Imagine you are a Remote Sensing Technologist. Work in a group to design, build & code your own glacier tracking station using the Climate Action Kit! Your job is to make a satellite to collect glacier data for your study.

Digital graphic illustration of a person sitting in front of 3 computer monitors looking at generic code and data.
What does a Remote Sensing Technologist do? Check out their Career Profile!

As you go through the steps below, you may wish to use our Design Journal Template to keep track of your work.

Journal Template
An icon of a magnifying glass, a paper with notes, and a brain.

Step 1

Research the different ways scientists use satellites to collect data on glaciers.

What type of data do they collect? How might you use the different sensors in the Climate Action Kit to do this?

Icons of a light bulb, a thought bubble, and a pencil.

Step 2

Plan your satellite and decide what building blocks, sensors, smart components, and craft materials you will need for building.

icons of 3 building blocks (cube, corner connector, and short frame)

Step 3

Build your prototype, then connect it to Microsoft MakeCode to add code.

Icons of code blocks.

Step 4

Test and debug until the device works.

SUCCESS CRITERIA

I can build a satellite to study glacier melting with the Climate Action Kit that uses at least:

  • one sensor to track data on glaciers
  • the data logging extension in MakeCode
  • one loop to take continuous measurements
  • one conditional statement to save or clear data

Don’t feel limited by this. You can get creative and add more features if you would like!

Let’s Build!