First Contact
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Introduction
Task
Process
Resources
Conclusion

Introduction:
 
Who knew you were going to find life on another planet!  You are an astronaut who has travelled to a planet in our solar system and made first contact with an alien race.  Now, you are returning home to present your discovery to the world-at-large.  What did you find?  What is your alien like?  How does it survive?  What strange pathways of evolution could have produced a creature so bizarre and miraculous?  YOU must tell the story.

Task:

Create a report, as if you were a scientist/astronaut, about an alien life-form living on a planet of your choice somewhere in our solar system.  The report should cover a description of the alien and its habitat.  Remember to write as if you are presenting your findings to the rest of the world!

Process:
 
  • Select a planet from our solar system OTHER than Earth.

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  • Use the resources below to research your planet.

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  • As you research, fill out the Planet Research Worksheet.

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  • Now, imagine what kind of being could live on this planet.

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  • Use your ideas to fill out the Alien Life-Form Worksheet.
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    Consider using the additional resources below to help you design your alien.  Some talk about life existing in hostile environments on Earth (volcanoes, hotsprins, polar ice, etc.) while others just take a guess at what alien life might be like in general.  They're worth a read through.
     

  • Write a report about your alien and its environment.  The report should:
    • be at least three pages in length.
    • discuss the basic statistics and information about your planet.
    • explain how the alien survives on your planet.
    • be broken into clearly organized paragraphs.
    • be spell-checked and edited for grammar and punctuation.
  • Feel free to include a sketch or graphic of your alien if you would like.

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  • Be sure that you have summarized/covered the information from your worksheets.


    • Resources:
     
    PLANET SITES ALIEN SITES GRAPHICS SITES
    The Nine Planets
    (For Planet Worksheet)    		 Alien Physiology
    (Primer on alien life)    		 Alien Alley
    (Artists' ideas of aliens)
    Solar Views
    (For Planet Worksheet)    		 Future is Wild
    (Earth animals 50,000,000 years in the future)    		 Solar System Simulator
    (Pics of planets from space)
    Temperature Calculator
    (Celsius to Farenheit)    		 Life in Extreme Environments
    (The strangest life on Earth)    		  
    Gravity Calculator
    (Weigh on other planets?)    		 Alien Names
    (Random name generator)
    Time Calculator
    (How long is a day?)

    Conclusion:

    Once you have finished this project, you will begin to understand the process that a science fiction writer goes through.  The best science fiction is believable and based on fact.  The most interesting aliens aren't those little green men you found on this page, but rather life-forms that really could be "out there" living on another planet!