I have to disagree on two counts. First the method in homework prepared us for dealing with a client who insisted (contractually) on Customary, either for the input or for the result. More important, on the Mars orbiter, the executive summary fails to get into the specifics of what went wrong. You may want to read the full report. One unit of Lockheed-Martin used English units in defiance of the terms and conditions of the contract, which required metric. NASA failed to detect the error in their QC process, but I think they shoulder too much of the blame themselves for that failure; it really rests with LM. In my view, LM should have been billed the entire cost of the mission. They weren't supposed to be using English units, and "conversion to metric" failed because they didn't tell NASA they weren't already metric. NASA is a bit ridiculous in trying to be metric while putting up with suppliers who aren't. Granted, automotive writes harsher contracts, but we have a saying, "You will, or my next supplier will." --- On Sat, 3/28/09, Pat Naughtin <pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com> wrote:
From: Pat Naughtin <pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com> Subject: [USMA:44161] Re: smoots To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009, 3:44 PM On 2009/03/28, at 10:44 PM, John M. Steele wrote: I graduated from MIT a few years after Smoot. All of my courses were taught exclusively in SI, called rationalized mksa at the time. When a rare Customary units homework problem was thrown in the mix, the expected solution (required for full credit) was to convert to metric, solve, convert the answer back to Customary if the problem demanded. Dear John, This looks a lot like you are describing the approach taken by the Mars Climate Orbiter teams at NASA in 1999. This is true except for the bit where you say, 'convert the answer back to Customary'. Go to http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/news/mco991110.html where they say 'The 'root cause' of the loss of the spacecraft was the failed translation of English units into metric units …' However, please note that in reporting this, I am not in any way suggesting that NASA should change to smoots for interplanetary navigation. Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
