Lost on the Moon
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sightunseen
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 2,130
Ok, I just did this exercise in a class yesterday and I thought it was pretty interesting. So of course I had to combine it with cigars. Here it goes:
Your spaceship has just crash-landed on the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship 200 miles away on the lighted surfaces of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your ship and destroyed all the equipment on board except for the fifteen items listed below. Your crew's survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the trip. Your task is to rank the fifteen items in terms of their importance for survival. Place number 1 by the most important, number 2 by the second most important, and so on through number 15
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-pound 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
Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter
Here is the game: Participants should post their rankings. At the end of the game, I will provide the rankings that NASA came up with. Participants will then take the difference between their ranking and NASA's and sum up the absolute value of the differences. The higher the score, the worse you did.
The winner will get a 5-pack from me. This contest will run until midnight this Friday (04/02). Please no cheating and if any BOTLs have played this before, I kindly request that you refrain from participating.
Your spaceship has just crash-landed on the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship 200 miles away on the lighted surfaces of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your ship and destroyed all the equipment on board except for the fifteen items listed below. Your crew's survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the trip. Your task is to rank the fifteen items in terms of their importance for survival. Place number 1 by the most important, number 2 by the second most important, and so on through number 15
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-pound 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
Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter
Here is the game: Participants should post their rankings. At the end of the game, I will provide the rankings that NASA came up with. Participants will then take the difference between their ranking and NASA's and sum up the absolute value of the differences. The higher the score, the worse you did.
The winner will get a 5-pack from me. This contest will run until midnight this Friday (04/02). Please no cheating and if any BOTLs have played this before, I kindly request that you refrain from participating.
Comments
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PM Sent
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Replied, sir.badge54fd:PM Sent -
1. Self-Inflating life raft
2. Two 100-pound tanks of Oxygen
3. Fifty feet of nylon rope
4. Signal Flares
5.Five Gallons of Water
6. Stellar Map
7. Food Concentrate
8.one case of dehydrated milk
9. book of matches
10. parachute silk
11. solar powered fm reciever-transmitter
12. magnetic compass
13. first aid kit
14. solar powered portable heating unit
15. two .45 caliber pistols
I gotta say, this took alot of thought. I've been training and planning for scenarios exactly like the one described, but on Earth. This list would have been in a very, very different order had it been pretty much anywhere on Earth. When you post up the actual answers, are you going to post the reasoning behind it as well? I'd love to see what NASA's answers are, but I'd also like to see the explanations as to why each is in the position its in, lol. -
15. Box matches: no oxygen on the moon=no fire
4. Food Concentrate: gotta eat!
6. Fifty feet of Nylon rope: carrying stuff and lifelines
8. Parachute silk: carrying stuff
13. Solar-powered portable heating unit: your suits are plenty warm and dont let any more warmth in
10.Two .45 caliber pistols: maybe a way of makin you move? dont really know what use they would be
12.One case of dehydrated milk: dont wanna waste water to hydrate?
1.Two 100 pound tanks of oxygen: gotta breath!
3.Stellar map (of moon's constellation): only way to navigate
9.Self-inflating life raft: carrying stuff
14. Magnetic compass: no magnetic poles on the moon like on earth
2. Five gallons of water: gotta drink!
11. Signal Flares: only way to notify mothership but someone might not be watching
7. First-aid kit: in case your suit gets messed up
5. Solar-powered FM Walkie Talkie: only can communicate if in sight of ship
i polled my family and this was the average answer. -
You train for this stuff? That's pretty cool. You in the military?alienmisprint:1. Self-Inflating life raft
2. Two 100-pound tanks of Oxygen
3. Fifty feet of nylon rope
4. Signal Flares
5.Five Gallons of Water
6. Stellar Map
7. Food Concentrate
8.one case of dehydrated milk
9. book of matches
10. parachute silk
11. solar powered fm reciever-transmitter
12. magnetic compass
13. first aid kit
14. solar powered portable heating unit
15. two .45 caliber pistols
I gotta say, this took alot of thought. I've been training and planning for scenarios exactly like the one described, but on Earth. This list would have been in a very, very different order had it been pretty much anywhere on Earth. When you post up the actual answers, are you going to post the reasoning behind it as well? I'd love to see what NASA's answers are, but I'd also like to see the explanations as to why each is in the position its in, lol.
When I post, I'll provide NASA's rationale as well. It was definitely interesting reading about their rationale for their rankings. -
1. Five gallons of water
2.Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
3.Five gallons of water
4.Solar-powered portable heating unit
5.Food concentrate
6.Stellar map (of the moon's constellations)
7.Signal flares
8.First-aid kit containing injection needles
9.Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter
10.Self-inflating life raft
11.One case of dehydrated milk
12.Fifty feet of nylon rope
13.Parachute silk
14.Magnetic compass
15.Two .45-caliber pistols
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I don't need any of that stuff, just give me duct tape and consider yourself saved.
