Martin Rundkvist3d ago

You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements.

"Orion’s main engine provides up to 6,000 pounds of thrust, enough to accelerate a car from 0 to 60 mph in about 2.7 seconds. At the time of the burn, Orion’s mass was 58,000 pounds and burned approximately 1,000 pounds of fuel during the firing."

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/04/02/artemis-ii-flight-day-2-orion-completes-tli-burn-crew-begins-journey-to-the-moon/

#space #artemis #nasa

Artemis II Flight Day 2: Orion Completes TLI Burn, Crew Begins Journey to the Moon - NASA

NASA’s Artemis II crew is on the way to the Moon.

NASA
Show threadMartin Rundkvist3d ago

OFFS "On the station, crews rely on more than 4,000 pounds of exercise hardware spread across roughly 850 cubic feet." 🙄

#science #nasa #artemis

Show threadMartin Rundkvist3d ago

NASA's use of Imperial measurements is similar to if US biologists started using species names in the Texas dialect instead of in Latin.

#science #nasa #artemis #space

Show threadMartin Rundkvist2d ago

I can't overstate this. NASA's use of pounds and cubic feet in its outreach efforts does not come across to science-literate people, inside or outside the US, as a sign that the country is a badass superpower that can do what it likes and ignore everyone else.

Instead it suggests that the US is a provincial nation of dungaree-wearing banjo players.

#science #nasa #artemis #space

Show threadDavid Scott Moyer2d ago
@mrundkvist It is frustrating as well for the hundreds of millions of Americans who had no choice of measurement standards in school or everyday life, most of whom neither wear dungarees nor play banjo. Every day I am applying complex conversion formulae just to get by in Mexico. I still don't have an innate sense of either metric sizes or celsius temperatures. Metric is easier, but still a struggle. Poor me.
Show threadVeronica Olsen1d ago

@farbel @mrundkvist I mean, it's not like we don't have inches and feet in Europe either. I've had to do conversions all my life too because they're commonly used in many contexts. Since the default is metric, I do the conversion the other way of course, but at the end of the day, it's still an additional cognitive load.

I was just discussing wind speed with my brother, who works at an airport. I'm used to metres per second wind speeds, but they use knots.

Show threadsen13h ago
@veronica @farbel @mrundkvist I’ll concede knots and nautical miles as they’re based on arc segments and genuinely useful for long distance travel on a sphere, but the use of feet for altitude is an aspect of American imperialism that absolutely sticks in my craw.
Show threadDavid Scott Moyer
@sendai @veronica @mrundkvist I suppose if it hadn't been the US and UK who developed aviation, we might use meters today. China and Russia do.
9:00pmWeb
Show threadsen11h ago
@farbel @veronica @mrundkvist Haa, yes, but sorta no. Aviation in China uses metric flight levels, but for safety considerations now uses an adapted imperial flight levels between 8900–12500m.
Show threadDavid Scott Moyer10h ago
@sendai @veronica @mrundkvist That has to be confusing as all getout.