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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is Captain James Cook?
(a) A captain of industry in the 1700s who funded the exploration of Hawaii.
(b) The first captain of the first Endeavour.
(c) The captain of the first spaceship to reach Mars.
(d) The captain of the Starship Enterprise.

2. What does the first images of Rama prove?
(a) Rama is not a natural object.
(b) The color of Rama fluctuates from black to shades of gray to white.
(c) The body of Rama is geometrically imperfect.
(d) Rama is too far away to see clearly.

3. How does Commander Norton feel about landing on Rama?
(a) A mixture of elation and anxiety.
(b) A sense of danger and surprise.
(c) A healthy dose of caution.
(d) Filled with trepedation.

4. What slides out of the wall of the pillbox-shaped structure?
(a) A claw.
(b) Crossed bars.
(c) A tentacle.
(d) A wheel.

5. Who goes with the Commander on the first EVA?
(a) Joe Calvert.
(b) James Pak.
(c) Boris Rodrigo.
(d) Karl Mercer.

6. What words does the author use to portray the vast majority of asteroids?
(a) "...were almost always under 500 kilos and small enough to fit in a backyard swimming pool."
(b) "...were simply massive rocks the size of a small car."
(c) "... were merely oversize boulders that would fit into a small park."
(d) "... were just under forty kilometers in diameter."

7. Where does Dr. Bose currently reside?
(a) On Earth.
(b) On a space station.
(c) On the moon.
(d) On Mars.

8. What is Straight Valley?
(a) A line dug into the sand near the Cylindrical Sea.
(b) A long groove or trench near Paris.
(c) A valley located next to the Rockies.
(d) A valley adjacent to the South Pole.

9. Rama is compared to what ordinary object?
(a) A globe.
(b) A hot air balloon.
(c) A boiler.
(d) An airship.

10. Most asteroids tracked by Spaceguard are described as having this sort of orbit.
(a) Orbits that keep asteroids within the confines of the asteroid belt.
(b) Orbits that posed a possible danger to Earth.
(c) Orbits that lay beyond Mars.
(d) Orbits dissimilar to Earth's orbit around the Sun.

11. What is Sita?
(a) A long range missile designed to destroy Rama.
(b) A pod of special cameras intended to photograph Rama from all sides.
(c) A space-probe that is originally intended to launch from Mars to go beyond Neptune.
(d) A big orbiting telescope.

12. What does Dr. Bose long for?
(a) The unexpected.
(b) Familiar faces and ordinary days.
(c) New faces and unexpected behavior.
(d) More immigration.

13. How many members of the United Planets are there?
(a) Nine.
(b) Ten.
(c) Twelve.
(d) Six.

14. In Chapter 11, what is identified as a psychological problem that may arise for the explorers?
(a) The path of Rama, which is very close to the Sun.
(b) The cold.
(c) Darkness.
(d) The fluctuation of gravitational force.

15. What is unusual about object 31/439?
(a) It has a diameter of forty kilometers and is traveling in an atypical asteroidal path.
(b) It is traveling in an ellipse with clockwork precision that is retraced every few years.
(c) It is traveling straight past the orbits of the inner planets and will impact the Sun.
(d) It is given a name of a mythological creature.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is Dr. Bose "exiled" from the Earth?

2. Who does the Commander depend on to land the Endeavour?

3. What is a light curve?

4. How many wives does Commander Norton have?

5. What event do the inhabitants of Earth see as inevitable?

(see the answer keys)

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