NASA Will Go Metric On the Moon

An anonymous reader writes "Space.com is reporting that NASA has decided to use the metric system for its new lunar missions. NASA hopes that metrication will allow easier international participation and safer missions. The loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter was blamed on an error converting between English units and metric units. 'When we made the announcement at the meeting, the reps for the other space agencies all gave a little cheer,' said a NASA official."

Wait a minute.....

[lbmouse]

The metric system is the tool of the devil! My spaceship gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!

Abort Mission

[Anonymous Coward]

A metric moon? Not if this president has anything to say about it!

and to think

[User 956]

The loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter was blamed on an error converting between English units and metric units.

And to think when we were learning the metric system in school, the teacher told us it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

I guess he was wrong.

Soo..

[dbatkins]

when the first McD's is built on the moon, I have to order a "Royal With Cheese" ?

So they're not going TO the moon....

[MouseR]

...they're going right through it?

I have a bad feeling about this

[Decaffeinated Jedi]

I have a bad feeling about this. Has this whole metric thing been thoroughly tested?

Re:Yay!!!

[Spritzer]

Watching that would be ever so slightly more amusing than watching one of my European customers when maintaining one of my employer's half-metric half-imperial products. It's fun hearing things like "This wrench won't fit, and this one is too big. Is this a 9.5mm nut? Oh shit. It's American."

So what's the rest of the US waiting for?

[dskoll]

The year 10,000? (Oh, sorry, that should be 5,280.)

"NASA Will Go Metric On The Moon"?

[TheWoozle]

I'm confused - are they only going to use the Metric system on the Moon?

or is it more like: "Dude, did you see that?! NASA totally went Metric on the Moon's ass!"

they've got a list, and they're working on it

[User 956]

I imagine this will assist the U.S. is its conversion to the metric system, something it has been trying to do for many years now.

Yeah, they started with the 2-liter bottles of soda about 20 years ago, so it looks like they're working their way down the list.

I wonder what comes next, after beverage containers, and interplanetary spacecraft.

Re:Wait a minute.....

[the dark hero]

for all of you that don't know, a rod was originally measured from the tip of the donkey's nose to the back of the plow. go america...

Finally.

[Omegium]

Welcome to the 18th century!

Re:Yay!!!

[el_womble]

I'm British, so I deal with both systems on a daily basis and I think we've got it pretty sorted. Doing something important, where you need accuracy do it in metric doing something fun, do it in imperial.

Distance to the shops in miles, distance to the sun in kilometers
I measure my weight in stones and pounds, but I cook in grams.
Size of my wang in feet (ok, ok inches) size of my windows in cm.

I'm not sure why Americans feel the need to stick to imperial, especially in light of computers. At least NASA has now seen the light.

Re:Yay!!!

[bgarcia]

Both of my "American cars" were actually made in Canada, and are already metric.

I think the only car companies still making cars in America are the Japanese. :-D

Re:Yay!!!

[Simon Garlick]

I mess around with electric guitars in my nonexistent spare time. Last time I ordered a guitar neck from a US manufacturer it was described as being 43 millimetres wide and 0.85 inches thick, with tuning-machine holes pre-drilled at 11/32 inches.

Countries NOT using the metric system

[banditski]

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Metric_system.p ng [wikipedia.org]

Careful when calculating cargo capacity...

[kalpaha]

It would be embarassing to have the mission fail simply because of a failure to convert between an assload and a metric assload.

Re:Yay!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Size of my wang in feet (ok, ok inches)

Could certainly cause mission failure if you meant inches and she thought you meant centimeters. Confusion the other way could lead to great expectations of mission success, but severe disappointment when ultimately the requirements were not met.

Re:Metric system is not just for scientific commun

[blugu64]

Exactly why I propose we just split the difference.

1 yard = 100 Centiyards = 1000 Miliyards
1 pound = 1000 milipounds

you get the idea :)

you should hear my ideas on how we should change currency

Re:Yay!!!

[mpe]

Watching that would be ever so slightly more amusing than watching one of my European customers when maintaining one of my employer's half-metric half-imperial products. It's fun hearing things like "This wrench won't fit, and this one is too big. Is this a 9.5mm nut? Oh shit. It's American."

They'd read the instructions, but when they tried to print them out the printer just sat there flashing "PC LOAD LETTER"...

Re:Obligatory Quote

[amliebsch]

That's no moon!

But the Death Star would almost certainly use Imperial units, would it not?

Re:Yay!!!

[Spritzer]

What the fuck does that mean?!

Re:Yay!!!

