+ Play
Audio
|
+ Download Audio | +
Email to a friend | + Join mailing list
January
8, 2007: If you think in pounds and miles instead
of kilograms and kilometers, you're in the minority. Only
the United States, Liberia, and Burma still primarily use
English units -- the rest of the world is metric. And now
the Moon will be metric too.
NASA
has decided to use metric units for all operations on the
lunar surface when it returns to the Moon. The Vision for
Space Exploration calls for returning astronauts to the Moon
by 2020 and eventually setting up a manned lunar outpost.
Right:
NASA astronauts on the Moon will use the metric system. [Larger
image]
The
decision is a victory not only for the metric system itself,
which by this decision increases its land area in the solar
system by 27%, but also for the spirit of international cooperation
in exploring the Moon. The decision arose from a series of
meetings that brought together representatives from NASA and
13 other space agencies to discuss ways to cooperate and coordinate
their lunar exploration programs. Standardizing on the metric
system was an obvious step in the right direction.
"When
we made the announcement at the meeting, the reps for the
other space agencies all gave a little cheer," says Jeff
Volosin, strategy development lead for NASA's Exploration
Systems Mission Directorate. "I think NASA has been seen
as maybe a bit stubborn by other space agencies in the past,
so this was important as a gesture of our willingness to be
cooperative when it comes to the Moon."
The
meetings, which began in April 2006, included representatives
from the Australian, Canadian, Chinese, European, French,
German, British, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, South
Korean and Ukrainian space agencies, all of which are either
planning or considering some form of lunar exploration. "Of
course there's some competitiveness and national pride involved,"
Volosin says, "but we want to find areas where our goals
overlap and see if cooperating in certain areas would be best
for everyone."
Going
metric was one of those areas. Agreeing to use a single measurement
system will make the human habitats and vehicles placed on
the Moon by different space agencies more compatible with
each other. That could come in handy if, say, one agency's
moonbase needs emergency spare parts from another agency's
base. No need to worry about trying to fit a 15 millimeter
nut onto a 5/8 inch bolt.
Emergencies
aside, a metric standard will make it easier for countries
to form new partnerships and collaborations after their lunar
operations are already in place. All data will be in compatible
units, whether it's scientific data or operational data --
such as how far a rover must travel to reach the edge of a
crater. A single measurement system will make sharing this
data and merging operations more seamless.
Above:
In this map, gray areas denote metric territory. English units
are used primarily in red zones. The Moon is shown to scale.
[More]
Although
NASA has ostensibly used the metric system since about 1990,
English units linger on in much of the U.S. aerospace industry.
In practice, this has meant that many missions continue to
use English units, and some missions end up using both English
and metric units. The confusion that can arise from using
mixed units was highlighted by the loss of the Mars Climate
Orbiter robotic probe in 1999, which occurred because a contractor
provided thruster firing data in English units while NASA
was using metric.
NASA
is considering adopting other standards for its lunar operations
as well. For example, another idea that has been discussed
informally by the space agencies is using the same type of
internet protocols that we all use here on Earth today for
communications systems developed for the Moon. "That
way, if some smaller space agency or some private company
wants to get involved in something we're doing on the Moon,
they can say, hey, we already know how to do internet communications,"
Volosin says. "It lowers the barrier to entry."
In
all, this push toward standards and cooperation gives the
return to the Moon a very different feel than the Cold War
space race of the 1950s and '60s. This time around, competition
may help motivate nations to reach for the Moon, but cooperation
will help to get them there.
SEND
THIS STORY TO A FRIEND
Author: Patrick L. Barry
| Editor:
Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
|