Download Grade 9 Applied Science

Grade 9 Applied Science - Space
Surviving on the Moon
Objective
To understand the essentials for survival on the Moon
Methods
1. Your spaceship has just crash-landed on the Moon. You are 320 km away from Moon
Base. It is midday (NOTE: A Moon Lunar Day lasts 14 Earth days). Your crew’s survival
depends on reaching the base.
2. Choose the five most critical items from the following 15 items salvaged from your
wrecked ship. Your task is to rank the items in terms of their importance for survival on
your trek to the safety of the base.
3. Place number one by the most important item, number two by the second most important
item, and so on through number fifteen, the least important item. If you get four of the top
five items correct, you will survive
Items
ITEM
Box of matches
15 m of nylon rope
Two .45 caliber pistols
Self-inflating life raft
38 L of water
Solar-powered FM
receiver-transmitter
Stellar (star) map
45 kg tanks of oxygen
Solar-powered
portable heating unit
Food concentrate
Parachute
One case of
dehydrated milk
Magnetic Compass
Signal Flares
First Aid Kit with
spacesuit injecting
needles
YOUR NUMERIC RANK
Group One: Essentials
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Air is essential to sustaining life so it should be the #1 priority.
Water is also necessary during your multi-day lunar hike so it is #2.
A star map will help you find your way to the base; after basic survival it’s tops.
Food will keep your strength up.
The solar-powered radio may enable you to call for rescue, shortening your ordeal.
Group Two: Potentially useful
6. Rope could help you traverse difficult terrain.
7. The first aid kit could be a lifesaver.
8. You could make a sunshade with the parachute canopy, but there is no atmosphere on
the Moon.
9. Signal flares might help you when you are very close to the base.
10. Dehydrated milk could add to your food but is not absolutely essential for the hike.
Group Three: Arguably Deadweight on the Moon
11. Self-inflating life raft. Some have argued to use the carbon dioxide bottle for propulsion.
This might be true in weightlessness, but it isn’t large enough to use on the Moon
12. Solar-powered portable heating unit. The problem during the day will be too much heat
13. Pistols. It has been suggested that you could use the pistols for propulsion but this will
not work in the Moon’s gravity field.
14. Magnetic Compass. A compass will not work on the Moon because, unlike the Earth, it
has no appreciable magnetic field.
15. Matches. These won’t work on the airless Moon.