Mars Climate orbiter: The metric/imperial mix-up that destroyed the craft was caused by a software error back on Earth. The thrusters on the spacecraft, which were intended to control its rate of rotation, were controlled by a computer that underestimated the effect of the thrusters by a factor of 4.45. This is the ratio between a pound force - the standard unit of force in the imperial system - and a newton, the standard unit in the metric system. The software was working in pounds force, while the spacecraft expected figures in newtons; 1 pound force equals approximately 4.45 newtons. The software had been adapted from use on the earlier Mars Climate Orbiter, and was not adequately tested before launch. The navigation data provided by this software was also not cross-checked while in flight. The Mars Climate Orbiter thus drifted off course during its voyage and entered a much lower orbit than planned, and was destroyed by atmospheric friction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#The_metric.2Fimperial_mix-up
On Aug 19, 2009, at 6:47 PM, Joseph Zorzin wrote: > Didn't one of the missions to Mars fail because some dodo used the > English system while a programmer colleague used the metric system > and their programs needed to work together- causing the mission to > fail? > Joe > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Will Blozan > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 7:21 PM > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Red Oak in Halifax > > Barry, > > What’s not to like about the metric system? It is far superior to > the crazy base-12 English system and is also virtually universal > world-wide. We Americans are holding on to an archaic system that > makes global communication ever more difficult. As a nation we > should switch over and be done with it. My two-cents from a base-10 > monetary system. Imagine counting pennies in twelves… > > Will > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Barry Caselli > Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 4:21 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Red Oak in Halifax > > I hate the Metric System! Nice tree. Very impressive. We don't hear > much about Canadian trees. > Thanks, > > --- On Tue, 8/18/09, Mike Kowalski <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Mike Kowalski <[email protected]> > Subject: [ENTS] Red Oak in Halifax > To: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 7:18 AM > > > ENTS, > > A friend of mine sent me this article about a month ago. The > beginnings of some data on trees in Nova Scotia at least... I'll be > in Halifax soon, so I'll probably go have a look for myself. > > http://dalnews.dal.ca/2009/07/09/tree.html > > > > Mike > > </table > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
