Why can we put a man on the moon but we can't do an accurate weather forecast?

Answer 1

Very, very simply, putting a man on the moon was physics/science/engineering/maths etc ... whereas the weather is climate and, as such, unpredictable. I think they do a pretty good job these days predicting the weather.

Anyway it's like asking people to compare chalk and cheese, isn't it? The two are not really related, although I see where you're coming from. :)

Answer 2

A long time ago thre was a program on the telly about a man who developed an unconventional method of long range weather forecasting based on sunspots or something like that.
He trialled his method with some crop growers and it was found to be rather accurate.
As I understand it, because it is so unlike conventional weather forecasting and would probably undermine current weather forecasting tradition I understand that these methods have not migrated into public service forecasting. So I think that we can do accurate weather forecasting if one looks to the correct place.
If NASA used an accurate weather forecasting method they would save billions on lost launch days and maybe then the world would change and more men would go to the moon.

Answer 3

The technology involved in putting a man on the moon is man made. We can control the variables and unintended consequences by continual experimentation and evaluating the data from previous experiments. First the rocket into deep space, then the launching of a satellite from another rocket, then the orbiting of another satellite and recovery of the instruments inside, than a monkey into space followed by an astronaut, and, step by step, we venture toward the moon. Very deliberate.

The variables in predicting the weather, however, can't be controlled, and, in some cases, can't even be known. The same conditions that caused it to rain in Chicago last week may cause it to rain in Detroit next week. All we can do is study the past weather patterns and try to predict future patterns based on this knowledge. You will always here the word "if" alot when long range forecasting is attempted - "if" the front continues to move east, "if" this low pressure area moves off to the west, "if" it strikes land north of Miami ..... and on and on.

We will probably never be able to predict the weather with 100% accuracy because it is dependant on so many different variables.

Answer 4

Weather forecasters are getting it pretty good these days


they can work down to a 15 mile grid but that would take all day to do the weather forecast on TV, you would want some programmes on

As for men on the moon, there does seem to be some controversy, as it was the sea of tranquillity (and the earth was visible from the moon) surely the easiest thing to do is to point a telescope where they landed and see the craft they left behind.

also, didn't they leave a big shiny disc behind so they could accurately measure the distance by bouncing a laser off it?

Answer 5

Because "going to the moon" is easy compared with forecasting "local" weather. Weather patterns are "chaotic" in that a tiny change in one part of the system can cause a huge change later on in a series of connected results. To fly to the moon you just figure out which way it is to where the moon will be by the time you get there, and start going, you can always make adjustments along the way.

Answer 6

Because sending a person to the moon is a straightforward proposition requiring basic physics and trajectory calculations. Once you have the hardware to build a rocket there is nothing all that complicated.
The weather on the other hand is influenced by almost infinite variables. A small change in temperature on the other side of the earth can cause changes all out of proportion to the size of the change. It is now, and probably always will be impossible to incorporate all the data needed to accurately predict the weather over a long period of time.

Answer 7

We can't predict a lot of things, at least not on the small scale. We can't predict how a stock will perform very accurately, or predict how some districts will vote in an election, or predict weather for tomorrow. Predicting things on a large scale is easier. I can predict that you'll probably earn more over the next 10 years than during the last ten, but I'll probably blow it if I try to predict your earnings for next year specifically.

In short, weather prediction is tough business. The weather is one of the most dynamic, complicated systems that a person can study, outside of quantum mechanics. Launching a rocket and landing someone on the moon is comparatively simple stuff -- we can do it with computers as powerful as modern pocket calculators. For weather prediction, you need a supercomputer, and even it is not entirely up to the task.

Answer 8

Last Year we had a bushfire called Black Tuesday on the Eyre Penninsula and that was a result of weather forecasters not getting right their forecasts

On that day when the fire happened it was supposed be only be 30 odd degrees but instead the temperature rose over 40 degrees which caused the fire to go on a rampage

Answer 9

There are FAR more variables and random events involved with the weather. However, at some point I envision enough computer processing power and sensors where much more accurate weather forecasts will be possible. I am much more concerned about earthquake prediction!

Answer 10

Apparently weather forecasts are predicted by computer now, which only predict a couple of weeks in advance, and sometimes the weather does behave in a completely different way to the anticipated.

Answer 11

Getting on the moon is simply a matter of an equation that will be in effect for a long time; I don't think that it takes a scientist at NASA that long to figure it out, before the moon does change its orbital properties and a new equation having to to be thought up.

With the weather, so many mathematical interpretations, precise to less than a kilometer in area, will have to be taken in to account in near-exact time and made to agree with each-other mathematically in a split-second. They do have software that performs that, but it is not used for a global measure.