Nasa is set to launch two satellites to gain a better idea of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that spew out of the sun, typically throwing into space a billion tonnes of material from the Sun’s atmosphere, at speeds of about 400km/s.

The study is designed to study the solar eruptions, the ‘space weather’ they create, and the implications for life on earth.

The BBC News link is here .

It always strikes me how research institutes come up with nifty acronyms for their programs and gadgets. Is it the first part of the planning phase that takes place? Is a sizeable portion of the budget set up for acronymizing? Do they have a random acronymator computer program? Are they backronyms?

Nasa head – “I like the cut of your jib fellas; your project looks amazing and it’s definitely a budget we could manage here at Nasa. But I’m afraid you obviously didn’t dedicate enough money to acronymizing; I mean, ‘project FAECES’?! Come on! Couldn’t you do something cute like, SHARK or FRAGGLE? Couldn’t you have employed a few cryptic crossworders for a couple of months?”