Meteor Outburst

Rosetta: Anxious wait for comet chaser wake up

Scientists say they are in for an anxious wait as they prepare to wake a comet-chasing probe from deep-space hibernation. In January, they will attempt to bring the Rosetta spacecraft back online so it can journey towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Once it has reached the huge mass of ice and rock, the team will try to deploy a lander on the comet’s surface

METEOR OUTBURST
“The shower could increase in intensity on Dec. 9th, so we hope observers will be alert for meteors.” Andromedid meteoroids come from Comet Biela, which broke apart in the 19th century. The shower’s radiant in Cassiopeia is high in the sky after sunset for observers in the Northern Hemisphere 

Darpa’s Giant Folding Spy Satellite Will Dwarf All Other Space Telescopes

Spying could become much easier if a new lightweight, folding satellite concept gets off the ground. Darpa, the military’s futuristic research agency, says it has plans to “break the glass ceiling” of space telescopes by shooting a new design into orbit that’s made of plastic and unfolds into a mammoth satellite that would dwarf the world’s most famous telescopes.