El Reg units...
Come on - what are these pounds - just a cheap shop?
The Russian Progress craft launched last week to bring supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully docked, bringing welcome supplies to the crew. The last two ISS replenishment missions failed. In April another Progress spun out, then in late June a SpaceX Falcon 9 blew up before it reached orbit. The …
Yup, spaceflight should be reported using SI units preferably unless you're measuring in jubs.
which - i e, jubs - are, like the corresponding units in SI or the British Imperial System, units of mass, not «weight», which measures force (mass x gravitational acceleration), whatever the Reg online standards converter may believe to be the case. How much do 420 kg of water weigh on the ISS ?... ;-)
Henri
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@ John Brown (no body); Reading a similar discussion a few weeks back, something occurred to me. Considering their adoption of many esoteric "English" units and their fervent defence of them in the face of the Euro-socialist commie metric system, it's surprising that the Americans chose a sensible and easy to understand decimal currency system instead of the (then-current) English/British monetary system of 20 shillings or 240 pence to the pound. Along with all the other esoteric weirdness like guineas, farthings, groats, florins, etc.
I was born less than five years after decimalisation, and all that stuff seemed confusing and utterly archaic to *me*. But I'm sure it would be worth it for the yanks to adopt LSD (*) and be rid of that socialist base-10 ease-of-use that was no doubt snuck into their monetary system by undercover commies. ;-)
(*) So-called because you have to be on LSD to understand it. That's why everyone was on it in the late 60s and why decimalisation was introduced as a successful attempt to curb drug abuse.
http://dilbert.com/strip/1993-03-20
LOL, as a Brit I had to think a bit about that. The only "quarters" we have are specially minted commemorative coins rarely if ever seen in circulation. AKA a "crown" or 5 shilling coin (25p) for those younger readers, so is a "quarter" in both decimal and LSD.
I was born less than five years after decimalisation, and all that stuff seemed confusing and utterly archaic to *me*
I was born before decimalisation. And LSD is actually surprisingly easy to use.
Try dividing the number of pennies in a pound by various integers. Do it both for decimal pounds and for LSD. One is significantly easier for rather more divisors...
Vic.
I believe that NASA have experienced many pounds of egg on face over this in the past. Maybe apocryphal, but I think I remember a lander going straight passed Mars as it failed to cope with dodgy unit conversions on the fly in its on-board micro-computer.... And a mirror that was supposed to reflect a laser beam back to earth but sadly aligned itself looking straight out into space owing to a similar error.
I think hell will have dropped to a temperature of well below 32°F before NASA adopt any sensible units!
ha ha, try adding 15K and 3 months to a housing subdivision permit, to consult with the local maori tribes about whether an ancient mythical monster lived where you want to build, and having to attend a "cleansing ceremony".
"Tax"; sure, if you mean "extortion".
I understand that the rockets which failed in the two recent supply missions are essentially identical (but for a launch escape tower) to the manned (or in Falcon 9's case, intended to be manned) versions.
Is there any additional checking or quality control on the manned versions, or is it just dumb luck that we haven't had any 'naut's atop a failing rocket?
SpaceX and the other companies that will carry american astronauts are required to provide emergency escape systems.
My understanding is that if this accident would have appended with astronauts on top, they will be able to escape. Actually, it is believed that the dragon capsule survived the explosion, but there was not enough time to tell the capsule to deploy the parachutes.
Of course, there is always going to be something that they were not prepared for, but this IS rocket science.
@Rikkeh
There are alot more features on the man rated rockets, including things like escape pods for launch anomolies, and extra backup systesm (because we tend to think that losing a person is worse than losing their lunch).
Additionally you have a meatsack on board who can try changing things...
Here in the UK, I like my currency in decimal, my potatoes in pounds, my milk in pints, and my speed in miles per hour.
The physicist in me likes his speed in metres per second, his volume in litres, and his weight in grams.
What can I say - I'm in a constant state of anxious flux (measured in Weber per metre second squared)