I posted the following on the SM3B discussion board at
http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov --> "talk to us"
and someone (Carmen) has posted a response. In that order they read as
shown below.
Friday, March 01, 2002 - 09:52 pm
I see small signs that NASA is occasionally complying with the recent
Inspector General's report by including metric equivalents when
reporting quantities in other units. That greatly benefits the tens of
millions of students who are preparing to live in a totally metric
environment. In addition, this makes the information more accessible to
the 95% of the world's people who are already fully metricated and who
receive absolutely no training on feet, miles, and psi.
A few quantities seem to have slipped through the cracks, though. The
NASA pages refer to the altitude as 360 miles and do not provide a
metric equivalent. If those are nautical miles, then that would be 667
km. If those are statute miles, then the altitude would be 579 km. One
hopes that NASA knows which of these two altitudes the orbiter is at. We
would like to know, too. Which is it, NASA -- 667 km or 579 km? There
are three different miles used in the USA but only one kilometer, so I
trust statements which use kilometers.
Also, reference is made here and there to cabin pressures of 14.7 psi
and 10.2 psi. Those equate to 101 kPa and 70 kPa, respectively.
NASA, it's nice to see you heading towards globally understandable
communications.
J.R. Frysinger, CAMS
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC 29424
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj
Saturday, March 02, 2002 - 01:34 am
Thank You JR for the translations. I don't know why Americans insist on
using measurements that are impossible to learn, and extremely difficult
to work with. And when you get a result, it is meaningless.
>From what I understand, NASA actually uses metric units in its work.
Even its founder, Dr. Werner von Braun, never used American measurements
and loathed them. His designs and concepts were strictly metric.
I can't imagine the confusion, errors and cost that the US must incur by
constantly converting and reconverting figures. We in the world work
only in metric and never endure this headache.
No wonder American products don't sell outside the US.
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
