Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's in reference to the Beagle 2?
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Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
41–50 of 101 posts
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The primary cause of this discrepancy was that one piece of ground software supplied by Lockheed Martin produced results in a United States customary unit ('American'), contrary to its Software Interface Specification (SIS), while a second system, supplied by NASA, that used those results expected them to be in metric units, in accord with the SIS."
That's in reference to the Beagle 2?
Yeah, that's in reference to the failure of Beagle 2. It's on the page that was linked by Someone1234 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_...).
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#43Fascinating! However, I get the cringes every time an article about space exploration uses those atavistic units like Royal Hangnails (length), Princely Bladders (volume), Regal Farts (speed) and Fornicating Fever (temperature) for measurement. Hasn't the metric system arrived yet on planet USA?
I'd love to use metric. It'd save a slew of annoyances converting back and forth, and it's the easiest thing to screw up, because no one has an intuitive sense of a millionth of an inch. But as long as I work at the New York Times and New York is part of the United States and the United States isn't metric, I'm stuck with inches, miles, pounds and gallons.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Units are mostly arbitrary anyway. Actually, having more than one system is a good reminder of that. And Fahrenheit is supposedly more efficient for describing weather. http://isomorphism.es/post/3767526267/fahrenheit-versus-cels...
That's just a blatant rationalisation because people don't like change. There's nothing natural about understanding either metric or imperial, so suggesting that humans inherently are born with more understanding of one is silly. Metric only wins in my book because it is much easier to convert units (there are no magic numbers for conversion factors). However I'd laugh at anyone who suggest metric is better because p…
I think, if you don't even know that the US doesn't use "Imperial" units, but that the system of units is actually called "US Customary", then you don't know enough about systems of units to be able to comment on the issue.
Don't get me wrong, I like the metric system. But US Customary units aren't that hard to deal with. Seriously, we're software developers, we don't memorize shit. We create type definitions and routines to convert between them.
The same arguments you make for why it's not that big of a deal to switch are the same arguments for why it's not that big of a deal to not switch.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Units are mostly arbitrary anyway. Actually, having more than one system is a good reminder of that. And Fahrenheit is supposedly more efficient for describing weather. http://isomorphism.es/post/3767526267/fahrenheit-versus-cels...
That's just a blatant rationalisation because people don't like change. There's nothing natural about understanding either metric or imperial, so suggesting that humans inherently are born with more understanding of one is silly. Metric only wins in my book because it is much easier to convert units (there are no magic numbers for conversion factors). However I'd laugh at anyone who suggest metric is better because p…
>>There's nothing natural about understanding either metric or imperial
That's not true at all. The metric system is more intuitive because it is a Base 10 system, which is very intuitive and natural for humans because we have ten fingers. Base 10 also makes things a lot easier because calculations are simply a matter of adding/removing zeroes/decimals.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
And? Someone output things in non SI units to something that expected SI. Shit happens. Want me to point to the Beagle probe? Space isn't easy.
The point being that his particular failure could've possibly been avoided if we were not using two parallel measurement systems...
Not necessarily. One part of the code could have been using meters, and another using kilometers.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#47Does anyone else think NASA should reconsider their plans for a manned mission to Mars? With Europe, Ceres, Enceladus, Ganymede and many more promising moons out there it seems kind of a waste to spend time, effort and capital in Mars now.
Jupiter's moons are exciting, but have huge radiation concerns. Still trying to solve that for the flight to Mars.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's just a blatant rationalisation because people don't like change. There's nothing natural about understanding either metric or imperial, so suggesting that humans inherently are born with more understanding of one is silly. Metric only wins in my book because it is much easier to convert units (there are no magic numbers for conversion factors). However I'd laugh at anyone who suggest metric is better because p…
>>There's nothing natural about understanding either metric or imperial That's not true at all. The metric system is more intuitive because it is a Base 10 system, which is very intuitive and natural for humans because we have ten fingers. Base 10 also makes things a lot easier because calculations are simply a matter of adding/removing zeroes/decimals.
10 fingers/base 10 isn't inherently any more "natural." There are cultures that use(d) base 12 (and count using the 12 finger segments on one hand) and probably others.
And base 12 is way more divisible.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#49It's not too much of a surprise, both elements that go into water are plentiful and not particularly heavy, and both want to bind to something.
It's surprising (water is perceived to be scarce) because: - oxygen just as readily binds to everything else, to form metal oxides (the well-known rust on Mars) or silicates (rock) or just CO2 (Venus) - hydrogen is so light it readily escapes into space from anything smaller than Earth - H2O as solid ice is common anyway, but not as liquid water, which is more relevant for potential habitability and life. The conditi…
If there is both vapor and ice, there must always be at least some water. If water is plentiful, space is cold, and planets are hot, liquid water should be common, regardless of how narrow the temperature conditions for it are. All temperatures from cold space to molten rock are well represented on planets.
Re: Suddenly, It Seems, Water Is Everywhere in Solar System
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, NASA. "We propose to develop a conceptual design of a submersible autonomous vehicle (submarine) to explore extraterrestrial seas" http://www.nasa.gov/content/titan-submarine-exploring-the-de...
Don't we already have lots of autonomous subs on earth? As long as they can survive the trip, just put some new sensors in and go.
How would you get data back? I'd imagine you'd have to have a surface relay, to a moon-orbiting satellite, then back to earth.