lost on the moon

EGN-1002 Engineering Orientation

Lost on the moon


Lost on the moon – 1• Consider yourself a member of a spaceship crew.• Your spacecraft was originally scheduled to rendezvous

with a mother ship on the lighted surface of the moon.• Due to an energy failure, however, it was necessary for

you and your crew to crash-land some 200 miles from the mother ship.

• In landing, much of the equipment was damaged beyond use and several of the crew were injured

.


Lost on the moon – 2

• Fifteen (15) items of equipment were left intact and undamaged during the crash landing.

• And, since it is necessary for you to reach the mother ship as quickly as possible if you are to survive, some of the undamaged equipment must be selected for the 200-mile trek which lies ahead.


Lost on the moon – 3• Task 1:• Take “Individual worksheet”.• Your task is to rank the order of all 15 items in terms of their

importance and utility in ensuring your survival on the journey to the mother ship.

• Place the number 1 by the most important item, and number 15 next to the least important item.

• Consider at all time what you know about moon conditions in making your selections.

• Please work individually without consulting other crew-members.• Record time needed to complete your work.



• Task 2:• Gather group together.• Take “Team worksheet”.• Repeat task 1 brainstorming now in the team.• As a group, you must reach consensus regarding

the relative importance of these items in your mission to reach help at the mother ship.


Lost on the moon – 4• Task 3:• Compare the group result with your individual

ranking.• Copy the team ranks into your individual

worksheet.• Task 4:• Record in the worksheets NASA’s experts

answers on the same test (see next slide)


Lost on the moon – NASA rank

NASA rank

Items Comment

15 Box of matches No oxygen to sustain flame, virtually worthless 04 Food concentrate Efficient means of supplying energy requirements06 50 feet of rope Useful for climbing and for tying things together08 A parachute Shelter against the sun’s rays13 Solar-powered portable heater Useful only if party landed on the dark side11 Two 0.45 caliber pistols Possible means of self-propulsion12 One case of dehydrated milk Bulkier duplication of food concentrate01 Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen Fills respiration requirement03 A map of the Moon Primary means of navigation09 Self-inflating life raft CO2 bottle in military raft may be used for propulsion14 Magnetic compass Magnetic field on moon is not polarized; worthless for

navigation02 5 gallons of water Replacement for tremendous liquid loss on lighted side10 Signal flares Distress call when line of sight is possible07 First-aid kit with injection needles Needles for vitamins, medicines, etc., will fit special

aperture in NASA space suits 05 Solar-powered FM receiver-

transmitterFor communication with mother ship; but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and short ranges

The answers below were based on NASA’s best judgments given theinformation and knowledge available to them at the time.



• Task 5:• Take individual worksheet.• For every item calculate absolute (disregard

plus or minus signs) difference : (your individual rank – NASA rank) and place it in the column “Individual – NASA”

• Compute total of the difference between your rankings and NASA's.



• Task 6:• Take the team worksheet.• For every item calculate absolute (disregard

plus or minus signs) difference: (your team rank – NASA rank) and place it in the column “Team – NASA”

• Compute total of the difference between the team rankings and NASA's.



• Compare obtained results with the following table:

0-25 excellent26-32 good33-45 fair46-70 oops71-112 oh, well…


Please, turn all your worksheets in.

lost on the moon

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