In 1994, NASA and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization jointly sent the Clementine probe into space: its goal being to map out the surface of the moon and a nearby meteor. While the probe malfunctioned before reaching its second target, it succeeded in providing lots of new information about the composition of the moon's surface. As a science project, you can recreate the probe's discovering by mapping out the moon yourself. Observe the moon through a telescope on a clear night, and see if you can identify some of its distinguishing features. These include the Lunar Highlands, which have a light, dusty surface, and the Sea of Tranquility, which is a large, dark section of hardened lava. Draw a map of the moon and add in features as you observe them.
Yardangs are irregular rows of dunes, or mounds of compacted particles, which face in to the direction of prevailing winds. According to Space.com, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was the first probe to observe these features, from space, on the planet Mars, and provided scientists with a closer look into their composition. It is now clear that the Mars yardangs have layers of softer material mixed into them, which may be deposits of ash or the dried remains of water-based solutions. As a project, you can try to recreate yardang formation on Mars, which, as of 2010, is still puzzling scientists. Start by filling a tray with a layer of sand that is about an inch or two thick, and see if you can blow air across its surface to create dunes. Now, the tricky part: sprinkle on some flour, ash or some other light substance, and see if you can form dunes with layers of the new material mixed in.
While Saturn's many elaborate rings appear to stretch around the planet continuously, without any empty spaces between them, NASA's Voyager probe discovered this is not the case. The rings actually consist of individual pieces of particulate matter, like ice, iron oxide and silica, which can range in size from as small as a speck of dust to as large as a house. According to Science Buddies, you can recreate the Voyager's discovery by gluing sand, glitter and other bits of material to a circular piece of paper. Cut a hole in the center of the paper, place it over top of a vinyl record inside of a record player, and set it spinning. The materials will all blur together, appearing to form continuous rings.
