Given the "realistic" requirements, an EvE game (minus the PeeVeePee, since that would be unpalatable to the Gov.) wouldn't work.
What you can imagine is however a kind of simulation of some "near future" solar system. Kids (since that's aimed at kids and youngsters, remember) can pursue all kind of professions, and navigate around the system up to the Oort Cloud, specialise in pseudo-engineering (improving efficiency of designs of all kind of modular stuff), space industry (production of the aforementioned designs), research (producing tech data that is used in those engineering), and so on. You build with your buddies (guild/school/whatever) your own outpost, try to make it attractive. Regular competitions and the best offering gets to host a Big Contract (your plutonian geosynchronous station got selected to host the Andromeda High Resolution Telescope) to increase your notoriety.
But yes, there's a couple elements - only a couple - from EvE that could work.
