NASA Survival Team Exercise

Process Give individuals slides 3, 4 and 5 of this packet Have individuals read the survival exercise and have each individual prioritize the items for survival in rank order (Step 1) (10-15 minutes) Once all individuals have done this and recorded their individual votes on their score sheets, tell the group that they can discuss their answers together to learn from the collective wisdom in the room. Begin talking as a group to figure out how to reach a group decision about the ranking (25-30 minutes) Group can decide whether to resolve differences through a collective vote or by further discussion. On an overhead, record the group decisions and have each of the individuals fill this in on their score sheet. (Step 2 column) Supply the expert rankings from Slide 5 and have group fill these in (Step 3) Have each participant compute the individual and group scores on the score sheet (Steps 4 & 5) Record all the gains and losses and see how the collective wisdom of group improved the scores. This is about a 3 minute slide covering structure-before-task on what will happen next. The participants now return to the survival exercise to rank the items as a team and to compute the scores for both individual performance and team performance. In this booklet the survival worksheet is either on page II-5 or on page II-7. The transparencies referred to are to be made from the masters found at the end of the Facilitator’s Guide. These sheets, when made into transparencies, allow the results for all teams to be displayed on an overhead projector.

SPACE SURVIVAL Exercise In the following situation, your "life" and "death" depends upon how well you can prioritize items for survival in a relatively unfamiliar environment. This problem is fictional, although the ranking to which you will compare your results was done by a number of space experts. The Situation You are a member of a lunar exploration crew originally scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship on the lighted surface of the moon. Due to mechanical difficulties however, your ship was forced to land at a spot some 320 kilometers (200 miles) from the rendezvous point. During the re-entry and landing, much of the equipment aboard was damaged, and, since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, the most critical items available must be chosen for the 320 km trip. All members of your team are uninjured. Your Task On the next page are listed the 15 items left intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank these items according to their importance in aiding you to reach the mother ship, starting with "1" the more important, to "15" the least important. You should assume that your crew is your class, you have agreed to stick together, and all 15 items are in good condition. This slide sets the context of the assignment. Any details that may come up when the participants read it should be cleared up at this time. Generally, few questions are asked - the problem setting is clear. The individual ranking generally takes about 15 minutes. Each participant completes this task by completing the column labeled Step 1 on the next slide. How participants arrange their priorities is really not of concern here. Some will just pick them one-by-one. Others may pick pairs of high and lows in each round. But they do need to complete this part.

Score sheet NASA Lunar Survival Items Step 1 Indiv Ranking Step 2 Team Ranking Step 3 Expert Ranking Step 4 Difference Ranking [1-3] Step 5 Difference Ranking [2-3] Box of matches Food concentrate 50 feet of nylon rope Parachute silk Portable heating unit Two .45 caliber pistols One case of dehydrated milk Two 100 lb. tanks of O2 Stellar map Self-inflating life raft Magnetic compass 5 gallons of water Signal flares First aid kit, including injection needle Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter Total the absolute differences of Steps 4 and 5 ---------------------------- (the lower the score the better) Your Score Team Score

NASA Lunar Survival Items Box of matches Food concentrate 50 feet of nylon rope Parachute silk Portable heating unit Two .45 caliber pistols One case of dehydrated milk Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen Stellar map Self-inflating life raft Magnetic compass 5 gallons of water Signal flares First aid kit, including injection needle Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter

Space Survival Ranking of Items by Experts Answers to the Survival on the Moon Exercise Item NASA Ranking NASA's Reasoning Box of matches: 15 Virtually worthless -- there's no oxygen on the moon to sustain Combustion Food concentrate: 4 Efficient means of supplying energy requirements 50 feet of nylon rope: 6 Useful in scaling cliffs and tying injured together Parachute silk: 8 Protection from the sun's rays Portable heating unit: 13 Not needed unless on the dark Side

Two .45 caliber pistols: 11 Possible means of self-propulsion Expert Rankings Two .45 caliber pistols: 11 Possible means of self-propulsion One case of dehydrated milk 12 Bulkier duplication of food concentrate Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen 1 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) Stellar map 3 Primary means of navigation – star patterns appear essentially identical on the moon as on Earth Self-inflating life raft 9 CO2 bottle in military raft may be used for propulsion Magnetic compass 14 The magnetic field on the moon is not polarized, so it's worthless for navigation 5 gallons of water 2 Needed for replacement of tremendous liquid loss on the light side Signal flares 10 Use as distress signal when the mother ship is sighted First aid kit, including injection needle 7 Needles connected to vials of vitamins, medicines, etc. will fit special aperture in NASA space suit Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter 5 For communication with mother ship (but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and can only be used over short ranges)

lower the total, the better your score. 0 - 25 excellent 26 - 32 good SCORING Scoring: For each item, mark the number of points that your score differs from the NASA ranking, then add up all the points. Disregard plus or minus differences. The lower the total, the better your score. 0 - 25 excellent 26 - 32 good 33 - 45 average 46 - 55 fair 56 - 70 poor -- suggests use of Earth-bound logic 71 - 112 very poor – you’re one of the casualties of the space program!