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It was trick question and Krieg got it right. Haha.Krieg:I don't need any of that stuff, just give me duct tape and consider yourself saved. -
LOL, sorry, I didn't mean to mess up your game!sightunseen:
It was trick question and Krieg got it right. Haha.Krieg:I don't need any of that stuff, just give me duct tape and consider yourself saved. -
wait . . . I don't get it. How is duct tape the right answer?sightunseen:
It was trick question and Krieg got it right. Haha.Krieg:I don't need any of that stuff, just give me duct tape and consider yourself saved. -
1. Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
2. 5 gallons of water
3. Food concentrate
4. Stellar map
5. Nylon rope
6. Parachute
7. Life raft
8. Solar powered FM receiver-transmitter
9. First aid kit
10. Dehydrated milk
11. Solar powered heating unit
12. Magnetic compass
13. Signal flares
14. Box o matches
15. Two .45 guns
This is just me ....... Thought about a few items quite a bit .... And IMHO the last three are useless in outerspace ..... not enough oxygen for combustion -
Haha, I was just joking. I'll post the real answers this weekend. I'm surprised no one has made any references to The Beard, because that's what I would pick in any survival situation.xmacro:
wait . . . I don't get it. How is duct tape the right answer?sightunseen:
It was trick question and Krieg got it right. Haha.Krieg:I don't need any of that stuff, just give me duct tape and consider yourself saved. -
1. Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
2. 5 gallons of water
3. Stellar map
4. Food concentrate
5. Solar powered FM receiver-transmitter
6. Nylon rope
7. First aid kit
6. Parachute
9. Life raft
10. Dehydrated milk
11. Two .45 guns
12. Signal flares
13. Solar powered heating unit
14. Magnetic compass
15. Box o matches
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Flares, much like the gun powder in a bullet, contain their own oxidizers and will work fine in an oxygen free environment.kingjk729:Thought about a few items quite a bit .... And IMHO the last three are useless in outerspace ..... not enough oxygen for combustion -
Your ship is ruined and you are on the moon = you are dead. End Game.
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1.Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
This is essential for most of the other items. You cannot use matches, pistols, the self inflating life raft, or the flare without oxygen. Additionally, you cannot be alive without this, and it can be used as a method of transportation (see below.)
2. Solar-Powered FM Receiver It's doubtful you'll travel 200 miles on foot on the moon in enough time to not die due to either being in the cold side of the moon, starvation, dehydration, or suffocation. The FM Re 2. Stellar Map
Unless you've memorized the entirety of a stellar map from the moon (and you haven't) you wont gain anything by mobilizing without this object.
3. Parachute Silk
You can use this as a sail with the oxygen. I would want to use the oxygen to use this sail to gain momentum, like a rocket sorta deal.
4. Fifty feet of nylon rope
Rope is essential. You can tie it to your sail, use it to lug things along, or tie each other together to keep one another rooted, etc etc. My grandfather always says you can never have enough line!
5. Five Gallons of Water
Essential if there will be a lot of work involved (and there will be.) Also, it needs to be used for the milk as well.
6. Case of Dehydrated Milk
This would be important because it'll give strength to everyone and act as a sort of food substitute. There wont be a chance to eat real food because they are in space, and you can't just toss your helmet off for a quick bite.
7. Self-Inflating Life Raft Even if it doesn't work, it can be used as a tarp to drag all the items mentioned above across the moon. Plus, it's probably a bright color and thus useful for being spotted. 8. Solar Powered Heating Unit Might make you more comfortable MAYBE as you lay dying of dehydration or starvation, but if the cold side comes around, I can't imagine that a portable heating unit that is designed to interface with a suit would help much.
9. First-Aid Kit
If there is some way to use this stuff, it might be helpful, but realistically, if somebody is badly wounded, they will need more then first aid, and this is a time-sensitive life/death situation.
10. Food Concentrate
While delicious, you can go a long time without food. And concentrate isn't even delicious. If you are out long enough to NEED food, you're already dead.
These last four items I'd leave in the order they are in, because they are all equally useless. The box of matches wont ignite without air, the pistols wont fire without air to allow the caps to ignite, the magnetic compass would be useless on the moon because of the difference in magnetic poles to the earth, and just like the matches, the signal flares wouldn't ignite.
Gun, compass, matches, flares. -
Once again, the gun and flares would function on the moon. Also, using liquid oxygen as a source of combustible gas is a wonderful way to blow yourself up in a heartbeatbetasynn:1.Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
This is essential for most of the other items. You cannot use matches, pistols, the self inflating life raft, or the flare without oxygen. Additionally, you cannot be alive without this, and it can be used as a method of transportation (see below.)
