As I heard the news item: 'Mars Explorer Moves 10 Feet', it occurred to me that Mars, so far, being colonised by American machines, is 100% Imperial or 'customary'.

As fas as I know, E.U. metric Directives don't extend to Mars yet, although they do apply in more than one continent on this planet

I heard on ITV news on thursday night that it had moved 3 metres with no mention of feet. Absolute truth.

The following is taken from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's press statement dated 15th Jan 2004:

"The drive moved Spirit 3 meters (10 feet) in 78 seconds, ending with the back of the rover about 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) away from the foot of the egress ramp, said JPL's Joel Krajewski, leader of the team that developed the sequence of events from landing to drive-off."

You will no doubt notice which units are contained in brackets and were therefore not spoken by Mr.Krajewski.

So it looks that even without the aid of EU directives that Mars is the first 100% metric planet in the Solar System.

Never mind, Tony. It's at least 30 years until the first manned landing so you can carry on living on your selectively edited version of this planet.

Won't rulers with inches on work on Mars?

I've been accused of many things before now, but now face a new charge by Evil Engineer of 'selective editing'.

It did occur to me that Evil Engineer himself might be guilty of the same. So I went to Google, searched under Mars Explorer Moves, and the first website I came across was from CBS News. This is what it said (yes, I can cut and paste too):

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(CBS/AP) NASA's Spirit rover completed a series of three turns atop its lander Wednesday, putting it in position to roll onto the surface of Mars and begin its explorations, mission members said.

The rover is expected to move about 10 feet off the lander and onto the surface early Thursday, the 12th day of its mission.

The six-wheeled robot, which had been mostly immobile since landing Jan. 3, rolled about 10 inches on its platform Tuesday.

On Wednesday, it completed the last of three turns that rotated it 115 degrees. It also had finished photographing its surroundings.

"Really there is nothing left to do on the lander for Spirit, so tomorrow we are going to egress onto the surface of Mars," mission manager Jennifer Trosper said.

Once Spirit is on the ground, it will take a parting photo of the inert lander with its rear cameras.

"We really want to see that," said Kevin Burke, a mechanical engineer overseeing the roll-off process.

The rover will first explore a crater and may then try to reach distant hills, a course roughly plotted out after National Aeronautics and Space Administration pinpointed Spirit's location on Mars.

"We know where we are now and we also know where we're going," Steven Squyres, the mission's main scientist, said at a news conference Tuesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood reports engineers initially hoped to drive Spirit directly off its lander. But bunched-up airbag material posed a threat to the straight-ahead due-south exit and engineers had to come up with another route. After studying photographs from the rover, they decided to turn it 115 degrees to the right so it faced the north-northwest. Burke said no problems were encountered.

The deck of Spirit's lander platform is believed to be about 16 inches above the Martian surface. The lip of the flexible egress aid the rover will roll down as it exits is about five inches off the surface. In ground tests, the rover could handle drop offs as high as 22 inches and Burke said Thursday's egress should be no problem.

Spirit is expected to follow a meandering path, pausing to sample rocks and soil in its search for evidence of the past presence of water on the dusty surface of Mars. One such target could be "Sleepy Hollow," a shallow nearby depression that intrigues scientists.

Spirit's first major destination is an unnamed crater an estimated 825 feet away. The asteroid or meteor that punched out the crater could have exposed ancient rocks that may reveal to Spirit and its half-dozen instruments the evidence that the robot was sent to find, Squyres said.

After that, NASA may send Spirit toward a cluster of hills to the southeast. But the hills are nearly two miles away, or about five times farther than Spirit is expected to be able to travel.

Before rolling for the first time, the rover cut the last cable attaching it to its lander and began a three-part turn to line it up with the exit ramp it should use to reach the ground, flight director Chris Lewicki said Tuesday.

Once it reaches the crater, Spirit should be able to examine the rocks that ring the depression. If the rover manages to climb the 18-foot-high lip of the crater, it should be able to catch a glimpse of dunes that scientists believe fill the bowl.

Spirit would then strike out to its southeast, toward a set of tawny hills an estimated 330 feet high.

Scientists believe the 95-mile-diameter depression in which the rover landed once contained a lake. If so, the hills could preserve evidence of waves that lapped against their slopes, Parker said. Even if Spirit fails to reach the hills, its camera's 20/20 vision should be able to pick out the horizontal markings that would suggest that evidence, Parker added.

Spirit probably will conk out before reaching the hills, however. Martian temperatures of 100 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and colder wreak havoc with spacecraft electronics and other components, stressing and eventually breaking them. The last rover NASA sent to Mars, 1997's Sojourner, lasted nearly 90 days before it succumbed to the cold.

The $820 million Mars Exploration Rover project includes a second, identical rover named Opportunity that is expected to land on the opposite side of the planet on Jan. 24.

NASA commentary from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is scheduled to begin at 3:45 a.m. EST. If all goes well, Spirit will roll onto the surface between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. A news conference is planned once the move is complete.

©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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Mars is Imperial territory

Tony,

Congratulations on taking Weevil Engineer's scalp. Hang it high in the old teepee. It will be interesting to see the next screwfly that pops out of his head, provided the coyotes don't kill him off first.

http://www.weights-and-measures.com

Topic:

High Karat

Tony Bennett wrote

<<
I've been accused of many things before now, but now face a new charge by Evil Engineer of 'selective editing'.
>>

No Tony - I do not think that you have been accussed of selective editing, but rather that you have been using second-hand rather than primary sources of material.

I'm still adamant that both imperial measures and metric measures will work successfully on MArs.

I'm afraid I cannot prove this though as I have no way of getting there.

Hey - perhaps I can do an "eric" ('metre')! Maybe I could post an opinion and claim it as fact! Ok, here goes...

Scientists have discovered measuring rulers on Mars that have imperial on one side and planck on the other! This proves that Marsians, if they still exist today, practice freedom of choice.

It would appear that CBS know more about the Mars Spirit mission than either Nasa or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

I stand corrected !

I am inspired by Steve's comments about Imperial or metric not working on Mars.

I speculate!

Suppose there are some as yet unseen Martians there, you know, der little peeple!

They will almost certainly have a measurement system of their own.

I challenge folks here to consider what that my be!

So come on everyone, you are all experts at metrology, give us your creative thoughts!

Here's a hypothetical situation for you all. Let me know your thoughts.

Suppose we found creatures on Mars. They have their own system of measurement. Furthermore, they have already communicated with people on Jupiter and Saturn and all the other planets, and standardized their weights and measures. All the planets use one system except Earth, which uses a different one. Should we switch over to their system?

<<<Suppose we found creatures on Mars. They have their own system of measurement. Furthermore, they have already communicated with people on Jupiter and Saturn and all the other planets, and standardized their weights and measures. All the planets use one system except Earth, which uses a different one. Should we switch over to their system?>>>

I like, I like!!!

ROTFL!

However I am going to get all pedantic now and remind you that Jupiter and Saturn are gaseous and therefore would not support solid life.


I have also heard that the base unit used by Marsians is simply called "the mars".

Measuring about 6 inches long it can be placed into the fridge and later cut into 6 units called "bite sizes".

Interestingly martian consumers have argued and complained that over the years the "mars" has got smaller yet prices have increased.

One area of mars committed to monetary union with a larger neighbouring area recently, which meant abolishing the "marathon" currency and adopting the "snickers".

There are 120 spangles to the snicker.



(Oh the mirth)

Some of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter may well support life... :D ;)