Some initial space notes
When you've been in the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú as long as I have, you rise to the lofty position where you get to deal with complaints. So I thought I'd start this blog by heading off the single most common complaint about the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's space coverage: the way we write the acronyms for the US and European space agencies in lower-case letters - "Nasa" and "Esa".
If I'd had a pound coin for every time someone wrote in to say, "It's 'NASA' and 'ESA', you dummies", I could have gathered together enough cash to start my own space programme.
It's a style thing. The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú only uses upper-case for the acronyms in which each individual letter is sounded, as in, err, "Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú". It's supposed to make pages with lots of acronyms look less "bossy", and it gives the reader an idea of how to pronounce ones they've never encountered before.
I didn't make this rule, but I do follow it. It has some logic to it.
As with all "rules", there are exceptions. Take for example the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System used by US. It's a network of satellites in the sky that other spacecraft use to communicate among each other and with the ground. Some people say it "Tee-dress", but for us to write it as "Tdrss", or even "TDrss", frankly looks bizarre. So you'll only ever see me write it "TDRSS".
Like I said, there is some logic to the rule.
±õ’m 
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