Which items would you put before others in a situation where you have to trek 40km across the Moon’s surface during the lunar day. Keep in mind things such as lack of oxygen, one-sixth gravity and so on.
Item number 1 is the most important, down to number 15 least important.
The items, in no particular order:
Matches
Food Concentrate
Nylon Rope, 50m
Parachute silk
Portable heater unit
Two .45 caliber pistols
Dehydrated milk, one case
Two 50kg oxygen tanks
Star map, moon constellations
Compressed CO2
Magnetic Compass
20 litres of water
Signal flares
First Aid Kits, Injection Needles
Solar powered FM Reciever, transmitter.
By the way, assume you have a spacesuit. 
Silent, this is not my homework… I have already completed my list, and I have considered things such as magnetic field strength, oxygen, etc. Thank you for responding.
I need two other people’s lists for comparison.
Larian LeQuella, same to you. I’ve completed my list, and need other opinions 
1. Two 50kg oxygen tanks
Single most useful thing you can have. The good news is gravity is low so you’ll actually be able to carry them.
2. Parachute silk
Portable shade.
3. Solar powered FM Reciever, transmitter
You might hear something useful and you can let your destination know you’re coming.
4. Nylon Rope, 50m
While not terribly useful, it will help in getting your friend out of that crater.
The rest is really, really useless and should be left at the crash site.
Matches – No firewood, no air in space.
Food Concentrate – You’d have to take off your helmet to eat.
Portable heater unit – The moon lacks wall sockets.
Two .45 caliber pistols – Sadly you won’t even be able to commit suicide with these. They’ll vacuum weld and the explosives won’t go off without oxygen.
Dehydrated milk, one case – More food you can’t eat.
Star map, moon constellations – Navigating by the stars is a good way to get lost.
Compressed CO2 – Unless you have some kind of jump jet this has no obvious purpose.
Magnetic Compass – The moon has no magnetic field. This is a paperweight.
20 litres of water – Wow, this would be nice if you could take off your helmet and if it was below the boiling point.
Signal flares – Stuff doesn’t burn on the moon.
First Aid Kits, Injection Needles – Because you’re going to inject your partner through his spacesuit? Or are you supposed to McGyver something involving the water or the CO2?
EDIT: Hmm, you learn something new every day. The flares would burn as would the gunpowder.
I still suspect the gun will vacuum weld.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_welding
March 7th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
1 two oxygen tanks
2 compresssed CO2
3 star map, moon constellations
4 magnetic compass
5 solar powered fm receiver
6 water
7 food concentrate
8 rope
9 signal flares
10 dehydrated milk
11 first aid kit
12 parachute silk
13 portable heater unit
14 two pistols
15 matches
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Well, I’m not going to do your homework for you, but here are some things to think about.
The compass is useless, since the Moon has no appreciable magnetic field. Same goes for the pistols, since there is nothing to shoot at, and in the absence of an atmosphere they would not be useful for signaling others.
Matches will not be useful either. Some matches may be able to burn in a vacuum, but what purpose would they serve? There’s nothing on the Moon worth setting fire to.
A portable heater will also not work well in a vacuum. You wouldn’t have much use for it anyway; if your spacesuit doesn’t provide temperature control, you’re not going to make it 40 km.
It will be very difficult to use injection needles, food concentrate, dehydrated milk, or water while wearing a spacesuit unless they are already inside the spacesuit.
The parachute will not be useful as a parachute (since there is no atmosphere) though depending on its color it might be useful for shade; I suppose you could also unfurl it and lay it out to signal a low-orbiting spacecraft.
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Without a spacesuit, they are all irrelevant.
Also, this is also one of those things that after you hand it in to your teacher, they are going to ask you for your reasoning. So if someone gave you a list with matches near the top, you’d probably feel silly for handing it in knowing that on the moon, those would be rather useless. Or would you rate the CO2 low, only to suddenly realize that maybe you can use it as a sort of propulsion system? Again, this really isn’t an exercise strangers can do for you.
