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NASA Sticking To Imperial Units For Shuttle Replacement

Posted by Soulskill on from the stones-per-furlong dept.

JerryQ sends in a story at New Scientist about the criticism NASA is taking for deciding to use Imperial units in the development of the Constellation program, their project to replace the space shuttle. "The sticking point is that Ares is a shuttle-derived design — it uses solid rocket boosters whose dimensions and technology are based on those currently strapped to either side of the shuttle's giant liquid fuel tank. And the shuttle's 30-year-old specifications, design drawings and software are rooted in pounds and feet rather than newtons and meters. ... NASA recently calculated that converting the relevant drawings, software and documentation to the 'International System' of units (SI) would cost a total of $370 million — almost half the cost of a 2009 shuttle launch, which costs a total of $759 million. 'We found the cost of converting to SI would exceed what we can afford,' says [NASA spokesman Grey Hautaluoma]."

10 of 901 comments (clear)

  1. Oh the Humanity! by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Funny

    How many cwts of Mars Orbiters must be lost before we learn?!

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Oh the Humanity! by domanova · · Score: 5, Funny

      Most of the UK is SI now. Road signs still use miles and you can get two metres of two-by-four but it's liable to be 5cm by 10cm, whatever it's called. And asking for a kilo of tomatoes got me 'That's two pounds, sir, and f*ck the French'

      --
      Down with categorical imperatives
    2. Re:Oh the Humanity! by wjousts · · Score: 5, Funny

      I shudder to think that all you knowledge about the UK comes from watching Top Gear.

    3. Re:Oh the Humanity! by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

      See what I did there?

      Sure, you tried to look smart by using Latin phrases and failed to an epic degree?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:Oh the Humanity! by sustik · · Score: 4, Funny

      Next task for UK: driving on the right hand side.

      Sure there are a lot of vehicles, but the complexity can be managed by the following easy two-step process:
      1. Today switch passenger cars to the right hand side
      2. A week from now follow with the trucks too...

    5. Re:Oh the Humanity! by herring0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      While working in England I once saw a freight box on the back of a lorry that had dimension measurements for door clearance of 2m by 3ft.

      At that point I was horribly confused.

  2. obligatory simpsons quote by gregg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Abe Simpson: The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.

  3. Re:Horses Asses by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why is my mailbox full of unfunny spam?

    Because a bunch of horses' asses keep hitting the Forward button.

  4. Re:If you give up the inch, they'll take the mile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's so special about 100? Oh, a decimal number... The irony is delicious.

  5. Obligatory xkcd reference by whoisisis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seeing the discussion here, I wonder why nobody has brought this up yet:
    http://xkcd.com/526/