Mars Travel Time Benchmark Worksheet for Grade 6 Science
A worksheet built from the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission that has 6th graders use a known trip (48,678,219 miles in 203 days) as a benchmark to estimate travel times to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It builds rate, unit conversion, and rounding skills through small-group calculation, and is designed for a 45-minute science block.
“take the following activiyy and make a worksheet out of it for grade 6 science: Tell students that the launch date of the Mars 2020 Mission was July 30, 2020. The travel time for the space craft carrying the Perseverance rover from Earth to the surface of Mars is 203 days. (If all goes according to plan, Perseverance will arrive on Mars February 18, 2021). © 2025 GENERATIONGENIUS 3 Provide students with the following dataset by writing the data table on a poster paper in front of the class or projecting it on a screen. Ask students to copy the data table into their notebooks. Ask students to work in small groups of 2 to 4 to figure out how many days it would take to get to the other planets if a similar spacecraft traveling at the same speed launched from Earth using the data provided. Tell students they may estimate the time by rounding the days to the nearest day and years to the nearest tenths place. Insert Distance and Travel Time to Planets Within Our Solar System Departing From Traveling To Distance (miles) Length of Time in Days to Reach Planet Length of Time in Years to Reach Planet Earth Mars 48, 678,219 203 Earth Jupiter 390,674,710 Earth Saturn 792,248,270 Earth Uranus 1,692,662,530 Earth Neptune 2,703,959,960 While students are working to figure out the calcul”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Project or copy the Mars travel data table so students can see the known distance and time before they begin; have them record it in their notebooks first.
- Discussion question: If the spacecraft travels at the same speed to Neptune, why does the trip take so much longer than the trip to Mars, and what does that tell us about distance and rate?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: provide a worked example that computes miles per day for Mars (about 240,000 miles per day), then have students apply the same steps to one planet at a time.
- Extension for advanced students: ask them to express each travel time in years to the nearest tenth and compare the results to the actual distances of each planet from Earth.
- Estimated time: about 30 to 40 minutes for small-group calculations, plus 5 to 10 minutes for whole-class sharing of answers.
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Try Diffit for free“take the following activiyy and make a worksheet out of it for grade 6 science: Tell students that the launch date of the Mars 2020 Mission was July 30, 2020. The travel time for the space craft carrying the Perseverance rover from Earth to the surface of Mars is 203 days. (If all goes according to plan, Perseverance will arrive on Mars February 18, 2021). © 2025 GENERATIONGENIUS 3 Provide students with the following dataset by writing the data table on a poster paper in front of the class or projecting it on a screen. Ask students to copy the data table into their notebooks. Ask students to work in small groups of 2 to 4 to figure out how many days it would take to get to the other planets if a similar spacecraft traveling at the same speed launched from Earth using the data provided. Tell students they may estimate the time by rounding the days to the nearest day and years to the nearest tenths place. Insert Distance and Travel Time to Planets Within Our Solar System Departing From Traveling To Distance (miles) Length of Time in Days to Reach Planet Length of Time in Years to Reach Planet Earth Mars 48, 678,219 203 Earth Jupiter 390,674,710 Earth Saturn 792,248,270 Earth Uranus 1,692,662,530 Earth Neptune 2,703,959,960 While students are working to figure out the calcul”
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Project or copy the Mars travel data table so students can see the known distance and time before they begin; have them record it in their notebooks first.
- Discussion question: If the spacecraft travels at the same speed to Neptune, why does the trip take so much longer than the trip to Mars, and what does that tell us about distance and rate?
- Scaffold for struggling readers: provide a worked example that computes miles per day for Mars (about 240,000 miles per day), then have students apply the same steps to one planet at a time.
- Extension for advanced students: ask them to express each travel time in years to the nearest tenth and compare the results to the actual distances of each planet from Earth.
- Estimated time: about 30 to 40 minutes for small-group calculations, plus 5 to 10 minutes for whole-class sharing of answers.
Mars Travel Time Benchmark Worksheet for Grade 6 Science
A worksheet built from the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission that has 6th graders use a known trip (48,678,219 miles in 203 days) as a benchmark to estimate travel times to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It builds rate, unit conversion, and rounding skills through small-group calculation, and is designed for a 45-minute science block.
What is Diffit?
Teachers use Diffit to get quality materials for their unique classrooms. Adjust difficulty, add scaffolds, or change the topic to get started.
Try Diffit for free