This document contains an astronaut test paper that simulates a mission to Mars. It provides scenarios where the candidate must calculate fuel needs, food weights, thrust and speed requirements, radiation and temperature readings, electrical amps, and amount of rocks collected. The candidate is instructed to show their working and decisions at various steps of the mission. The test is administered by the Head of Recruitment at the British Space Service to prove the candidate can read instruments accurately and make correct decisions.
2. Scenario
You are to plan a mission to Mars. You will be given a list of items
you will need to take and you must calculate the total weight of
those items.
You will be required to fuel your ship with the correct amount of
fuel.
In addition you will need to prove you can read your instruments
accurately and decide on the correct course of action as a result
of what your instruments show.
A mission will be described to you and you will need to read the
instructions carefully and decide what you would do in the
situation.
Good luck with the test
Albert Minch
Albert Minch
Head of Recruit ment
Brit ish Space Service
3. Your first task will be to fuel your craft with the correct
amount of fuel. The current level of fuel is shown below:-
Your craft requires 6750 tonnes of
fuel to make the trip to Mars and
back.
How much more fuel should the
ship be fuelled with. Remember if
you take too much fuel your craft
will be too heavy to lift off safely
and will crash.
Show how you have worked out
how much more fuel to put in
your craft.
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4. Being a British mission we have little money to spend on food. Following much
research it has been discovered that an astronaut can survive on a diet of baked
beans alone. In order to make the trip you will need to take 375 cans of beans.
As part of the test you are required to
weigh a tin of beans and calculate the
total weight of 375 cans.
Show your working below.
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You will also need water on your trip, our scientists have been hard at it
calculating how much water you will need to survive the trip. After much effort
they have decided that you will need 546 bottles.
As part of the test you are required to
weigh the water and calculate the total
weight of 546 bottles.
Show your working below.
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5. Mission Test
In order to lift off the launch pad you will need to generate 3500 tonnes per metre
of thrust. Below is the thrustometer which shows the thrust level. Read the dial
and record what the thrustometer shows thrusts levels as.
Thrust
__________
How much more thrust do you need to have to reach lift off, show your
working.
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tonnes per metre
6. To escape earths gravity you need to reach a speed of 810 mph. Below is your
speedometer. Read the current speed from the speedometer and record it.
Speed
__________
mph
How much faster will you need to be going to successfully escape earths gravity?
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As you escape the earths atmosphere you will be hit by radiation, this has to stay at a safe
level. The level is 3.75 rad. How much over the safe level is your ship if the level is shown
below?
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7. The temperature of the ships hull needs to be carefully watched if it falls below - 15 the ship
will fall apart! Check the thermometer below are you still safe?
What is the reading? _________
Are you safe still? _________
As you enter Mars atmosphere the temperature of the hull cannot reach more than 450 C .
The thermometer below shows the temperature, are you safe?
What is the current temperature? ______
How much can the temperature rise before it
reaches 450c (show your working)
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8. Whilst on Mars you need to fix your ships electrics. You use an ameter which measure
amps. You need to have at least 43 amps for your ships electrics to work properly. How
many amps do you have if the reading below is correct.
What is the reading at the moment?
________
How many more amps do you need?
(show your working)
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During your stay on Mars you must collect 355 kilograms of rocks. The
meter below shows how much you have collected. How much have
you collected so far? ___________
How much more do you
need to collect?(Show
your working)
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