Space: the final scrapyard?

Space debris [credit: NASA]

So far there are no scrap metal collectors for space junk, as this Science/AAAS report illustrates.

Humans are messy, and not just here on Earth. Now, you can see all the junk we’ve launched into space for yourself with a data-driven animation created for the United Kingdom’s Royal Society by Stuart Grey, an astronomer at University College London.

It all begins in 1957 when the Soviet Union launches Sputnik, a 58.5-centimeter-wide ball emitting radio pulses. A piece of the rocket that took it into orbit was the very first piece of space junk. The United States launched its own satellite, Explorer 1, the next year.

Space – the final commercial frontier, says new US law

Lift-off [image credit: NASA]

US businesses can now legally be space invaders, as Phys.org reports. They can boldly go looking for extra-terrestrial riches wherever they like.

Flashing some interplanetary gold bling and sipping “space water” might sound far-fetched, but both could soon be reality, thanks to a new US law that legalizes cosmic mining.

In a first, President Barack Obama signed legislation at the end of November that allows commercial extraction of minerals and other materials, including water, from asteroids and the moon.

That could kick off an extraterrestrial gold rush, backed by a private aeronautics industry that is growing quickly and cutting the price of commercial space flight.

APOD: Auction of photos from early days of space exploration

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/24/rare-photos-from-the-golden-age-of-space-exploration/