I'm amazed to learn that NASA is still uses stone age measurements after working on the INTERNATIONAL Space Station for so many years.
American technology companies have used SI measurements for decades, especially now that design, suppliers, manufacturing, and markets are global.
Good for NASA for FINALLY adopting SI measurements. Hopefully they know to use the word Celsius, not Centigrade. ;-)
Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik
At 01:46 PM 1/20/2007 -0600, Wayne Estes wrote:
I'm amazed to learn that NASA is still uses stone age measurements after working on the INTERNATIONAL Space Station for so many years.
American technology companies have used SI measurements for decades, especially now that design, suppliers, manufacturing, and markets are global.
Good for NASA for FINALLY adopting SI measurements. Hopefully they know to use the word Celsius, not Centigrade. ;-)
Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik
Actually, NASA has used metric measurement for many years. When I worked at Goldstone in the 1970's all the tracking predicts were in km, temp in K, newtons, etc. Took a lot of concentration to work in that having grown up with "english" standard. The problem comes from the fact that NASA is not a single entity but often encompasses many contractors, vendors, university staff, independent technical organizations, etc. Getting parts made in metric from an US manufacturer can be a problem. Then it gets integrated into a spacecraft.
Look at the automobile, today. You will find a mix of metric and SAE parts...what a mess! The mechanic needs dual tools to work on them. I even found this on my Toyota truck which one might assume would be ALL metric. Have you noticed that all autos come with dual speedometers (mph/kph). That resulted from Canada going metric (I suspect).
So I have no problem converting...all I do is go out and read my speedometer :-)
Seriously, since embarking in eme (a worldwide ham community) I have intentionally used metric measure in my communications and on my website. I try to use celsius when speaking temperature, and time in the day/month/year format. I still have trouble substituting commas for decimal points.
So for the lunar project NASA is saying if you are participating then it will be in metric (suppliers listen up)! Good Move! To bad the US Govt cannot get with it. The way one converts (minds) is in the education of youth! It will take two generations to accomplish.
73's, Ed - KL7UW ========================================= BP40iq, Nikiski, AK http://www.qsl.net/al7eb Amsat #3212 Modes: V - U - L - S USA Rep. for Dubus Magazine: dubususa@hotmail.com =========================================
At 07:49 AM 1/21/2007, Edward R. Cole wrote:
So for the lunar project NASA is saying if you are participating then it will be in metric (suppliers listen up)! Good Move!
Excellent move, if you ask me! :)
To bad the US Govt cannot get with it. The way one converts (minds) is in the education of youth! It will take two generations to accomplish.
Well, all but 3 countries in the world have done it on an official basis, according to Wikipedia. It's a short term pain for longer term gains in efficiency when dealing with the international community... And it is a global economy nowadays, so it seems silly to have to work in two systems (one for US, one for the rest of the world).
73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com
Greetings,
On 21/01/07, Tony Langdon vk3jed@gmail.com wrote:
At 07:49 AM 1/21/2007, Edward R. Cole wrote:
So for the lunar project NASA is saying if you are participating then it will be in metric (suppliers listen up)! Good Move!
Excellent move, if you ask me! :)
Lets hope it will be the start of a wave throughout the country.
To bad the US Govt cannot get with it. The way one converts (minds) is in the education of youth! It will take two generations to accomplish.
Well, all but 3 countries in the world have done it on an official basis, according to Wikipedia. It's a short term pain for longer term gains in efficiency when dealing with the international community... And it is a global economy nowadays, so it seems silly to have to work in two systems (one for US, one for the rest of the world).
I have no problems with whole inchs\feet and more popular 1/4'' and 1/2'', however when we go 3/16 and the like, have not got a clue of how big it is..
At least with metric it can be more exact with measurements (all divisible) not needing conversions, then rounding either up or down.
73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com
participants (4)
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Edward R. Cole -
Stef Daniels -
Tony Langdon -
Wayne Estes