These last four items I'd leave in the order they are in, because they are all equally useless. The box of matches wont ignite without air, the pistols wont fire without air to allow the caps to ignite, the magnetic compass would be useless on the moon because of the difference in magnetic poles to the earth, and just like the matches, the signal flares wouldn't ignite.
Gun, compass, matches, flares.
Also I think it's safe to assume a self inflating life raft doesnt need an outside source of gas to inflate XD -
15 Box of matches
4 Food concentrate
6 Fifty feet of nylon rope
11 Parachute silk
7 Solar-powered portable heating unit
14 Two .45-caliber pistols
5 One case of dehydrated milk
2 Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
8 Stellar map (of the moon's constellations)
1 Self-inflating life raft
13 Magnetic compass
3 Five gallons of water
12 Signal flares
9 First-aid kit containing injection needles
10 Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter
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Hmmmm.
Seeing as how NASA failed to consult the HitchHiker's Guide and provided no towel on this mission I don't see any hope or possibility for successfully reaching the mothership. Based on that fact all items in the list are equally useless :P
Seriously though I will be interrested to see the offical answer and reasoning behind this. -
I meant more, you could release it through the nozel or hose or whatever is attached in a controlled and thus direct-able current.
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1. Tanks of oxygen (breathing is good)
2. Stellar map (navigating your trek)
3. Solar FM receiver-transmitter (communication to party ASAP)
4. Parachute silk (visual signal)
5. Solar heater (melt water)
6. Water (drink)
7. Food concentrate (energy)
8. Raft (carry stuff past crash site)
9. Nylon rope (haul raft)
10. First aid kit (possible you could use needles)
11. Signal flares (not sure how you would use these)
12. Pistols (or these)
13. Dehydrated milk (or this)
14. Matches (or these)
15. Magnetic compass (and this seems utterly useless) -
I would have some questions. First, about this solar heater. Are we talking about something that can store solar energy and return it as heat, later, or just something that generates heat directly from solar energy? The latter would be useless, but the former would be incredibly useful . . . if it puts out enough heat that it would make any difference in the extreme cold on the dark side of the moon.
Second, do spacecraft use FM for communications?
Assuming the answers to the above are "yes," I'd say:
1. oxygen
2. water
3. FM transceiver
4. stellar map
5. signal flares
6. heater
7. rope
8. first-aid kit
9. silk
10. food concentrate
11. dehydrated milk (not sure why this is listed as a separate foodstuff, but probably either this or the concentrate is way less necessary than the other)
12. raft
13. guns
14. matches
15. compass -
gotta go with doro here, no towel your screwed should just stayed home.lol I remeber the old text adventure game towel was one of the first things you neededdoromath:Hmmmm.
Seeing as how NASA failed to consult the HitchHiker's Guide and provided no towel on this mission I don't see any hope or possibility for successfully reaching the mothership. Based on that fact all items in the list are equally useless :P
Seriously though I will be interrested to see the offical answer and reasoning behind this. -
Them NASA people are pretty smart tho, I bet there is at least one towel included with each spacesuit, so assuming that ill go with:
1 Oxygen ----- DUH
2 Water ----- DER
3 Stellar Map --- only means of finding way home
4 Food Concentrate -- would be #3 but knowing the way comes 1st
5 FM radio --- Comms with with home/ rocking out to forget about impending doom
6 Rope --- See Boondock Saints
7 First Aid Kit --- Somebody will prolly get hurt or sick
8 Parachute ---- shelter/sos marker
9 raft --- shelter-makeshift sled w/ turbo boost
10 pistols-- turbo boost
11 flares -- most happy rescue endings include these
12 milk --- that stuff taste like crap
13 heater -- plenty of that on the light side
14 compass -- useless
15 matches == unless ccom matches gifted by the Beard, completely useless
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Hi,
This is Sandy here from Canada. As I have seen your comments & I must say that you had shared a lot of good information regarding the topic.
Thanks
Sandy
Food Intolerance Systoms
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hahahahaha i LOVE that movie! "name one thing you're gonna need this stupid fucking rope for."mustluvcigars:6 Rope --- See Boondock Saints -
+1. When you say it you gotta have that Irish accent.Alex Williams:
hahahahaha i LOVE that movie! "name one thing you're gonna need this stupid fucking rope for."mustluvcigars:6 Rope --- See Boondock Saints -
So he, where are the answers?
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Contest ends Friday midnight, I'll have the answers up shortly after (easy for me since I'm on the west coast).betasynn:So he, where are the answers? -
Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
Five gallons of water
Solar-powered portable heating unit
Food concentrate
Stellar map (of the moon's constellations)
Signal flares
Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter
Fifty feet of nylon rope
Parachute silk
One case of dehydrated milk
First-aid kit containing injection needles
Magnetic compass
Self-inflating life raft
Box of matches
Two .45-caliber pistols
