This weekend, be sure to look up to catch the Geminid meteor shower, one of the best of the year.
The big picture: The Geminid meteor shower hits its peak each year in mid-December as Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
Multiple space missions by different countries are bringing rock samples back to Earth from far-off worlds — a trend that could redefine our understanding of the evolution of the solar system.
Driving the news: China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft is bound for Earth and loaded down with Moon rocks expected to be far younger than those brought back during the Apollo missions. Those samples are expected to arrive in mid-December.
Varda Space, a Southern California-based orbital manufacturing startup, has raised $9 million in seed funding led by Founders Fund and Lux Capital.
Why it matters: Researchers and manufacturers have long dreamed of outsourcing the manufacturing of specialized products to space. Varda Space's funding shows that investors are starting to get on board with that idea.
Australia's "'black summer" bushfires killed, wounded or displaced 143 million mammals — including over 61,000 koalas, per a report published Monday
Why it matters: Koalas in New South Wales and Queensland were in "rapid decline" before last summer's fires ravaged the states, per a statement from Dermot O'Gorman, CEO of WWF-Australia, which commissioned the research. It's "a deeply disturbing number for a species already in trouble," he added.
