To write about State-owned electricity utility Eskom, the virus and government is boring. So, I am going to use this time to get our Engineering News & Mining Weekly readers to solve a few problems. When members of your family are glued to Episode 10 of Series 3 of How to Get Away with Murder, we are going to collectively solve a few problems.

It works like this: in the columns until we get to the end of the lockdown (if that ever happens), I will set some design tasks. I will ask readers to write how they see the solution to some (or all) of the tasks. I will ask the readers to use no more than 500 words to explain their thinking about how the tasks should be solved and we will publish the tasks that represent the clearest and best solutions. Okay?

To assist readers (and, in particular, Natal graduates) I set out an example as follows: the task – a landscape architect has approached you regarding a new grassed quadrangle that will be formed as a result of the construction of a new lecture theatre block at a university. The architect is concerned, since, very often, students take shortcuts over grassed quadrangles and the paths that form are unsightly and become muddy in the rain. The architect wants to know if you, the engineer, have a solution. The architect is not keen on barrier fences and knows that ‘Keep off the grass’ signs will be ignored or defaced. Paved paths across the grass may be a solution but there is no guarantee the students will stick to the path. The solution: students cannot be made to stop walking where you do not want them to walk. An idea would be to place a fountain in the centre of the quadrangle, with paved paths radiating from the fountain to each corner of the rectangle. Students will be more likely to walk to and past a fountain, owing to the natural attraction of water. But this is not a guarantee.

The workable solution is this: construct the quadrangle and grass it. Leave it for one semester. After this time, the students will have formed paths in the grass and exposed the ground below. Now, using these pathways, lay brick paving over them, thus making the paths permanent. Okay, got the idea?

For this week, there are two tasks. The first task: you are the State engineer serving under your country’s President, Paul Kruger. His deputy has advised you that the President is going to move the seat of government to Machadadorp, 250 km west of Pretoria. Government wants to take two-million ponds (Kruger ponds) to Machadadorp, probably by train but, under abnormal circumstances, by horse cart or mules. The ponds will have to be packed in boxes for transport. The deputy wants you to write a short report detailing how the coins are to be packed. If the coins are packed in boxes, should these be metal or timber? How many coins per box? Can existing ammunition boxes be used? What arrangements will be used to transport the boxes if using mules? What arrangements are to be made to prevent theft or pilfering?

Second task: you are an engineer working for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (Nasa), in the US. A hippy inventor has convinced Nasa to allow him to use a Mars probe to send a helicopter drone to Mars. This, he thinks, will be a much better idea than the current drones. The hippy has built a working drone which can fly in the Martian atmosphere, the atmosphere being 1% as dense as on Earth. The issue is one of drone control from Earth – the radio signal transit time is between 4 and 24 minutes. You are to submit a report detailing the following: What controls will be sent to the drone? How will the drone be controlled remotely? Okay, dear readers, as I wrote, Engineering News & Mining Weekly will publish the most interesting observations.