This week we solved a mystery about Frankenstein's monster, watched China blast off and saw stunning solar flares on the sun in just some of the stories that came from space this past week. Vote for your top space story of the week:
Scientists are studying what types of damage tiny meteoroids can cause when they strike satellites and crewed spacecraft. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13048-meteoroids-spacecraft-damage-risk-draconid-meteor-shower.html">Full Story</a>]
Collisions between stars and an elusive type of black hole could help scientists finally find proof of dark matter. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13026-dark-matter-primordial-black-holes.html">Full Story</a>]
Magnetic storms could harm weather, communication, military and other satellites closer to Earth than previously thought, potentially having devastating economic impacts, scientists now suggest. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13095-solar-storms-satellites-risk-geomagnetic-superstorms.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA and the military have pinned down exactly where and when a huge dead climate satellite fell to Earth on Saturday (Sept. 24). [<a href="http://www.space.com/13078-nasa-uars-satellite-falls-earth.html">Full Story</a>]
If you like drinking beer, explosions, cussing and shooting rockets, then boy, does the National Geographic Channel have a show for you. "Rocket City Rednecks," a new DIY science reality show, makes its cable TV debut on the National Geographic Channel Wednesday night. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13102-rocket-city-rednecks-reality-television-show.html">Full Story</a>]
The private spaceflight firm SpaceX will try to build the world's first completely reusable rocket and spaceship, a space travel method that could open the gates of Mars for humanity, the company's milionaire CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday (Sept. 29). [<a href="http://www.space.com/13140-spacex-private-reusable-rocket-elon-musk.html">Full Story</a>]
The United States must decide whether to cooperate with China in space or enter a new space race. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13100-china-space-program-nasa-space-race.html">Full Story</a>]
A group of astronomers used some crafty celestial sleuthing to put to rest a 19th Century mystery surrounding the events that inspired Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of the classic novel "Frankenstein," to pen her tragic tale of the infamous monster. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13112-frankenstein-moon-mary-shelley-mystery.html">Full Story</a>]
China successfully launched its first prototype space lab module, Tiangong 1, today, marking an important step forward for the country's growing space program. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13121-china-launches-space-lab-module-tiangong-1.html">Full Story</a>]
A NASA space telescope that meticulously mapped the entire sky has found fewer potentially dangerous asteroids that orbit near Earth, space agency officials announced today (Sept. 29). [<a href="http://www.space.com/13132-potentially-killer-asteroids-earth-nasa.html">Full Story</a>]
Private companies are poised to start launching crews by late 2014--meaning they'll probably beat NASA into space by at least three years. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13134-private-space-race-nasa-astronauts-2015.html">Full Story</a>]
