NASA Reveals PMS As A PC Solution For Measuring Planet Size

ANN’s April 1 “April Fools” Special Edition

As announced recently in an ANN report, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is getting set to begin its study of the dwarf planet Ceres. Since that report, problems have arisen with the project that are serious, but not of a technical nature.

A branch of the White House known as The Department of Political Correctness (DPC) has informed NASA that the term “dwarf” used to describe the small planet does not meet their standards because it could be taken as a reproachful description. NASA was told come up with a revised politically correct (PC) term that would not be offensive.

This mandate by the DPC led NASA to hold a PC conference with other members of the scientific community to agree on a new description for the various sizes of planets. The initial choice was to simply refer to the planets by size using terms like, small, medium, large, extra-large, and so on. However, this plan led to other concerns such as confusion with the garment industry or that a larger size might be considered more important or powerful, thereby demeaning the smaller sizes.

The final resolution was to classify planets by what is referred to as the Planet Mass System (PMS). Because this measurement in gigatons is not used in the common vernacular for other measurements, it was felt that it would not be offensive or demeaning. The DPC has approved the use of PMS as PC and it appears NASA had a good day with PMS.

FMI: www.nasa.gov