Rank these for survival on a moon hike.

[Nowickisrj]

Both the compass and the heating unit would probably end up being useless. With no atmosphere the heater would have to rely on radiative heating (unless the raft is air tight...) and probably wouldn't be a significant help. As for the compass; the magnetic field of the moon is weak and erratic; probably wouldn't be of much use. I say they would need the air, the water, and a means of assisting rescue (probably the transmitter and maybe star map if they are really good at using it)... maybe the raft for cover and the heater depending on the nature of the raft. They are probably dead or rescued before food is an issue...

[Diogenes The Cynic]

The scenario is your ship crashed on the surface of the moon, and must hike to the local lunar base 200 miles away. You could only salvage these items, but must rank them according to their importance. (1 for most important, 2 for secong most important, etc) Oh yeah, you crashed on the light side of the moon.

_______ 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 _______

I'm going to make a few assumptions. First, you're in a spacesuit that has enough energy for you to be able to walk 200 miles without dying. That food includes a delivery method to eat from the spacesuit, and the same goes for the oxygen, and water.

              Box of matches _______
    5         Food concentrate _______
  9           50 feet of nylon rope _______
  10           Parachute silk _______
  11           Portable heating unit _______
  12           Two .45 caliber pistols _______
   7          One case of dehydrated milk _______
  2           Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen _______
  6           Stellar map _______
  13            Self-inflating life raft _______
  8           Magnetic compass _______
  1           5 gallons of water _______
  3           Signal flares _______
  9          First aid kit, including injection needle ____
  4         Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter _______

[velojym]

Pistol? No oxygen

modern pistols provide their own oxygen.  What are you going to shoot?

x2. there's oxygen inside the cartridges, as well as embedded in the powder itself.
As to targets, I guess it depends on what you're doing stranded on the Moon in the first place. If it was included in your kit, it must have been for
*some* reason.
As I hinted earlier, if you were in a microgravity environment, like in orbit, it could be used for propulsion. Not as effective on the Moon though. I suppose you could amuse yourself by shooting messages into the regolith, though.

[anarchir]

3 minutes without oxygen.
3 hours without shelter.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.

Dont astronauts have a gun on their ship?

[velojym]

3 minutes without oxygen.
3 hours without shelter.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.

Dont astronauts have a gun on their ship?

Can't speak for modern NASAnauts, but I'd certainly keep on on board if I were in a private spacecraft. An emergency landing could take you just about *anywhere*.
NASA emergencies don't usually end up being survivable anyway, though.

[anarchir]

3 minutes without oxygen.
3 hours without shelter.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.

Dont astronauts have a gun on their ship?

Can't speak for modern NASAnauts, but I'd certainly keep on on board if I were in a private spacecraft. An emergency landing could take you just about *anywhere*.
NASA emergencies don't usually end up being survivable anyway, though.

FOOM!

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

I was thinking of making a shelter out of the life raft

[Andy]

3 hours without shelter.

Haven't heard this one.

Anyone it would be considerable less on the moon without the right clothing, and considerably more with.

[YixilTesiphon]

Pistol and ammunition only. Jump with your back to the base, fire pistol in front of you, be rocketed towards the base. In the low gravity it'll take you awhile to come down, and you'll be flying the whole time.

[Pizzly]

This is from NASA

Item Ranking NASA's Reasoning
Box of matches 15 Virtually worthless -- there's no oxygenon 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 calibre 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

20 litres 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)

[BonerJoe]

Where is #2?

[Pizzly]

Where is #2?

sorry, fixed it. It's the water.

[davann]

50 feet of nylon rope 6 Useful in scaling cliffs and tying injured
together

Is the moon the best place to start playing bondage games with injured people? I can see down here on Earth maybe heading into the local E.R. for this sort of fun, but the moon? Seems a little inappropriate.

[anarchir]

There were a lot more givens that we were not told about. You said we had to hike 200 miles, not signal for help. Obviously we wouldn't realize there was a CO2 bottle in the liferaft. Why would we think that we could pierce our suit with a needle for meds, I would have assumed it would break the seal.

[velojym]

As they mentioned, weight isn't going to me nearly as much, about 1/6 Earth normal, but mass will remain in full effect.

In other words, if you're enjoying your ability to run along with 300 lbs of gear.... it'll still resist stopping just like 300 lbs of gear.