RC Drill Set 5, Question 4
Many people are skeptical about the feasibility of(451 more words not shown)
The passage most strongly suggests(10 more words not shown)
- AIt takes less(19 more words not shown)
- BLunar missions did(11 more words not shown)
- CUnder the alternative(16 more words not shown)
- DThe total fuel(17 more words not shown)
- EOne factor on(24 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
This is a broad inference question, so I don't have one precise prediction. We know the author favors preparing Mars in advance and explains several advantages of doing so. For each choice, we need a view supported by that explanation, rather than a plausible guess about space travel.
Working the answers
- A
A longer stay gives the crew more time to adjust; it doesn't make adjustment faster. A few days spent acclimating takes up much more of a 30-day visit than a 500-day visit.
- B
No assessment of how much useful work past lunar missions allowed is given. The moon supplies a comparison and a proposed training site.
- C
Shorter transit means less time exposed to radiation, but that doesn't establish negligible health damage. We aren't told how much damage the remaining exposure would cause.
- D
Making fuel on Mars changes its source and what must be carried from Earth. It doesn't establish equal total fuel consumption across all the trips required by each plan.
- ECorrect
The author objects that the short stay limits how much the crew can investigate and test (paragraph 2), then questions whether its gains outweigh its costs. The alternative's “more extensive exploration” is a benefit. Those judgments treat the work accomplished as one factor in the mission's value.
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