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 1:11 am
15. Matches
3. Food Concentrate
5. Nylon Rope, 50m
6. Parachute silk
12. Portable heater unit
7. Two .45 caliber pistols
10. . Dehydrated milk, one case
1. Two 50kg oxygen tanks
8. Star map, moon constellations
tied for 15 – Compressed CO2
9. Magnetic Compass
2. 20 litres of water
tied for 15 – Signal flares
4. First Aid Kits, Injection Needles
11. Solar powered FM Reciever, transmitter.
References :
me and wikipedia
March 8th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Oxygen
Water
food concentrate
FM receiver/transmitter
parachute (used for shielding from sun)
star map (to find direction)
flares
compressed CO2 (to be used for propulsion)
pistols (recoil could be used for propulsion)
rope (always useful)
first aid kit
dehydrated milk
matches (useless on moon, no air)
compass (useless on moon, no magnetic field)
heater (useless during lunar day)
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 2:31 am
Ummm. You didn’t define ‘trek’.
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 3:14 am
1. Two 50kg oxygen tanks
Single most useful thing you can have. The good news is gravity is low so you’ll actually be able to carry them.
2. Parachute silk
Portable shade.
3. Solar powered FM Reciever, transmitter
You might hear something useful and you can let your destination know you’re coming.
4. Nylon Rope, 50m
While not terribly useful, it will help in getting your friend out of that crater.
The rest is really, really useless and should be left at the crash site.
Matches – No firewood, no air in space.
Food Concentrate – You’d have to take off your helmet to eat.
Portable heater unit – The moon lacks wall sockets.
Two .45 caliber pistols – Sadly you won’t even be able to commit suicide with these. They’ll vacuum weld and the explosives won’t go off without oxygen.
Dehydrated milk, one case – More food you can’t eat.
Star map, moon constellations – Navigating by the stars is a good way to get lost.
Compressed CO2 – Unless you have some kind of jump jet this has no obvious purpose.
Magnetic Compass – The moon has no magnetic field. This is a paperweight.
20 litres of water – Wow, this would be nice if you could take off your helmet and if it was below the boiling point.
Signal flares – Stuff doesn’t burn on the moon.
First Aid Kits, Injection Needles – Because you’re going to inject your partner through his spacesuit? Or are you supposed to McGyver something involving the water or the CO2?
EDIT: Hmm, you learn something new every day. The flares would burn as would the gunpowder.
I still suspect the gun will vacuum weld.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_welding
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 3:36 am
This is the NASA test!
I hope everyone puts the oxygen tanks first!
(Did you hear about the first restaurant on the moon?
Good food, but no atmosphere)
And somewhere down the bottom would be your magnetic
compass (unless TMA 1 is what you are looking for)
Portable heater (you are already baking in the lunar day)
and
that Box ‘o Matches (unless you need to draw straws
on who gets to manually detonate the nuclear device to split
the asteroid in two and save the world, oops, wrong movie!)
Hope you rated that 20 liters of H2O second (it gets mighty
thirsty in those badland desert regions)
and speaking of the badlands, better rate the 45 calibers
somewhere up there too, could be good for discipline, not alien
encounters ("so tell me, do you feel lucky?" oh, not to be confused
with those match stick drawing episodes)
The star map is a keeper, sort of the lunar version of GPS (Tom Tom?)
and yes, signal flares I am told are self igniting by NASA and DO
work in oxygen free environs.
Yuck to dehydrated milk (duh, you need to use your water to
make moo juice?) and food? I have just 40 KM to go, remember?
Do marathon runners stop for a bite on the way? Those 2001
sandwiches looked pretty repulsive so food concentrate may be
wayyyyyy down the list too.
Now parachute silk and nylon rope (good for bundling up this stuff and dragging it along) and the SOLAR POWERED
RECEIVER TRANSMITTER better rate up there too, as well as the first aid kit and injection needles, which, yes, can be administered
without compromising your space suit, according to NASA
Where is the self inflating life raft? Did that get cut from the list?
Compressed CO2 instead? Hmmmm. Releasing some of that would
be a nice coolant; if my space suit was getting a little too warm in the daylight sun, that may be worth a shot!
I hope you never crash on the moon!
I pray this remains only an hypothetical exercise,
-y
~Psalm 23
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 3:56 am
I agree with Anonymous Viking’s ordering. The pistols, however, as noted above, might be able to be useful as reaction devices, because their explosives *will* work in vacuum. Gunpowder contains its own oxidizer, as do signal flares.
References :
March 8th, 2010 at 4:11 am
Oxygen, number one. Everything else, number fifteen. Forty kilometers isn’t that far in lunar gravity; the rest of that stuff will just slow you down. I’d leave it behind.
References :