lars and cents. As an additional benefit, metrication would encourage thoughtful consideration as to the maintenance or retention of files, reports, etc., which are of marginal utility, particularly obsolete tariff publications. 4. Conclusion. From the standpoint of the ICC, the necessity for conversion to the metric system does not seem compelling within any particular time frame. Justification for metrication will result from changes initiating outside the transportation industry. The limited experience of the ICC with the metric system, directly or indirectly, restricts its ability to respond to the issue of metrication other than by conjecture. The ICC's response to conversion to metric usage is, therefore, "no position." NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) Liaison Representatives: Milton W. Rosen, Office of DOD and Interagency Affairs; and Edward J. Brazill, Director, Technical Staff, MCL Respondents -Internal Operations: I. Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California 1. Deputy Director II. Flight Research Center, Edwards, California 1. Directorate of Biomedical Programs 2. Data Systems Division 3. Fabrication Shops, Operations Division III. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 1. Administration and Management Directorate IV. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California 1. Plans and Programs Division 2. Data Systems Division 3. Space Sciences Division 4. Telecommunications Division 5. Guidance and Control Division 6. Engineering Mechanics Division 7. Astrionics Division 8. Environmental Sciences Division 9. Propulsion Division 10. Mission Analysis Division 11. Tracking and Data Acquisition 12. Research and Advanced Development 13. Quality Assurance and Reliability Office 14. Supporting Facilities Office 15. Technical Facilities Office 16. Plant Engineering Division 17. Fabrication Services V. John F. Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, Florida 1. Design Engineering - Mechanical Systems Division 2. Design Engineering - Electronic Systems Division 3. Technical Support Division 4. Launch Operations (LLOPN2) 5. Launch Vehicle Operations (LV) 421-813 - 71-17 6. Spacecraft Operations, LS Engineering 7. Data Systems Division 8. Unmanned Launch Operations - Facilities Liaison Office 9. Medium Launch Vehicle Division VI. Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 1. Structures Research Division 2. Engineering and Technical Services Division VII. Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio 1. Office of the Director VIII. Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas 1. Information Systems Division, Engineering and Development ment 3. Medical Research and Operations Directorate 4. Technical Assistant for Apollo, Flight Operations 5. Advanced Planning Support Office, Flight Operations 6. Landing and Recovery Division, Flight Operations 7. Mission Planning and Analysis Division, Flight Operations 8. Space Physics Division, Science and Applications 9. Reliability and Quality Assurance Office IX. George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama 1. Office of the Director X. Wallops Station, Wallops Island, Virginia 1. Administrative Officer 1. Mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The purpose of NASA is to carry out the policy of Congress that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind. The principal statutory functions of NASA are as follows: 1. expand human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere 2. conduct research for the solution of problems of flight within 3. conduct activities required for the exploration of space with 4. arrange for the most effective utilization of the scientific and 5. provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemina- Planning, coordination and control of NASA programs are vested in Headquarters. Directors of NASA's Field Centers and other installations are responsible for execution of NASA's programs, largely through contracts with research, development, and manufacturing enterprises. A broad range of research and development activities is conducted in NASA's Field Centers and installations by Government employed scientists, engineers and technicians to evaluate new concepts and phenomena and to maintain the competence required to manage contracts with private enterprises. Brief explanations of the responsibilities and activities of the Field Centers follow. John F. Kennedy Space Center: Provision of supporting activities for the major launchings; preparation and integration of space vehicles. Manned Spacecraft Center: Development of manned spacecraft, such as Apollo; development of life support systems; development and integration of experiments for assigned space flight activities; astronaut training; manned flight operations in space; and supporting scientific, engineering and medical research. George C. Marshall Space Flight Center: Development of launch vehicles and systems to launch manned and unmanned spacecraft; development and integration of experiments for assigned space flight activities; and supporting scientific and engineering research. Goddard Space Flight Center: Scientific research in space with unmanned satellites; development of earth observing, meteorological, and communications satellites; tracking and data acquisition operations. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Operated under contract by the California Institute of Technology): Deep space, lunar, and interplanetary scientific exploration; development of unmanned lunar and interplanetary spacecraft; operation of related tracking and data acquisition systems. Wallops Station: Launch facilities and services for other NASA installations which conduct suborbital, orbital, and space probe experiments with vehicles ranging from small rockets to the Scout four-stage solid fuel rocket. Development of techniques for collection and processing of experimental data. Ames Research Center: Basic and applied research in space environmental physics, including simulation techniques; gas dynamics research at extreme speeds; configuration, stability, structures, and guidance and control of aeronautical and space vehicles; biomedical and biophysical research. Flight Research Center: Research in high performance aircraft and spacecraft, including flight operations and flight systems, and structural characteristics of aeronautical and space vehicles. Langley Research Center: Research in aeronautical and space structures and materials, aerodynamics of re-entry vehicles, space environmental physics, life sciences, and subsonic and supersonic flight; and development of spacecraft for lunar and planetary exploration. Lewis Research Center: Research in powerplants and propulsion, high energy propellants, nuclear rockets, and electric propulsion; management of medium launch-vehicle programs. Because of the high technical content involved in NASA's mission, most activities within NASA would be affected by metrication. This would be especially true within the basic and applied research areas; the development, testing, and evaluation activities; operations; and plant and support facilities. 2. Present Metric Usage. Metric measurement units are used at all NASA Field Centers.1 Metric engineering standards are used at eight of the 10 Centers (Langley Research Center and Wallops Station are the exceptions). The most widespread uses of the metric system within NASA are in basic research, laboratory analyses, electronics, fluid mechanics, in certain hardware (such as optical equipment), and in areas where international programs are important. Major reasons cited for present metric usage (except in those areas where metric usage is consistent with general practice) are improved international cooperation and operational improvement; cost savings are cited infrequently. Most basic research equipment is in the metric system. Metric usage is rare in the fabrication trades, mechanical engineering design areas, technical and support facilities, and plant engineering groups. 3. Anticipated Changes if There is No National Plan for Metrication (Assumption I). Under this assumption, there are some activities at each of the 10 Centers (except for Wallops Station) in which metric usage will increase. Two of the most significant changes forecast are: (1) significant increases in the use of metric units at all Centers, particularly in reports2 and calculations, and (2) new instrument specifications to be completely metric by 1980 at the Lewis Research Center. Reasons for the increased metric usage are: science and engineering activities in many fields favor the metric system; quality and performance will be improved by increased metric usage; and the influence of international activities on NASA will increase. Lewis Research Center believes that a changeover to the metric system is inevitable within a generation and that some purchases of equipment should be in metric in order to reduce the cost of an eventual changeover. 1 NASA conducted a survey of its approximately 14,000 technical notes and technical memoranda reports published during the period 1962 through 1969 in order to determine the trend of metric usage in the NASA reports. The results showed that 22 percent of the reports contained metric units only; 31 percent contained English units only; 30.2 percent contained both units; and 16.1 percent contained neither English nor metric units. Comparison of the two four-year periods, 1962-65 and 1966-69 indicated that the combined metric usage (metric, predominately metric, and parallel usage) increased from 33.4 percent to 53.2 percent from the first four-year period to the second four-year period. See the report entitled "NASA Metric System Study" (NASA Contractor Report - 1555, February 1970). 2 A NASA Policy Directive (Issuance No. NPD 2220.4 of September 15, 1970) directed that measurement values employed in NASA scientific and technical publications shall be expressed in SI units, except for exempt classes spelled out in the Directive. |