[VJ42]

So how do you measure beer?

We drink in Pints.

Re:Yay!!!

[sentientbeing]

With a ruler, like everyone else.

Thank You!

[spun]

But if they were only going to do it half-assed (0.196850394-assed for metric folks),

I've always heard people talking about "a metric buttload" or "a metric assload" of this, that or the other thing. I never knew how much they were talking about, and I've been too embarassed to ask. Thank you for clearing up the conversion factor between a metric and imperial ass load!

Re:Hopfuly this is a trend

[KH]

we end up in the metric camp with one foot still over in the Imperial side o things.

That's 30.48 cm, correct?

Re:Good start

[Icculus]

I think you get beat up if you ask for 568mL of beer in a bar

You're just looking at it the wrong way. Just round up to a liter!

Re:Yay!!!

[mollymoo]

My grandfather's 1976 John Deere tractor (how much more American can you get?) was metric.

[my emphasis]
How about a really fat John Deere tractor, with a gun?

Re:Yay!!!

[IdleTime]

Size of my wang in feet (ok, ok inches)

WHY?

It sounds bigger in metric!

Furlongs to the moon?

[1.000.000]

You know its time to change to the metric system when you can read definitions on imperial units from wikipedia like this:

"Because the furlong was "one plough's furrow long" and a furrow was the length a plough team was to be driven without resting, the length of the furlong and the acre vary regionally, nominally due to differing soil types. In England the acre was 4,840 square yards, but in Scotland it was 6,150 square yards and in Ireland 7,840 square yards."

If we keep the imperial system i guess its important to ask what kind of soil the distance is supposed to be? Is it English soil when traveling to the moon? Is the ox well fed? Is it an experienced plough team leading the expedition? Maybe its raining that day and the soil becomes softer?

Come to think of it why should we ever abandon the imperial system!?!

Boo!!!!

[otis wildflower]

My space probes get forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!!!

My favorite Metric conversion story

[Socguy]

I come from Canada and we have yet to fully convert to the metric system; the Mulroney government decided that funding the metric conversion initiative begun by the previous Liberal government was a waste of money and they stopped pushing the issue... but I digress.

Apparently the attempted conversion was disliked by a number of people. My favorite story was about the some of the old people. Somehow they got it into their heads that gasoline sold by the litre was inferior, quality wise, that if the same gasoline was sold by the (imperial) gallon. Yes, these poor individuals went around the country cautioning the masses against putting this 'litre of gasoline' in their cars!

Re:Yay!!!

[bckrispi]

Just like we buy meat by the pound, but cocaine by the kilo!

Re:Yay!!!

[Sponge Bath]

...doing something fun, do it in imperial.

I'll raise my pint and toast to that!

Conversion units

[mangu]

the teacher told us it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out

Actually, it's pretty simple. In NASA units, to convert one inch to centimeters, multiply by $254 million.

Re:Yay!!!

[tobiasly]

16 ounces to the pound

Not so fast... that's only true if you're using the regular "Avoirdupois" [wikipedia.org] pounds. In the Troy [wikipedia.org] system, which is used for precious metals and gems, a pound is only 12 ounces!

I read a "brain teaser" once that asked: Which is heavier, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers? Of course, we've all heard a variation of this question (usually bricks and feathers), and know that the answer is that they weigh the same -- one pound. However, a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold, because feathers are measured using the avoirdupois system (1 pound = about 453.59 g) while gold uses Troy (1 pound = about 373.24 g).

Re:1/6

[Rix]

Which is one sixth of 10.

So that would make you, what, a community college drop out?

Re:Imperial Staying Power

[this great guy]

For short distances, feet is extremely useful. Most things that you eyeball are between 0 and 10 feet, which gives you 11 values without resulting to a decimal, which confuses people.

Dude, your Imperial system goes to 11 ! Our decimal system only goes up to 10 :(

Re:Yay!!!

[Zaatxe]

And until last week, the speed of light for NASA was 1.8026174997852541159627773801002 terafurlongs per fortnight...

Inch by inch

[Asgerix]

Q: So how are you going to implement this change to the metric system?
NASA: We will do it inch by inch.

Re:Thank You!

[Mozk]

Does this conversion formula apply to metric shitloads as well? This will greatly help with my engineering work, thanks.

Re:4chan

[rumblin'rabbit]

In Canada, milk comes in bags.

Excuse me, but in Canada the polite term is breasts.

Re:Thank You!

[robmered]

Er, that would be a 'metric arse [wikipedia.org] ' versus an 'imperial ass', ie. 0.5 assed = 0.196850394 arsed.