I understand the use of Metric measurement, the real question is: with how vast space truly is, why do we not use other prefixes like we do for computer memory?
Unit | In meters | In AU |
---|---|---|
1 kilometer | $1\ 000$ meters (km) | $6.68459\cdot 10^{-9}\ AU$ |
1 megameter | $1\ 000\ 000$ meters (Mm) | $6.68459\cdot 10^{-6}\ AU$ |
1 gigameter | $1\ 000\ 000\ 000$ meters (Gm) | $6.68459\cdot 10^{-3}\ AU$ |
1 terameter | $1\ 000\ 000\ 000\ 000$ meters (Tm) | $6.68459\ AU$ |
etc.
I get that we also have $AU$, which is more commonly referred to in terms of long-distance space travel (because it's the most relative thing we have). But I made a joke about megameters (Mm) earlier in a comment and started honestly wondering if there is a specific reason? I found this generic Quora answer (completely unrelated to Space Travel), is it actually that simple-- human relatability?
EDIT: Either we can close this or, for an "accepted" answer, I'm honestly looking for examples (opinion or otherwise) of these measurements being used, practically. For instance was there ever a mission done in anything other than AU/km/m? Was there a rejected proposal for software that involved measurements like this? I understand all of the arguments presented, but wonder if there's instances of this in existing software.
886Ym = 5,922,544,190,329,842 AU
- That is absolutely insane.Ym
is Yottameters I'm assuming? $\endgroup$