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.