Introduction
Introduction
Alert!!!!! We have just received a message from one of our astronauts. He ran out of fuel and had to land on a planet. He is waiting to be rescued but there is one problem. We don't know which planet he is on. He does not either. We know that he is on one of five planets. They are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, or Pluto. Your mission is to discover which planet he is on so we can send a rescue ship to get him! Here is the last message he sent. Read it carefully and get to work figuring out where he is. 
Mission Control, I have crash landed on a planet beyond the asteroid belt. This would mean I am either on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto. Sadly, my computer is broken and I do not know which one. Please help me. Figure out where I am and send a rescue ship. When I was landing, I noticed there were many moons oribiting this planet. My spaceship has landed on what looks like an icy surface with a rocky core. The atmosphere is made up mostly of the gas methane. I know that Earth has sent at least one probe to this planet in the past. I hope this helps. Please rescue me. Sincerely,Your Stranded Astronaut P.S. I think I noticed some faint rings around this planet as I was landing. One of them even looked broken.
Task
Tasks 
You and your team have 3 tasks to complete in order for a rescue ship to leave to save our astronaut. 1. Discover which planet he is on. a. Research each of the five planets using the websites provided. b. Using the clues provided in his message, figure out which planet he landed on. 2. Present your findings. a. Write your reasons for choosing that planet. b. Orally present these findings to the rest of the class. 3. Provide information on the other 4 planets. a. Each member in the group will pick one of the remaining planets. b. Write a small individual report about the planet.
Process
Process 
Step 1: Get in groups of 4 students. Step 2: Use the websites listed in the "Website" section and read about each of the planets the astronaut could be stranded on. Step 3: After reading the information, study the message sent by the stranded astronaut. Step 4: Use the clues he gives and the information to decide which planet he landed on. Step 5: Write a one page summary of your findings. a. Include the planet he is on. b. Give your reasons for choosing this planet. c. Also include the diameter of the planet and its distance from the sun. Step 6: Present this information orally to the class. Step 7: Each team member will select one of the other planets and write a one page informational paper about that planet. (This is an independent activity.) Include these points: a. Number of moons b. Any rings? c. Atmosphere d. Surface e. Diameter f. Distance from the sun g. How many missions were there to this planet? 
Evaluation
Evaluation Your team will be evaluated on a scale of 1-3 for different criteria.1 = Unsatisfactory2 = Marginal3 = Excellent This Rubric explains the requirements in more detail: Rubric
Conclusion
Conclusion 
Dear Team, Congratulations! Your team has discovered what planet our astronaut is stranded on. With your efforts were were able to launch a rescue ship. He should be home soon. We have also learned a large amount of valuable information about some of the other planets in our solar system. Thank you for your hard work. Sincerely,Mission Commander 
Many Animated Graphics taken from this site:http://gameznet.com.au/space/animated.html