Carnarvon Primary School

Work hard, be kind

Space Explorers - The Grand Tour Before embarking on the voyage, Maggie tells the story of two small spacecrafts Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 and introduces everyone to Space Sailor, the canal boat that will take her and Chris to visit the giant planets. Speaking from Mission Control, Robert the Robot instructs Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers to set a course for the Asteroid Belt. Soon Robert receives an incoming message from Astronomer Edward, who uploads some telescope footage of the Moon for Stargazers everywhere to take a close up look at Earth’s nearest neighbour. Back on Space Sailor, Chris discovers it’s going to take a while longer to get to the Asteroid Belt, and Maggie explains how it’s much further away than the Moon. More Stargazers send an update back to Mission Control and thanks to some peppercorns and potatoes we discover that the Asteroid Belt is made up of lots of rocks orbiting the Sun. Reaching their destination, Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers explore an apple-y Asteroid Belt and discover there is lots of space in space. After Robert backs up all the mission data, Maggie challenges Stargazers at home to look up at the night sky and try and spot the Moon.

Space Explorers - Jupiter Excited for the next stage of their journey, Chris notices that the plant pots on top of the Space Sailor are a model of the Solar System and realises that there is a lot of space between the asteroid belt and Jupiter. Maggie explains that Jupiter is too far away for humans to visit so spacecrafts like Voyager make the journey for us. Robert receives an incoming message from Astronomer Edward, who uploads some mission data of Jupiter for Stargazers everywhere to find out how many of Jupiter’s moons they can spot. Back on the Space Sailor, Chris and Maggie encounter their first canal lock and discover that it’s going to take a while longer to get to Jupiter. More Stargazers send an update back to Mission Control to inform Robert of a giant storm on Jupiter. Robert relays the update to the team on Space Sailor. Finally reaching Jupiter, Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers start a search for the moons, finding them in a variety of different places. Maggie explains some surprising facts about Jupiter’s moons, including Io, the moon covered in volcanos! After Robert backs up all the mission data, Maggie challenges Stargazers at home to look up for some surprising things in the night sky.

Space Explorers - Saturn Robert the Robot instructs Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers to set a course for the next planet on their journey, Saturn. Before setting off, Maggie explains how excited people were when Voyager sent back the first pictures of Saturn and its rings. In Mission Control, Robert receives another incoming message from Astronomer Edward who uploads some mission data of Saturn and asks Stargazers everywhere to try and spot its rings. Back on Space Sailor, Chris and Maggie are still on their way to Saturn. Maggie explains that it took Voyager over three years to get there but points out that there are lots of sights to enjoy while they make their journey, like the sunlight lighting up the canal. More Stargazers send an update back to Mission Control to inform Robert that the Sun’s light also lights up Saturn’s icy rings. Finally reaching their destination, Maggie tells Chris and the Stargazers that there’s an icy surprise somewhere on one of Saturn’s moons. With a little help from a Moon cow, the Stargazers discover that Enceladus is a smooth icy moon, which sends ice crystals out into space forming Saturn’s rings! After Robert backs up the mission data, Maggie challenges Stargazers at home to look up and watch the stars twinkle.

Space Explorers - Uranus Robert the Robot tells Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers that the next stop on their journey is Uranus. Maggie explains that it took Voyager 2 five years to make the journey from Saturn to Uranus – it’s nearly three billion kilometres away from earth! In Mission Control, Robert receives another incoming message from Astronomer Edward, who uploads some pictures of Uranus from his telescope for Stargazers everywhere to look at. Back on the Space Sailor, Chris is amazed at how far Uranus is from Earth. Maggie explains that it could’ve been a lot further if it weren’t for the planets’ alignments being just right for Voyager 2’s mission. More Stargazers send an update back to Mission Control to inform Robert that like Saturn, Uranus also has rings! Keen to see the rings up close, Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers arrive at Uranus and discover another Solar System surprise: the shepherd moons of Uranus. Maggie, with a little help from a sheep dog and some ducks, explains that the shepherd moons help keep a ring of Uranus neat and tidy. After Robert backs up the mission data, Maggie challenges Stargazers at home to look up at the faraway stars.

Space Explorers - Neptune and beyond Robert the Robot tells Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers that the final stop on their journey is the planet Neptune. Maggie explains Neptune is the last planet in our solar system, over four billion kilometres away from planet Earth. In Mission Control, Robert receives a final update from Astronomer Edward, who uploads a picture of Neptune for Stargazers everywhere to look at. Just as Robert is about to enjoy a tasty cake, another message comes into Mission Control. This time it's from Chris, Maggie and the Stargazers, they’ve made it to Neptune! Maggie then reveals that when Voyager made it to Neptune, it discovered that there were extreme winds on the planet. The Stargazers feel the power of the wind for themselves when they travel in boats across the lake. More Stargazers then send an update back to Mission Control to inform Robert that both Voyager 1 and 2 are still out there exploring space. They also reveal that the spacecrafts carry a golden record, which has messages, music and pictures from planet Earth. This gives Robert an idea and he surprises Chris and Maggie with messages from Stargazers everywhere about their favourite things on planet Earth. Maggie has one final solar system surprise of her own however, and she shows Chris a picture Voyager took on the edge of the solar system. In the picture, planet Earth is a tiny blue dot. Maggie reminds Stargazers everywhere to look after their planet and each other.