"Jack McGann" <jackmcgann@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> "miker" <miker4butnospamok@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> So up, while not actually
>> pointing to Earth at all, is most sensibly south since it's
>> opposite of the most direct north.
>> miker
>
> ...OK... Which brings to mind, I've often wondered how astronauts
> navigate the space shuttle.
> In outer space they don't have N/S/E/W, do they use an a 360
> degree circle with an arbitrary zero degrees, and how does that
> translate into 3 dimensions (never mind the 4th!!!)
All that's needed for navigation is reference points, the astronauts
have the earth, the sun, the moon and all the stars.
One of the most interesting navagation systems I encountered was in
the wheel house of a river boat, there was no compass. There are
only two directions on the Mississippi, up river and down river and
a compass would only confuse since "up river" can be north, south,
east or west, the Mississippi winds around a bunch. There are
charts, radar, depth finders, etc. but the main navigation tool is
still the same one used by Mark Twain, the pilot's memory. Before
becoming a licensed pilot, Twain writes he had to draw the river,
every curve, every bridge, every sand bar and that's, believe it or
not, still true. The coast guard requires licensed river pilots to
be able to draw the river from memory and if you can only draw a
****tion you get licensed for that ****tion only.
Personally, I think space navigation would be a snap by comparison,
you can't hit a barge or a bridge or ground the shuttle on a sand
bar that wasn't there yesterday.
--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://improve-usenet.org
|
