Scientists estimate the cost of a transatlantic flight for an aerosond

Question

Scientists estimate the cost of a transatlantic flight for an aerosonde. an unmanned airplane designed to collect atmospheric data, to be $20,000. An ordinary weather balloon, by contrast, can collect virtually the same information for about $200. Therefore, weather balloons are clearly the more cost-efficient method for gathering information.

Which of the following, if true, calls the above conclusion into question?

A. Aerosondes are less costly than piloted planes and also do not put human life at risk.
B. Politicians who have lobbied for federal funds to construct the aerosonde are astonished at its in-flight agility.
C. Weather balloons are subject to violent weather changes that can blow them miles off course.
D. Aerosondes can be used over and over again. But weather balloons, because of their frailty, can only be used once.
E. in the time it takes to launch an aerosonde, it is possible to launch more than 100 weather balloons at once.

gloomybison · Answer

-Aerosondes are less costly than piloted planes and also do not put human life at risk.
This doesn't call the above conclusion into question, but in contrary it further strengthens the argument

-Politicians who have lobbied for federal funds to construct the aerosonde are astonished at its in-flight agility.
We don't care about what politicians think of it

-Weather balloons are subject to violent weather changes that can blow them miles off course.
this may be tempting but our concern is about cost. Also we don't really know weather aerosondes are subject to such errors

-Aerosondes can be used over and over again. But weather balloons, because of their frailty, can only be used once.
 Correct , Think about it, in the beginning balloons may seem a plausible option, but after 100 balloon launches than cost of monitoring with a balloon would surpass that with an aerosonde

-In the time it takes to launch an aerosonde, it is possible to launch more than 100 weather balloons at once.
Irrelevant, we are not concerned about any comparison between differences in their launches

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

Scientists estimate the cost of a transatlantic flight for an aerosonde. an unmanned airplane designed to collect atmospheric data, to be $20,000. An ordinary weather balloon, by contrast, can collect virtually the same information for about $200. Therefore, weather balloons are clearly the more cost-efficient method for gathering information.

Which of the following, if true, calls the above conclusion into question?

A. Aerosondes are less costly than piloted planes and also do not put human life at risk. -> We didn't talk about weather balloons. Incorrect.
B. Politicians who have lobbied for federal funds to construct the aerosonde are astonished at its in-flight agility. -> Irrelevant.
C. Weather balloons are subject to violent weather changes that can blow them miles off course. -> We didn't talk about aerosonde. Incorrect.
D. Aerosondes can be used over and over again. But weather balloons, because of their frailty, can only be used once. -> It makes sense. Let's keep it.
E. in the time it takes to launch an aerosonde, it is possible to launch more than 100 weather balloons at once. -> It will strengthen conclusion. We need to make the conclusion questionable. Incorrect.

So, I think D.

Suryaaai · Answer

The answer should be C as it puts some doubt upon the efficacy of the weather balloon. D on the other hand may look correct however, we'll have to launch 100 ballons to break even the cost of an aerosonde which seems a bit unreasonable.

MeghShah · Answer

Scientists estimate the cost of a transatlantic flight for an aerosonde. an unmanned airplane designed to collect atmospheric data, to be $20,000. An ordinary weather balloon, by contrast, can collect virtually the same information for about $200. Therefore, weather balloons are clearly the more cost-efficient method for gathering information.

Which of the following, if true, calls the above conclusion into question?

A. Aerosondes are less costly than piloted planes and also do not put human life at risk.  The passage compared aerosondes to balloons not piloted planes 
B. Politicians who have lobbied for federal funds to construct the aerosonde are astonished at its in-flight agility.  This is irrelevant since the passage is about cost efficiency and there is no link between agility and cost 
C. Weather balloons are subject to violent weather changes that can blow them miles off course. -  Seems correct because vulnerability to weather and being blown miles of course would collect the data for a different region rendering the whole flight useless. Therefore potentially requiring many many balloon flights.  
D. Aerosondes can be used over and over again. But weather balloons, because of their frailty, can only be used once.  - the cost of $20,000 and $200 is for a single flight, not manufacturing an aerosonde / baloon. 
E. in the time it takes to launch an aerosonde, it is possible to launch more than 100 weather balloons at once. - the passage is about cost efficiency, not Time efficiency.

Vignesh11794 · Answer

The conclusion is "weather balloons are clearly the more  cost-efficient method  for gathering information."

So, we need to focus on the option that strengthens the argument that aerosonde is more cost effective than an air balloon. Or we need an option that somehow says that balloons are not the most cost efficient method.

Only option 'D' talks about cost.

darcyrobert · Answer

Option D calls this conclusion into question. If aerosondes can be used over and over again, while weather balloons can only be used once due to their frailty, the cost efficiency could shift in favor of aerosondes over time. For example, if an aerosonde can be used 200 times, the cost per use would be $100, which is cheaper than the $200 for a single-use weather balloon. Therefore, the long-term cost efficiency could favor aerosondes, despite the higher initial cost.

The other options do not directly challenge the cost-efficiency comparison between aerosondes and weather balloons. They introduce other factors (risk to human life, in-flight agility, susceptibility to weather changes, and launch time), but these do not necessarily impact the cost efficiency of gathering information.

Scientists estimate the cost of a transatlantic flight for an aerosond

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Scientists estimate the cost of a transatlantic flight for an aerosond

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