From Chris James
Lisa Grossman attributes the demise of the Mars Climate Orbiter to “failure to convert between standard and metric units” (7 May, p 19). Metric units have of course been “standard” for decades in advanced technological countries.
The US retaining the irrational measurement system of its former colonial rulers is one of its more bizarre features. A mix-up over what is standard may be why the spacecraft was lost.
Winchester, Hampshire, UK
