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Siobhan Wagner
Chief Reporter
NASA to reveal planetary mystery
Astronomers and UFO bloggers alike have been waiting in anticipation for NASA’s press conference today on the discovery of ’an exceptional object in our cosmic neighbourhood’.
At 12:30 p.m. EST, NASA Astrophysics Division director Jon Morse, along with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Kimberly Weaver and University of California-Berkeley astrophysicist Alex Filippenko will reveal details of the mysterious object at the US space agency’s headquarters in Washington.
The space oddity was spotted by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite, which was launched in 1999.
Back here on Earth, Don Wales, holder of the UK land speed record for an electric car, will launch his bid to break his own record on Tuesday with the Bluebird Electric Team. The record breaking attempt will likely happen sometime in Spring 2011.
The current record of 139mph was set in 2000 at the Pendine Sands. Wales hopes to attempt a new world land speed record for a battery car and has his sights set on 500mph. He is currently evaluating design options.
Meanwhile, General Motors (GM) has given indications it is on the road to recovery this week as the automaker’s shares are expected to start trading when the Initial Public Offering takes place Friday.
GM hopes the sale of stock will raise $13bn and reduce the US government’s stake in automaker to below 50 per cent. The US government had helped to bail out GM at the height of the financial crisis.
Last but not least, The Engineer would like to congratulate the engineers at RedR for being chosen as one of the charities for this year’s Lord Mayor’s City of London Appeal.
The Engineer reported on RedR, a UK based organisation that sends engineers into disaster zones to assist with humanitarian efforts and reconstruction, shortly after Haiti’s devastating earthquake earlier this year. You can read more of that article here.
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Readers' comments (12)
I.Thomas | 16 Nov 2010 5:05 am
Slightly off topic.
Why is everone allowed to call themselves an engineer these days, and what can be done about it?
A double glazing company sent it's "engineer" out last week to check the measurements of the windows that the salesman had measured the week before.
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Harold M. George | 16 Nov 2010 8:48 am
Back up to I. Thomas's e-mail
Every garage fitter is called an engineer, but the only true engineers are graduate engineers.
Much like pharmacists calling themselves chemists, they are not since a chemist makes the drugs the pharmacist sells (Chemists make allsorts of chemical entities from dyes to food additives etc)..So can we start to use the correct terminology for who is an engineer and who is a fitter please
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Simon Foster | 16 Nov 2010 9:01 am
Most double glazing companies send out "a engineer"
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Ian Bennett | 16 Nov 2010 9:36 am
The problem is one of language - there is no commonly-used word for a 'fitter' or 'mechanic' that is general enough for use by those who do not understand the job. I must take issue with the comment that the only true engineer is a graduate engineer: this could be even more selective, so that the only true engineering is a Chartered Engineer. Stop worrying about status and get on with the job of engineering!
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steven connor | 16 Nov 2010 10:02 am
I disagree and dont support the elitist mantra that graduate only = engineers, there are varying degrees of practical and theoretical competency. Ive seen shop floor workers run rings round supposed graduates with paractical applied theory.
In saying that though the term is overly and wrongly used in different industries.
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Anonymous | 16 Nov 2010 3:32 pm
On a lighter note - going back to the original point in the article, ie the 'exceptional object in our cosmic neighbourhood', and with apologies to Ms Wagner, did anybody else read into the second paragraph the fact that this mysterious object is located at the US space agency's headquarters in Washington?
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Danny Gibson | 17 Nov 2010 5:40 am
I think they said they were going to REVEAL DETAILS at NASA HQ in Washington. Any way whilst I am not into elitism the English language is constantly evolving and it appears the term "engineer" is beginning to mean anyone who is engaged in meaningful work!
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O Pearson | 17 Nov 2010 4:15 pm
Some of the greatest Engineers in history didn't have degrees. Some of the worst, do.
Let us not be defined by our names but by our achievements.
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PESI MEHTA | 18 Nov 2010 1:39 am
No engineer worth his salt has done anything worthwile on passing out from college It is the ground realities which groom people and differentiate between real engineers and pseudo engineers.
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Anonymous | 18 Nov 2010 1:07 pm
Being an engineer doesn't have enough social status to be bothered fighting over. Just get on and enjoy one of the last few jobs that are fun as well!
When I told my wife-to-be I was an engineer she thought I drove trains like Casey Jones. Is anyone old enuf to remember him?
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