzles.
# Use Of NASA And Mars Data Mission Mars is marketed as being based on real Mars science and NASA data This shows up in: - Terrain and environmental conditions inspired by real Martian landscapes - Mission scenarios modelled on actual challenges such as locating water ice and navigating rocky plains - Links from the Museum s Mars topic pages to the Roblox game alongside traditional Mars content The game is not a formal NASA product but it leverages public Mars datasets and the Museum s science communication expertise to keep the fiction close to current planetary science.
# Classroom Integration The Museum of Science supports Mission Mars with educator materials so it can be used in schools as more than just a free time game Resources include: - A Mission Mars Educator Guide with lesson plans - Worksheets that ask students to define their mission criterion sketch vehicle designs and reflect on test runs - Suggestions for turning in game missions into whole class engineering challenges where students take turns as drivers designers and observers Typical classroom flow: - Introduce Mars environment and mission context using videos or museum resources - Have students design and test rovers in Mission Mars in small groups - Pause between runs to discuss what worked what failed and why - Connect in game behaviour to real world engineering trade offs and space exploration issues The game is positioned for both formal classroom use and informal learning at home or in clubs.
# Reach And Impact
Mission Mars is regularly cited as a leading example of game based learning on Roblox
Reported impact to date:
- Within the first month of launch the Museum reported hundreds of thousands of visits
- Analyses of Roblox education games mention Mission Mars attracting millions of visits while teaching the engineering design process
- Education journalists use it as a reference case when discussing Roblox s move into STEM education and the associated safety debates
For the Museum it serves as both outreach and research into how metaverse style platforms can support informal science education
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# Relationship To Hitchhikers Mission Mars is a natural reference point for any Hitchhiker style galaxy of worlds Possible connections: - Hitchhiker Passport stamps for visiting Mission Mars or a spiritually similar world if direct integration is not possible - Voz style recognition for players who take on engineering roles collaborate on rover strategies and explain their designs to others - Save the world story arcs that mirror real Martian and climate challenges pulling in the same engineering mindset but with a more explicitly narrative twist Mission Mars demonstrates that: - Museums and Roblox can collaborate with quality and rigour - Space themed experiences can be both playful and aligned with science standards - Educator guides and lesson plans make the difference between a game kids stumble into and a pilot schools can actually adopt
Future wiki pages can detail how a Hitchhiker Mars analogue world could complement or link to Mission Mars without being redundant