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Space Railroad

Posted by michael on from the little-station-that-could dept.

Pig Hogger writes "Nasa will launch the first space railroad in April. The one-car train will run at speeds as high as 100 meters per hour (relative to the space station) or 27 megameters per hour (relative to the Earth)."

3 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. Silly by Account+10 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What a silly comparision.

    If I'm walking in the ISS then I'm moving v.fast relative to the earth.
    Hell, If I'm standing still on the ISS then I'm still moving v.fast relative to the earth.
    Even if I'm dead and buried on Earth I'm moving v.v.fast relative to the center of the galaxy.

    It isn't anything to get very excited about ... hey Mum, look at me I'm moving at 0.99c relative to something

  2. Lame editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is as bad as abcnews.com's tech section.
    Don't BS the title and summery, once people
    read the article, they only think, "How Lame!"
    You don't win with fake hype.

    yes, I'm hiding (it's my first /. flame)

  3. Grrr...100 _yards_ per hour! by joshuac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    one-car train will run at speeds as high as 100 meters per hour (relative to the space station) or 27 megameters per hour (relative to the Earth)."

    Ok, besides the "27 megameters per hour!" silliness, a quick look at the actual article states the rate of travel Imperial Units, _not_ metric:

    on this railway will have a top speed of only 300 feet per hour, but the entire line -- tracks and all -- will travel almost nine

    100 Meters per hour does not equal 100 Yards per hour. Getting your measurement units right doesn't seem like a big thing, but it really really is important, especially in engineering situations. It's like "O" and "0" in a computer character set; they appear similar, but are completely different. Try doing things with ASCII value $4F where $30 was intended will lead to completely different results, all over something that seemed trivial.

    Same with getting your measurement units right. It's important. Use the wrong ASCII character, and your program crashes; uses the wrong measurement units, your probe crashes.