Mission
One of Spacesim's main activities, complementing our educational outreach, is the annual 120-hour simulated space mission. The annual mission involves the travel of a crew of astronauts to a chosen destination, where they will collect samples and perform experiments as well as simulating other aspects of daily life in space. The astronauts are watched over by an Earth-based Mission Control, and the simulation's integrity and reality is maintained by a third group known as simulators.
Mission Types
Though the 120-hour mission is the crowning achievement of any year of spacesim, other types of missions do or have taken place. The 120-hour mission is often known as the "Main Mission," and it is towards this mission that most of the work put in at worksessions is oriented.
Other mission types are Training Missions, which are shorter missions, usually lasting from 1 to 5 hours that are designed to instruct astronauts, mission controllers, and simulators in how to best conduct themselves on the main mission. These training missions also allow for the testing of new equipment or software before the Main Mission. There are usually two longer training missions carried out during a year that are designed to vet astronaut candidates and demonstrate to new members the scope of the Main Mission. These missions are usually designated Mission Alpha, taking place around November and Mission Beta taking place in February, or two-weeks to a month prior to the Main Mission. Training Missions are usually accomplished in the Gamma reality, though Missions Alpha and Beta are usually accomplished in the Beta Reality.
A now defunct mission type is the Mini-Mission, which was an element of Spacesim's educational outreach. During the mini-mission, the roles of astronauts and mission controllers would be played by young students, usually in the intermediate grades, supervised by regular spacesim members. Unfortunately, current OCDSB and Health and Safety regulations preclude this mission-type.
A final type of mission run by Spacesim semi-regularly is the "Joke" or "Revenge" mission, in which the most serious tenet of the simulation, Mission Integrity, is often discarded. These missions are often run towards the end of the year as an amusing diversion from all the hard work usually put to Spacesim members. Realism is no obstacle to Joke missions, and such missions usually end with the entire crew, and possibly mission control, being destroyed. The Revenge Mission, in particular, is a mainstay of the Spacesim program, and has the Simulators and Astronauts from the Main Mission swap roles. Joke Missions are roughly the same length as Training Missions.
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
- Main article: Sim History
