Question

In 1999, NASA lost a $94 million orbiter because one group of engineers used metric units in their calculations while another group used English units. Consequently, the orbiter descended too far into the Martian atmosphere and burned up. Suppose that the orbiter was to have established orbit at 156km and that one group of engineers specified this distance as 1.56×105m. Suppose further that a second group of engineers programmed the orbiter to go to 1.56×105ft.

What was the difference in kilometers between the two altitudes?

Answer 1

108 km  
Let's convert the 1.56x10^5 ft into kilometers by multiplying by 0.0003048, so 0.0003048 * 1.56x10^5 = 47.5488 km  
Now let's get the difference 156 km - 47.5488 km = 108.4512 km 
 Rounding to 3 significant digits gives 108 km.

Answer 2

Answer:

109 km

Explanation:

One group of engineers specified the distance as 1.56 × 10⁵ m. Considering that 1 km = 10³ m, this distance expressed in kilometers is:

1.56 × 10⁵ m × (1 km/10³ m) = 156 km

The other group of engineers specified the distance as 1.56 × 10⁵ ft. Considering that 1 km = 3280.84 ft, this distance expressed in kilometers is:

1.56 × 10⁵ ft × (1 km/3280.84 ft) = 47.5 km

The difference in kilometers between the two altitudes is:

156 km - 47.5 km = 109 km