University:
University of California, Berkeley
Course:
COMPSCI 61B | Data Structures
Academic year:

2019
Views:

428

Pages:

2
Author:

StellarStrategist

Lost on the Moon Your spaceship has just crashed on the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship 200 miles away on the lighted surface of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your ship and destroyed all the equipment on board except for the 15 items listed below. Your crew’s survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the 200-mile trip. Your task is to rank the 15 items in terms of their importance for survival. Place a number 1 by the most important item, number 2 by the second most important, and so on, through number 15, the least important. Item Box of matches Food concentrate 50 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 5 gallons of water Signal flares First-aid kit containing injection needles Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter Total Your Rank (1) Group’s Rank (2) NASA’s Rank (3) |(3) − (1)| |(3) − (2)| Solution: Item NASA’s Reasoning NASA’s Rank Box of matches No oxygen to sustain flame, virtually worthless 15 Food concentrate Efficient means of supplying energy requirements 4 Fifty feet of nylon rope Useful in scaling cliffs, tying injured together 6 Parachute silk Protection from sun’s rays 8 Solar-powered portable heating unit Not needed unless on dark side 13 Two .45 caliber pistols Possible means of self-propulsion 11 One case of dehydrated milk Bulkier duplication of food concentrate 12 Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen Most pressing survival need 1 Stellar map (of the moon’s constellations) Primary means of navigation 3 Self-inflating life raft CO2 bottle in military raft may be used for propulsion 9 Magnetic compass Magnetic field on moon is not polarized; worthless for navigation 14 5 gallons of water Replacement for tremendous liquid loss on lighted side 2 Signal flares Distress signal when mother ship is sighted 10 First-aid kit injection needles Needles for vitamins, medicines, etc., will fit special aperture in NASA space suits 7 Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter For communication with mother ship; but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and short ranges 5 Error points are the absolute difference between your rankings and NASA’s. 0-25 excellent 26-32 good 33-45 fair 56-70 oops 71-112 oh well