Posted a moment ago at http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov ("Talk to us"):
Thanks for that information on NASA's internal procedures, Dave. It's interesting that you say they typically work in terms of meters. This is something that has educational value; due to the persistent use of statute miles (occasionally nautical miles), feet, and pounds in NASA press releases, many Americans are convinced that those are the units NASA works in all the time, even for non-STS missions. As a physics instructor I often use NASA materials regarding various satellites and those are completely metric, or nearly so. But the average American doesn't see those pages. I think the time has come for NASA to realize that Americans have become global thinkers and are familiar with kilometers, due to the Olympics and local foot races if nothing else. Indeed, more Americans have run 5 km races than have rowed or sailed 5 nautical mile races. NASA's public materials have a tremendous and valuable impact on public education and they should be expected to be at the front edge of public knowledge. NASA has wonderfully taught the public about orbits, black holes, radiation, star dust, geomagnetic storms, lunar surfaces, and telescopes working at all sorts of wavelengths. It boggles the mind that NASA should think Americans cannot comprehend kilometers, meters, kilograms, and degrees Celsius. This is especially true since these have been taught in American science classes since the late 1950s. Find an American under the age of 60 who has not used a meter stick, a lab balance, and a Celsius thermometer! A quick look at our grocery shelves and computer store displays will tell us that we buy computer cables by the meter and beverages by the liter. A moment's thought reminds us that a 1 L bottle of water weighs about 1 kg. We've had dual labeling on packages for a decade. Noting NASA's superb abilities to explain arcane astronomical phenomena, I am confident that they can use only metric units in their public materials in an understandable manner. J.R. Frysinger, CAMS Dept. of Physics and Astronomy College of Charleston Charleston, SC 29424 http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj
