NewScientist reports that NASA’s Constellation program, which will replace the aging shuttle, will be designed in imperial units, as opposed to making the switch to the SI (metric) system. NASA says it would cost $370 million to make the conversion. And I say all the power to em’.
Speaking as a nearly graduated Canadian mechanical engineer, I am a staunch supporter of an American conversion to SI. At first, I was bewildered at the headline. “What?! Jeeze, I’ll do the conversion for only $100 million! How hard can it be to just keep the same parts and re-label them?” The answer is that, frankly, it really is rocket science.
First off, the Ares boosters that will be used for Constellation are derivatives of the Shuttle program. Every bit of design and testing has been conducted for these machines in Imperial units. Redesigning the connectors to the ship alone is a tough task: try training every machinist to properly measure 30.22 mm with their calipers, as they weld. Same goes for ordering parts from the hundreds, if not thousands of contracted US parts manufacturers.
Change to metric, now every bolt must be metric pitch thread, every nut must be changed to accommodate. Every calculation of mass and structural integrity has to be re-examined and re-calculated for new components. You don’t just magically say “Ok, our 3/8″ bolts are now to be called 9.525mm bolts” and call it a day.
We’re just talking about units of measure. If it is easier to use imperial units because previous design and drawings were done in imperial, then that’s the smart choice. I would be upset if NASA was wasting taxpayer money just so that the design could be done in metric. I actually applaud NASA for making a smart, cost/benefit engineering decision.
If there’s one thing I do know, is that NASA is so underfunded that needs any bit of cash it can get.
I often hear the term “Reverse discrimination” from guys who are complaining that minority rights have sometimes gone too far. I recently read a really post on Needs Of The Many that rejected this term. From the post:
While we could focus on numerous issues with this case, and I might in future posts, I want to pay special attention to the term used to describe this case by the MSM. That term is ‘reverse racism.’
What is reverse racism?
[...]
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
Notice the dictionary makes no distinction who can, and can not, be racist? That would be the same dictionary that has no definition of reverse racist … just so know.
This brings me to my point. I utterly reject the term ‘reverse racism.’ It implies that only whites can be racist on a regular basis, and anytime they are discriminated against is so rare that a new term must be created. It’s all garbage, and any mature person knows that.
There is no such thing as reverse racism … it does not exist. There is only racism. Either you are the victim of it, or you aren’t.
Today, I walked into my first office; I’m getting paid to read up on and design an uncommon type of heat pump. It’s a lot of pressure, but I’m frickin’ loving this. This also means I am now working 7 days a week, since I kept my server job at the café. Unfortunately, this will put a significant damper in my website posts.
Andrewshouts.com is one of my favorite pastimes. It’s a personal project gone all too well, but it seems as though I will have less time to pass in the first place. We’ll see.
Actually, the original Hebrew word for “day” was just a way to describe periods of time, rather than 24 hours. But then again, how did God first create light, when there was no matter for the electromagnetic waves to bounce off of?
I am aware that my personal experiences cannot represent the whole, but nearly every homeschooled person I know grew up in a very religious home. I’m guessing that’s why many (not all) parents pulled them out of the public system.
(Equalization) is the Government of Canada’s most important program for reducing fiscal disparities among provinces.” Essentially, the federal government collects tax dollars from each of the provinces and redistributes the pool of money in unconditional payments to those provinces in “need.” Experts explain that the payments are “transfer[s] of cash, four times a year, from the Government of Canada to those provinces which, according to a formula set out in federal legislation, have revenue-generating capacity that is below the national average.
This has spurred quite the debate in recent years, where Alberta has been a main contributor to these payments. Having worked there, I often heard other workers there complain about their income tax, as a portion of it was used in these equalization payments. They disagreed with how the receiving provinces spend the money “given” to them.
University of Colorado at Boulder has released details of it’s research on Mars, and the results are fascinating.
Artist's rendering of how the lake would have looked about 3.4 billion years ago
Sediment data from the European Space Agency’s Infrared Imaging Surveyor, and high-res images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, HiRISE, provide unambiguous evidence of this large lake.
Whatis of particular is not only the fact of this lake’s existence, it’s when it existed. From Astrobiology Magazine (emphasis added):
In addition, the evidence shows the lake existed during a time when Mars is generally believed to have been cold and dry, which is at odds with current theories proposed by many planetary scientists, he said. “Not only does this research prove there was a long-lived lake system on Mars, but we can see that the lake formed after the warm, wet period is thought to have dissipated.”
Planetary scientists think the oldest surfaces on Mars formed during the wet and warm Noachan epoch from about 4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago that featured a bombardment of large meteors and extensive flooding. The newly discovered lake is believed to have formed during the Hesperian epoch and postdates the end of the warm and wet period on Mars by 300 million years, according to the study.
Now we know where to look for a search for life on Mars. Deep under this ancient lake, there are chances that microorganisms can be found. As mind-numbingly awesome as this is, there are still people out there who aren’t impressed by possible life on other planets, and still think this research is a waste of resources.
