nominal/gray

Question

00:11:11:SIM TECH 1 : ApoIIo 13, you are go for pyro arm and docking.00:11:15:All systems are nominal and on the line.

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

nominal: operating at the nominal/normal parameters

Clive · Answer

Hi,

NASA has its own special jargon. 'Normal' is not really a standard meaning of 'nominal'.

If you said to me, 'All systems are nominal', I really wouldn't understand what you were talking about.

I don't understand the reference to 'gray'. Are you sure that's what they said?

Best wishes, Clive

Marius Hancu · Answer

CliveNASA has its own special jargon. 'Normal' is not really a standard meaning of 'nominal'.To me, this is pretty close to "normal":

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nominal

: being according to plan : falling within a range of acceptable planned limits : SATISFACTORY<everything was nominal during the spacecraft launch> <the satellite had a nominal orbit>

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Clive · Answer

Hi,

I've never heard the word used in the sense of 'normal', although obviously you have.

I can only reiterate that if you said to me, 'All systems are nominal', I really wouldn't understand what you were talking about.

The kind of context in which I've encountered this word is this.

Following his election as Chancellor, Hitler was in a position where he was the nominal leader of the Weimar republic but he did not have the majority necessary to implement his political program.

In other words, at this point in his career, Hitler was the German leader in name only.

nominal

• adjective 1 existing in name only. 2 relating to or consisting of names. 3 (of a sum of money) very small; far below the real value or cost. 4 Grammar relating to or functioning as a noun.

— DERIVATIVES nominally adverb.

— ORIGIN Latin nominalis, from nomen ‘name’.

definition quoted from http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/nominal?view=uk

Best wishes, Clive

Kanonathena · Answer

CliveHi,

NASA has its own special jargon. 'Normal' is not really a standard meaning of 'nominal'.

If you said to me, 'All systems are nominal', I really wouldn't understand what you were talking about.

I don't understand the reference to 'gray'. Are you sure that's what they said?

Best wishes, Clive

I guess norminal is equal to normal here in a sense that things are running the way they should be just as their names indicated.

I'm sure it's GRAY on the script.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Maybe, unlike know where we show things "in the green" when it's good and "in the red" when it's bad, they had only two types of indicators: normal as gray and emergency/danger situation as red. So maybe it's just a contrast to NOT being red.

But it's going to be hard for any of us to say affirmatively - no one I know worked for NASA in the early 70s, so I don't have anyone to ask.

nominal/gray

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