At the station, a helmet clamped under his arm, Leo just wants to go there for real.

“It makes you want to go to Mars, even if it’s hostile. I don’t want to land where perseverance has landed, because it’s radiant and cold.”

For more realism, children will eat freeze-dried food, but will “return” to Earth every evening, according to the epidemic.

The mission is part of the school’s philosophy, which is learning through real-life experiences, Olivier Delamadeline, the school group director, explains to AFP.

During the long months of preparation, children were able to benefit from astronomy or rocket-building workshops, led by students from the prestigious Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL).

confidence

To prepare for their mission, the children learned to calculate the distance from Earth to Mars (248 million km) and correctly spell the names of the planets in the solar system.

The idea is to let these kids have an experience. We think that when they come back from these experiences, they are better at math, in French, simply because they have gained self-confidence, “the principal judges.

The first experience: launching paper missiles with compressed air.