This project is from Gen Alpha Episode 2 on Ahasa TV. Watch the episode to see the starshade twist up small and bloom open, then follow the steps below to fold your own!

Rockets are narrow, so everything that goes to space has to fold up small. A starshade is a giant space flower, about the size of a baseball field when it's open. It flies in front of a telescope and blocks the bright glare of a star, so the telescope can see the small planets going round it. Engineers at NASA JPL unfold their test model again and again on Earth to make sure it will open in space.

Images: NASA/JPL.

Print the Starshade template and cut along the dashed black outline. The key on the sheet shows you what each colour means.

Template based on NASA JPL Education's "Space Origami: Make Your Own Starshade".

Lay a ruler along each thick line and press along it with an empty ballpoint pen. This "scoring" makes the paper fold neatly exactly where you want it.

With the printed side up:

1. Fold every thick blue line as a mountain fold (the crease points up at you, like a mountain).
2. Fold every thick orange line as a valley fold (the crease points down, like a valley).
3. Optional: fold the thin lines the same way, blue for mountain and orange for valley.

Crease every fold firmly, then open the sheet flat again.

Hold the centre flat and gently twist it. The folds close up one by one and the starshade wraps into a tight spiral around the centre. Now it's small enough to "fit in a rocket", just like the real one!

Count down together: 3, 2, 1, DEPLOY! Untwist the centre and watch your starshade bloom open like a flower, the same way the real one opens in space.

Turn off the lights. Shine a bright torch (the star) and hold a small LED or bead (the planet) next to it. From across the room, the planet is hard to see in the glare. Now hold your starshade in front of the torch so it blocks the light. Can you see the planet now? That's exactly how a starshade helps a telescope find new worlds!

Animation: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Now it's your turn to make a starshade:

1. Score and fold it.
2. Twist it into a tight spiral.
3. Count down 3, 2, 1... DEPLOY! and let it bloom.
4. Use it to block the "star" and find the hidden planet.

Then submit your build: click I built this at the top of this project and add a photo or short video of your starshade twisting shut and blooming open.

Bonus challenge: colour your starshade like a flower before you fold it, or try a bigger one on A3 paper. Does it still open with one twist?

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech.