Friday, April 04, 2008

houston: we have the answers

My space crew, Big Daddy, Girl, Silent Male, Recovering Soul and, the infamous, Desmond Jones, are lost on the moon. And in charge of Search and Rescue is . . . Recovering Soul. Or maybe that should be Recovering Souls.

Here are NASA's answers , in order of importance, and why:

1. Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen - No air on the moon. Most pressing survival need.

2. Five gallons of water - You can't live long without this, especially on the lighted side.

3. Stellar map (of the moon's constellations) - Primary means of navigation.

4. Food concentrate - Efficient means of supplying energy requirements.

5. Solar-powered FM receiver/transmitter - Communicating with the mother ship when close enough for line of sight.

6. Fifty feet of nylon rope - Useful for scaling cliffs and tying injured together.

7. First-aid kit containing injection needles - Needles for vitamins, medicines, fit special aperture in suits.

8. Parachute silk - Protection from the sun's rays; carrying (I'm guessing that means carrying things in)

9. Self-inflating life raft - For carrying and shelter; CO2 bottle for self-propulsion.

10. Signal flares - Distress signal when mother ship is sighted. Oxygen built in.

11. Two .45 caliber pistols - Possible means of self-propulsion.

And the things that might as well be left with the wreckage:

12. One case of dehydrated milk - Bulkier than food concentrate. Needs water.

13. Solar-powered heating unit - Light side of the moon is hot. Not needed.

14. Magnetic compass - Magnetic field on the moon is not polarized; worthless for navigation.

15. Box of matches - No oxygen to sustain flame.

Thanks for playing!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to say, being a gun nerd, even in the 1/6 earth gravity, a .45 isn't enough to propel a person, and the CO2 wouldn't last long, or provide much thrust...but who am I to argue with NASA. Oh, and I didn't think there would be enough atmosphere to transmit FM on the moon, but I'm not any kind of specialist on that.

Sailor said...

Fun game; I didn't have time to play, but it's interesting.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know if NASA actually thought you'd survive. I don't think 5 gallons of water would last more than a few days, and I have no idea about the air. Oh, and if you can pull the trigger on a pistol in a space suit, you are doing really well.

Laurel said...

I'd come if they were were in charge of the packing! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'd actually linked to yours before from blushi1 I think, so when I saw your picture, I was like, wait! I know her! Funny!

Desmond Jones said...

Well, I think I did OK, and my thought processes were basically correct, except that I didn't think the star map or pistols were quite as valuable as NASA did.

I still wonder - how do I know where I am in the first place? If I know that, then I suppose that the star map could be useful enough. But if I don't, I'm not sure how I'd go about figuring it out. . .

And I still don't know how the signal flares can burn without oxygen. . .

Recovering Soul said...

don't worry, I'm instituting the "no blogger left behind" act once we are on the moon...