You are on a space crew, originally scheduled to rendezvous with the mother ship on the lighted surface of the moon. Due to mechanical difficulties, however, your ship is forced to land at a spot some 200 miles from the rendezvous point. During re-entry and landing, much of the equipment aboard is damaged and, since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, only the most critical items available must be chosen for the 200-mile trip. Below are listed the 15 items left intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank them in order of importance (1 being most important) and post your answers in the comments.
• Box of matches
• Food concentrate
• Fifty feet of nylon rope
• Parachute silk
• Solar powered portable heating unit
• Two .45 caliber pistols
• One case of dehydrated milk
• Two 100-lb. tanks of oxygen
• Stellar map (of the moon's constellations)
• Self-inflating life raft
• Magnetic compass
• Five gallons of water
• Signal flares
• First-aid kit containing injection needles
• Solared-powered FM receiver/transmitter
Next time: NASA's answers and why.
6 comments:
Well, you didn't ask why, so I'll only list the items:
Two 100-lb. tanks of oxygen 1
Five gallons of water 2
Stellar map (of the moon's constellations) 3
Parachute silk 4
Solar powered portable
heating unit 5
Food concentrate 6
Signal flares 7
Fifty feet of nylon rope 8
Self-inflating life raft 9
First-aid kit containing
injection needles 10
One case of dehydrated milk 11
Two .45 caliber pistols 12
Solared-powered FM receiver/transmitter 13
Box of matches 14
Magnetic compass 15
My order is pretty close to BD's, who popped in here while I was hitting 'comment'! I would definitely have the oxygen and water in the top, and the pistols, matches and magnetic compass at the bottom (for reasons I think I'm pretty sure about based on the location, but I'll wait until you post more about this topic tomorrow!)
1. Oxygen (100 lb tanks weigh a bit less)
2. Water
3. Food Concentrate
4. FM Transmitter
5. Stellar Map
6. Signal Flares
7. .45 Caliber Guns
8. Life Raft
9. Portable Heater
10. Matches
11. First Aid Kit
12. Dehydrated Milk
13. Rope
14. Parachute Silk
15. Compass
I have seen this before, and now I can't remember what use each item has. Except the guns, I know what to do with those.
My list pretty much matches bd, actually, as well (I'm not just copying FADKOG).
Oxygen
Water
Star map
Food
FM transmitter
Rope
First Aid
Parachute silk
Life raft
Flares
Milk
The matches can't be lit on the moon nor the gun used (no atmosphere) and there is no magnetic pole so the compass won't work. No point in a heating unit, because you have your space suit.
Well, you don't really say how I'm getting to the 'mother ship', so I suppose I have to assume I'll be walking. 200 miles in a bulky spacesuit. And you didn't really say whether or not I know, in even approximate terms, where I am from the 'mother ship', so I'm not sure what sort of 'navigational' challenges I'm facing. . .
OK, then. . .
1) The oxygen.
2) Water (altho I'm starting to worry about how I'm gonna lug all this stuff)
3/4) Food concentrate and/or dried milk. And I'm wondering just a little how I'm gonna get the 'consumables' into my pie-hole; taking off my helmet seems like it'd be a bad idea. . .
5) The radio. Seems to me that communicating with the 'mother ship' folks will be way more useful to me than a star map. . . Plus they can use my signal to help me find my way.
6/7) Rope and/or parachute. Just having those materials on hand seems like a good idea. . .
8) The first-aid kit. Altho I'm a little dubious about how useful needles would be; punching a hole in my spacesuit seems like a bad idea, too. . .
9) We're getting to things I'm wondering if I can do without. I suppose the star-map is the most useful item of what's left. . .
10) Life-raft? More for the available materials, or possibly shelter from the sun. Obviously, there's nothing I'm gonna need to float on. . .
11) I'm not sure what good a heating unit will do me, unless I can hook it up to my spacesuit somehow; and like RS says, my own body heat, insulated by my spacesuit, is probably sufficient. . .
And the rest - matches, flares, pistols and compass are completely useless on the moon, so leave 'em behind. . .
I'm very interested to see what the NASA folks decided. . .
There is one who got nearly all correct . . . but you'll have to wait until this evening to find out who it is. I am so impressed with all of you, though. You are some smart people!
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