By Jessica Godart
It’s 10 a.m. Your briefing begins sharp on the hour. The fate of precious American cargo is in your hands as a plane has gone down too close to the Soviet Union. That same plane was carrying U.S. citizens who are now in danger as they are in enemy-filled territory.
The Cold War is spreading across Europe and affecting the world’s most powerful countries. Your mission is to find a safe route to save the lives of the pilots and regain the plane’s cargo using satellite imagery and aerial surveillance. All intelligence information you receive is vital to complete your mission as soon as possible.
However, you must complete this mission by 3:50 p.m. and be sure not to deviate from your parents during the discovery process.
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center will be adding this new interactive game, TechQuest: Eye in the Sky, to their kids’ programs starting Aug. 8 and 9. The alternative reality situation allows kids to experience the role of intelligence analysts during The Cold War.
“We’ve set up a scenario in which a plane has gone down,” said Shannon Marriott, Explainers Program Coordinator at Udvar-Hazy. “They’re going through the game looking at different artifacts and looking at the kind of images they can take to eventually plan a safe route to rescue the pilots in this plane.”
TechQuest is designed to use codes, ciphers, puzzles and satellite imagery created by Udvar-Hazy Explainers. While the images and codes cannot be revealed so their secrecy remains intact, graphic designers specifically created the images so they were as accurate as possible to the period that the game is set in.
“We wanted to make a scenario that was plausible but wasn’t actually based on real events,” said Marriott.
The pictures are used by the kids, acting as intelligence analysts during the game, to “map out a route of rescue” to safely return the pilots and their cargo home.
Participants are given printed guides to follow in order to explore four different artifacts all related to the Cold War. They are instructed to go to certain satellites and aircraft, where senior advisers will walk the participants through the process of taking satellite photos.
The game is designed to last between 60 and 90 minutes and ends with the kids and parents returning to the Claude Moore Lab, where the briefing is held, for the debriefing once they have finished the tasks.
TechQuest: Eye in Sky is designed to be available to play the second Friday and Saturday of every month, starting in August. It is geared towards kids around the ages of third to eighth grade and their parents. Marriott mentioned that eventually they would like to offer the activity to school groups during visits.
TechQuest: Eye in the Sky
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
14390 Air and Space Museum Pkwy, Chantilly
Aug. 8 & 9 (10 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.)
