It’s about NIST and the Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) You might have heard about the “Standard Peanut Butter” or the “Standard Cigarettes” (or how crazy

It’s about NIST and the Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) You might have heard about the “Standard Peanut Butter” or the “Standard Cigarettes” (or how crazy expensive they are) and both of these get a mention. But they’ve covered some other interesting stuff behind the scenes of both why the SRMs are important and why some of them are surprising expensive. It also reminds me how just how nerdy my nerdiest purchase is. I purchased a license to REFPROP the NIST Standard Reference Data in order to get a more comprehensive propellant library for the Rocket Engine design and simulation program I purchased. I’ve used it a few times since for various calculations and it’s been neat to have at times, but the coolest part has been how amazing every interaction I had with the NIST employees was… they are just all a bunch of awesome people doing awesome nerdy stuff.