A professor at the University of Texas created the NASA Moon Survival test to see how well candidates work together before hiring them.
To complete the task at hand, picture yourself as a member of a spaceship crew getting ready to blast out for the moon.
But things go south when you have to make an emergency landing over a hundred miles away from your original destination because of technical difficulties.
Because of this chaos, your spaceship’s supplies have been damaged, and it is now up to your crew to determine which of the following will allow you to land on the moon safely and continue your journey on foot. There are both common places and odd items included.
You’ll want to assign values from 1 to 15, with one representing the most crucial item and fifteen the least.
15 items that may or may not get to the moon
- A box of matches
- Food concentrate
- 50 feet of nylon rope
- Parachute silk
- Portable heating unit
- Two .45 calibre pistols
- 1 case dehydrated Pet milk
- 2 hundred-pound tanks of oxygen
- Stellar map (of the moon’s constellation)
- Life raft
- Magnetic compass
- 5 gallons of water
- Signal flares
- First aid kit containing injection needles
- Solar-powered FM receiver transmitter
Who exactly is behind the fun exercise?
This popular activity is based on social psychology studies that sought to improve the enjoyment of team building exercises.
It was all conceived by Jay Hall.
In 1970, a social psychology professor investigated the causes of office group projects that lead to the inefficiency typically cited by human resources.
These problems will hopefully be diminished by this test.
Its advocates say it can help teams make better decisions collectively and measure their progress.
Below is the proper list, in order of usefulness:
- A box of matches – 15
- Food concentrate – 4
- 50 feet of nylon rope – 6
- Parachute silk – 8
- Portable heating unit – 13
- Two .45 calibre pistols – 11
- 1 case dehydrated Pet milk – 12
- 2 hundred-pound tanks of oxygen – 1
- Lunar constellation star map – 3
- Life raft – 9
- Magnetic compass – 14
- 5 gallons of water – 2
- Signal flares – 10
- Injection needles, first aid kit – 7
- Solar-powered FM receiver transmitter – 5
Reasoning
According to NASA, taking a box of matches to the moon is pointless because there is no air there to support burning.
Food concentrate, on the other hand, received a solid 4 and was praised for being an effective way to meet calorie needs.
Nylon rope wasn’t the best estimate, but it wasn’t the worst either. It got a 6 because people believe it can be used to climb steep terrain and to secure injured parties.
Parachute silk may only be an 8, but at least it can shield you from the light.
Even if you gave a portable heater a high score, NASA only gave it a 13, saying that it is unnecessary unless one is on the “dark side.”
The space giant also didn’t think too highly of two.45 caliber pistols, which they saw as a potential means of self-propulsion.
In a similar vein, they deemed the single package of dried pet milk to be an unnecessary, cumbersome repetition of food concentrate.
As expected, the highest levels have the most oxygen. Since the moon’s gravity is just 1/6 that of Earth, each tank would only weigh about 17 lbs., making it the most essential survival need.
You would have been correct in giving stellar map a 3. Given that star patterns appear nearly identical on the moon as they do on Earth, this would be your stranded team’s primary means of navigation.
The lift raft follows, and this is rated a 9 at best because of the fact that a CO2 bottle can be used to propel a raft in the military.
The magnetic field on the moon isn’t polarized, thus a compass can’t be used to navigate its surface. If you thought you were being clever by giving a magnetic compass a high ranking, think again.
The ‘light side’ requires a lot of liquid replacement, so having 20 liters of water on hand is also a smart idea.
Flares used to signal for help when the mother ship is in sight are of limited utility.
Needles attached to vials of vitamins, medicines, etc., will fit a unique aperture in NASA space suit, earning it a 7 for its inclusion in a first aid kit.
A solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter was awarded the lowest possible score of 5. This is because FM is utilized for communicating with the mother ship, but it can only be sent in a direct line of sight and hence has limited range.
