Mars
2050
Assignment 1
Learning Intentions – by the end of
this section:
• You will be aware of group discussion success
criteria
• You will produce writing which keeps to the
same tense and uses full stops correctly
• You will be able to describe an imagined
experience effectively, creating a realistic
character
Pegasus 2020 – Part 1 (Departure)
The interplanetary spacecraft Pegasus and her fivestrong crew were launched into Earth orbit in 2020.
Their epic six-year mission had begun. Forty one
days from Earth lay their first encounter – with
Venus. Although Earth’s nearest neighbour, it could
not be a more different world. With clouds of
sulphuric acid, surface temperatures pushing
500ºC, snows of metal encrusting mountain peaks,
and atmospheric pressures that could destroy a
submarine, this is a hell-hole of a planet.
Pegasus 2020 – Part 2 (Venus)
Astronauts Zoe Lessard and Yvan Grigorev made the nailbiting descent in a landing craft called Orpheus. Enveloped in
a shroud of gases and plummeting to the surface in a fireball,
Pegasus lost contact with them. Cocooned in the supremely
re-enforced Orpheus, though, the astronauts landed safely.
Encased in an ultra-toughened titanium spacesuit, Yvan took
mankind’s historic first steps onto the planet. His objectives
were to collect samples, lay sensors to listen for volcanic
eruptions and to retrieve a piece of a robot from a previous
Russian mission, but it proved almost too much as the
temperature inside his suit soared. With everything that was
keeping them alive at its design limits, these two planet
pioneers made their escape with only seconds to spare.
Pegasus 2020 – Part 3 (Mars)
Mars is 150 million miles and 62 days of interplanetary
travel away. Mission Commander Tom Kirby, medic and
geologist John Pearson and exo-biologist Nina Sulman
made their descent in another specially designed lander,
Ares. This frozen, red planet should have proven
comparatively easy to explore compared to the ferocious
conditions on Venus but, as Tom stepped onto the
surface, a dust devil, five times larger than anything on
Earth, engulfed him. Fortunately, the Martian
atmosphere is so weak that even these giant twisters
were harmless. It does Tom no permanent damage, bar
leaving a red hue all over his spacesuit!
Pegasus 2020 – Part 4 (Mars)
Supported by a host of robotic explorers, they
headed for the edge of Valles Marineris – a canyon
system a thousand times the size of Arizona’s Grand
Canyon. Their quest was to search for water in an
attempt to discover life on Mars. Marvelling at the
breathtaking views, the team were suddenly alerted
to the imminent arrival of a solar storm carrying
lethal levels of radiation. The safest place was inside
Ares. Desperate to complete the experiments, their
struggle back became a race for their lives.
Pegasus 2020 – Part 5 (Mars)
Battling against radiation and giant dust storms,
the team eventually completed their exploration
of Mars and returned to Pegasus. They then had
to cross the inner solar system for an unsettling,
but necessary, close encounter with the Sun at
temperatures approaching a staggering two
million degrees centigrade. This accelerated
Pegasus briefly to one million kilometres an
hour, which helped propel them the next half a
billion miles to Jupiter.
Descriptive writing
• Use your senses – what you hear, what you
feel on your skin (e.g. Heat, wind)
• Describe everything – the weather, people’s
clothes, expressions on faces
• Mention physical reactions to emotions
• Use similes
Pegasus 2020 – Part 6
• My heart is thumping as the giant red surface
rushes towards me. I can’t believe it is coming at
me so quickly. All around me I hear instruments
screaming like high pitched hyenas. I know it’s
hot outside because I see flames licking the front
of our lander. I hear the screeching of the giant
machine and it shakes under me, matching the
shaking of my hands as I clutch the control bar in
front of me. Suddenly, the whole thing judders to
a halt. A red mist fills our window. I unstrap,
collect my bag and look at my fellow astronaut
and announce, “We have landed.”
Writing essentials
•
•
•
•
Keep to the same TENSE
A main verb can’t end in “ing”
Apostrophes take the place of missing letters
Words like “I”, “We,” “They,” “She,” “He,” etc
generally go at the start of the sentence unless
they have a linking words before them or are in a
list.
• Questions have a question mark
• Speech starts with a capital letter
Word Bank
excitement
exhilarated
zooming
flashing sweltering heart thumping
acceleration rattling
joy
crashing fantastic shivering with fear
clutching
anticipation
laughing
piercing screams zoomed
twists
thrown sideways uncontrollable
giggling
bursting soaring
swooping
dropped like a stone
stomach in mouth