Mission
Every year, Spacesim conducts two types of missions: mini, or Training Missions usually lasting about 4 to 6 hours, and a 96-hour "Main Mission" to a celestial body in the solar system. Candidates for mission destinations have been planets, moons, and even asteroids as the OCESS astronauts search for their own educational experience in the depths of "space" by conducting experiments, simulated extra-terrestrial/space walks, piloting space vehicles and dealing with various simulated scenarios and problems that may play out over the course of a real space mission such as meteor strikes, ion storms and engine failures.
During the mission, the astronauts remain inside the Habitat, their only contact with the outside world being through a telephone, radios, webcams, and computers much like a real space mission. It is inside the Hab that they must eat, drink, sleep, play and carry out all life functions. These astronauts usually miss several days of school to wear flight suits and helmets while the rest of the school wishes they were missing school with them.
See Spacesim Groups for more information.
Mission History
The first mission in Ottawa took place in 1991-92. From then until the 2002-03 Mission, missions were 72-hours in duration. In fact, the 2001-02 mission was originally scheduled to be the first 96-hour mission, but was delayed 24 hours by the OCDSB.
Historically, missions ran from a Thursday to a Sunday, although recent times has seen them move to occupy more of the school week. The mission date was set for February by the International Student Space Simulation so that all missions would occur simultaneously. This practice continued until around 1995-96, at which point, mission date coordination only took place between Ottawa and our sister-mission in Lexington, South Carolina. The South Carolina exchanges ended in the late 90's, but the 2001-02 mission did involve an exchange with a school from Florida.
List of Missions
Missions in italics did not occur in Ottawa.
| Year | Mission | Destination | Exchange |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Hawking Era (1988-91) | |||
| 1988-89 | Luna 1989 | Luna | The Woodlands, TX |
| 1989-90 | Luna 1990 | Luna | The Woodlands, TX |
| 1990-91 | Luna 1991 | Luna | The Woodlands, TX |
| Hawking I Era (1991-01) | |||
| 1991-92 | Luna 1992 | Luna | Lexington, SC |
| 1992-93 | Luna 1993 | Luna | Lexington, SC |
| 1993-94 | Titan 1994 | Titan | Lexington, SC |
| 1994-95 | Pluto 1995 | Pluto | Lexington, SC |
| 1995-96 | Triton 1996 | Triton | Lexington, SC |
| 1996-97 | Europa 1997 | Europa | Lexington, SC |
| 1997-98 | Jupiter 1998 | Jupiter | N/A |
| 1998-99 | Phobos 1999 | Phobos | Lexington, SC |
| 1999-00 | Io 2000 | Io | N/A |
| 2000-01 | Europa 2001 | Europa | N/A |
| Hawking II Era (2001-08) | |||
| 2001-02 | Mars 2002 | Mars | ???, FL |
| 2002-03 | Ida and Dactyl 2003 | Ida and Dactyl | N/A |
| 2003-04 | Luna 2004 | Luna | N/A |
| 2004-05 | Mars 2005 | Mars | N/A |
| 2005-06 | Prometheus 2006 | Titan | N/A |
| 2006-07 | Coronis 2007 | Borrelly | N/A |
| 2007-08 | Red Dawn 2008 | Mars | N/A |
| Hawking III Era (2008-) | |||
| 2008-09 | Genesis 2009 | Iapetus | N/A |
| 2009-10 | Daedalus 2010 | Europa | N/A |
