Just for fun, and to take my mind of the pain of a severely twisted ankle, I spent a few minutes taking the Moon Survival Challenge this morning.
The basic premise is that my little space ship has crashed on the moon, about 200 miles from base camp. I've been able to scratch around in the wreckage and salvage a few tings that might help me survive.
The challenge is to arrange the list of those items in order from most important to least important. The test then compares your score to NASA's score.
As you can see, I only scored 56%... an "F".
I won't spoil it for you. Take the test, then go to comments to read my lame excuse for failing so dismally.
10 comments:
Here's my list...
2 50-kg tanks of oxygen
1 large piece of insulating fabric
1 star chart
20m nylon rope
1 flashlight
1 first-aid kit
Eerything else on the list is useless, though I might chomp on an energy bar or two before I blow the air-lock and set out for home.
Why useless? No atmosphere. Think about it.
Here's NASA's alleged list and rationale [and my comments in italic]...
2 50-kg tanks of oxygen Most pressing survival need (weight is not a factor since gravity is one-sixth of the Earth's -- each tank would weigh only about 17 lbs. on the moon)
20 liters of water Needed for replacement of tremendous liquid loss on the light side[ok... so unless there's some tank in the space suit, how am I supposed to drink it? And If I drink 20L of water, there had better be some way to empty the pee bag without taking the suit off too.]
1 star chart Primary means of navigation - star patterns appear essentially identical on the moon as on Earth
4 packages of food concentrate Efficient means of supplying energy requirements[see comment re water]
1 solar-powered radio set For communication with mother ship (but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and can only be used over short ranges) [also useless unless it plugs into the space suit somewhere]
20m nylon rope Useful in scaling cliffs and tying injured together
1 first-aid kit Treat injury or sickness. Needles connected to vials of vitamins, medicines, etc. will fit special aperture in NASA space suit [How do they propose that I treat injury or sickness inside my space suit?]
1 large piece of insulating fabric Shelter from the sun
3 signal flares Use as distress signal when the mother ship is sighted [useless... flares need oxygen to burn]
2 45-caliber pistols, loaded Possible means of self-propulsion [also useless... bullets need air to ignite the gunpowder and fire]
1 case of dehydrated milk Bulkier duplication of food concentrate
1 portable heating unit Not needed unless on the dark side
1 flashlight Not needed unless on the dark side
1 magnetic compass The magnetic field on the moon is not polarized, so it's worthless for navigation
1 box of matches Virtually worthless -- there's no oxygen on the moon to sustain combustion ["virtually"?]
Ok. NASA. You rated food as important, but how, exactly, do you propose I eat it? I'm in a fecken space suit. I can't sit down, pull of my helmet and chow down on an energy bar.
Even if there was some way of storing the bars inside the space suit, how do they propose I stick my hand inside my helmet to shove energy bars into my mouth? Even better, how do they propose I unwrap the energy bar with those big clumsy gloves on?
They rated the first aid kit as important too, but how do I treat myself without taking my space suit off?
Then they rated the radio as important. Ok... maybe this radio somehow plugs into the space suit, so that the mic is inside the helmet. I'll give them that, though it's curious the radio isn't actually built into the suit in the first place.
Bloody hell. Are these the people the same people planning to send astronauts back to the moon? Or maybe they know something about pressurised ancient alien rest centres scattered across the surface of the moon.
Oh... nearly forgot... the Moon Survival Challenge appears to be a test NASA gives to visiting school children.
Pffft!
Shit, I only got 26%, I'm going to DIE if I ever end up crashed, on the moon.
Hey!! I got 56% too. Mine were in a slightly different order as well, but I think much of my rationalization was the same...
I guess the real lesson here is not to head off into space with Morgan the Mouse!
Oh shut up, you show offs. I got 6%. HAHAHAHAHA!
I got 2%!! I would be fucked if I ever crash landed on the moon. If got the first 2 answers right, but the rest of them? So no.
Not very envirnomentally friendly of me but....Happy Earth Hour!
caw, let's just hope you and I are never stranded on the moon together, we would not do well. We'd have a blast, though!
Quite right, Ms e. Who needs water when you've got Bolle and some tasty hors'doeuvres? Perhaps we'd also take some paper and a pair of scissors so to make paper-cut out people or flower chains to pass the time.
Certainly, we'd perish but we'd have fun doing it. LOL
caw, I think if you and I plan to get stranded on the moon, we should be sure to bring a net so we can play badmington - how fun would that be?
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