Page 253 - Big Ideas Year 9 sciPAD 2025

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SCIPAD - BIG IDEAS - BOOK 1
SPACE SYSTEMS
planets of the Solar System (Planet size not to scale)
1. How far have humans gone into space? 
2. What is the name of the closest ‘Earth-like’ planet astronomers have discovered?

3. Light can travel about 10 000 000 000 000 kilometres in a year. Calculate the distance in
kilometres to Proxima Centauri b.

4. A possible candidate for deep-space flights is the ‘Falcon Heavy’ rocket. It can travel at
around 40 000 kilometres per hour, and carry a payload of 3 500 kilograms for a journey
into deep space.
(a) How many hours would the Falcon Heavy take to travel to Proxima Centauri b?

(b) There are 8 760 hours in one year. Calculate how many years it would take the
Falcon Heavy rocket to reach Proxima Centauri b.

(c) It is estimated that a human consumes about 1 000 kg of food in a year.
Could the Falcon Heavy transport a single person to Proxima Centauri b?
Justify your answer with a calculation.


Planetary Mnemonic
A mnemonic (pronounced ‘new-mon-ic’) is a memory tool to help you remember the order of a
list of words. In this unit it will be very useful for you to memorise the order of the planets of our Solar
System, from the closest to our Sun to the furthest away. Using the first letter of the words you wish
to remember, make up a sentence that links all the words together. For example, taking the first
letter from the 8 major planets = M-V-E-M-J-S-U-N, you can make the sentence:
My Very Enormous Mouse Just Sat Under Newspaper
1. Use the space provided below to write your own mnemonic in order to remember the
planets.
M V
E M
J S
U N
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