American rocketeers are attempting to reclaim a share of the lucrative satellite launch market from foreign firms. To win, they’re rewriting the rules and ushering in a new era of the space industry.

Plus, 8 countries angling to dominate the launch biz & the rise, fall, and rise of US satellite launchers.

Deep Space Industries, a New Asteroid-Mining Hopeful

mothernaturenetwork:

Meteors to bombard Earth this month
The 2012 Geminids should be especially striking, and they might be joined by a new meteor shower from the comet Wirtanen, according to NASA.

Satellites for everyone: How mass-produced sats will offer cheap(-er) access to space.

leviathan8:

The Great Red Spot

The Great Red Spot is a vast, stormy anticyclone about three times the size of Earth, found in the southern hemisphere of the gas giant Jupiter. Visible even through a modest telescope, the colour is variable and is thought to be from organic compounds. The storm has been studied for at least 178 years and may even have been recorded as early as 1665. Winds at the edge of the spot tear along at up to 560 kilometres per hour.

Credit: Image made in visible light by the Voyager 2 Team at JPL / NASA

(via darylelockhart)

35 years in, Voyager 1 still hasn’t left the solar system. What’s going on out there?

Spotted: A pair of star with a pair of planets.

This year a group of aerospace veterans and investors—including Google’s Larry Page, filmmaker James Cameron, and X-Prize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis—announced an audacious venture: a company, Planetary Resources, dedicated to mining asteroids. Here’s the full story on their futuristic quest.

How much longer will NASA be able to talk to Voyager?

Joy.