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Space Station Immune to Metric Mishap, NASA Says
By Daniel Sorid
Staff Writer
posted: 04:35 pm ET
05 October 1999
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The International Space Station will not fall victim to the measurement units problems which ruined the Mars Climate Orbiter, according to a NASA spokesmanThe International Space Station will not fall victim to the English-to-metric unit conversion problem that ruined the Mars Climate Orbiter, according to a NASA spokesman. In the early 90s, engineers put together a so-called interface control document, which identifies the use of metric or English units for every piece in the station, according to NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown. "This is not a new issue for us," Brown said. "It's so well-documented that we don't have that problem." The document also shows where metric and non-metric units interact with each other, and calls for the development of adapters that standardize the units. "Engineers got together and said, 'Here's the piece of hardware. Let's see where they interconnect.' If we've got a metric piece and an English piece, that will show up very clearly in the document." Design teams from around the world have been equipped with the document, Brown said. "It's a document that covers every piece of hardware -- from a big piece to a little teeny bolt," Brown said. "You can imagine the paperwork." In the case of the Mars Climate Orbiter, engineers confusing metric and non-metric units incorrectly programmed a part of the orbiter's maneuvering system, sending it gradually off target -- and possibly to its destruction -- over the duration of its nine-month journey. The $125 million orbiter, which was to study Martian weather and climate, was declared lost by NASA on September 23.
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