[Year 12 SofDev] Two examples of catastrophic failure due to errors in measurement units - 370 years apart

[Mark]

Some things never change...

1. 1629 - "The Swedish warship Vasa, which sank in 1629 less than a mile
into its maiden voyage, was built asymmetrically. Archaeologists have found
four rulers used by the workers. Two turned out to be based on Swedish feet
with 12 inches. The other two used Amsterdam feed, with 11 inches."

Short source
<http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/2287100/84330287.jpg>
and
Long source
<http://www.pri.org/stories/2012-02-23/new-clues-emerge-centuries-old-swedish-shipwreck>

2. 1999 - "NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin
engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team
used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation."

Source <http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/>

-- 

Mark Kelly
mark AT vceit DOT com
http://vceit.com

*The REAL working class has year 9 boys in a double period extra (with no
work left by the absent teacher) **in a relocatable with no air
conditioning **on a February Friday before a long weekend.*
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