Space

SpaceX's Starship megarocket is set to launch to orbit for the first time ever today, September 28, with live coverage available. The flight marks a major milestone for the company's next-generation launch system, and space watchers around the world are following the attempt closely.

SpaceX conducted the fourteenth test flight of its Starship system, streaming the launch and the booster's splashdown live. The flight is part of the company's iterative test campaign to develop the fully reusable rocket intended for missions to the Moon and Mars. Viewers followed the launch and booster descent in real time, with the event drawing large live audiences and broad attention across the space community.

SpaceX has launched its Starship rocket on its first integrated orbital flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The test marks the debut flight of the most powerful rocket ever built, developed by Elon Musk's company for deep-space missions including NASA's planned lunar landings. The launch drew massive attention worldwide, with news outlets and space fans closely following every stage of the flight test.

SpaceX conducted the 14th test flight of its Starship rocket, and a condensed 15-minute recap of the launch has drawn over a million reactions, indicating broad public interest in the mission's milestones. Viewers are following the flight's progress, booster catch attempt, and how the latest test advances SpaceX's goal of a fully reusable spacecraft bound for the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on the program's 14th test flight, with live coverage showing the vehicle heading for orbit from the company's Texas launch site. The flight is part of SpaceX's ongoing campaign to prove out the massive rocket intended for missions to the Moon and Mars. Viewers worldwide followed the launch online, and spaceflight watchers are discussing the vehicle's performance and what it means for upcoming test milestones.

SpaceX launched its Starship on Flight 14, described as the vehicle's first orbital launch, with live coverage drawing large audiences. The test flight, launched from the company's Texas facilities, is being watched closely as another step toward proving the rocket's orbital capability. Viewers followed mission control updates in real time as the vehicle lifted off.

SpaceX is reportedly targeting an unusually rapid Starship launch cadence, with three flights of the giant rocket planned within roughly five weeks. If achieved, it would mark the fastest turnaround yet for the vehicle and a major step toward operational reuse. Space enthusiasts are debating whether the schedule is realistic given past launch pacing and regulatory approvals.

SpaceX is carrying out its Transporter-18 mission, the latest in its series of dedicated smallsat rideshare launches that carry dozens of satellites into orbit on a single Falcon 9 flight. The Transporter missions have become a key route for commercial and research operators to reach space affordably, and the new launch is drawing attention from the space community tracking its payload deployments.

The Canadarm2, the large robotic arm aboard the International Space Station, has stopped working, according to an Ars Technica report. The arm is critical for capturing cargo spacecraft, moving equipment and supporting spacewalks, so a failure would complicate station operations. Details on the cause of the failure and whether engineers can restore it have not been made clear.

Google has announced Project Suncatcher, an initiative to place machine learning infrastructure, including TPUs, on satellites in orbit to harness solar power for large-scale AI compute. Early prototype satellites are planned for launch with partners, with Google targeting scaled deployments in the coming years. The announcement is drawing attention and debate about whether space-based data centers could overcome terrestrial energy limits, and about the technical and cost hurdles involved.

An astronomer is monitoring the gradual orbital decay of Starlink satellites, using how quickly they sink toward Earth as a kind of 'planetary barometer' for upper-atmosphere density. The approach could turn thousands of decommissioning satellites into a large-scale measuring instrument for space weather and atmospheric conditions, a novel reuse of the Starlink constellation that has caught the attention of the science community.

Stripe has unveiled its Knowledge AI Platform, according to an announcement on the company's developer blog. The launch is drawing attention in developer and tech circles, with readers debating what it means for how companies build AI tools on top of internal documentation and knowledge bases. Details on pricing and availability were not included in the coverage.

Tesla has received SEC approval to automatically vote retail shareholders' shares with the board's recommendations ahead of a merger with SpaceX. The move means small investors who do not cast ballots will have their shares aligned with management positions on the deal. It is a notable step in one of the largest corporate combinations in recent memory, and observers are watching how retail holders respond to having their votes defaulted to the board.

A failure in one of SpaceX's Starship engines could complicate NASA's plans for its Artemis moon missions, which depend on a Starship-derived lunar lander. The incident raises fresh questions about whether the vehicle can be made flight-ready in time to meet the agency's lunar landing schedule.

India's private space sector is drawing international attention as startups emerge as key players in the country's ambitions to become a global space power. DW News examines whether young Indian companies, working alongside the state space agency ISRO, can drive satellite launches, space technology and exploration goals. The report highlights growing investment and government backing for private ventures in India's rapidly expanding space economy.

NASA says weather conditions are 60% favorable for the launch of its SpaceX Crew-13 mission. The agency's 'go' forecast means there is a better-than-even chance conditions will allow the crewed flight to lift off as planned. Interest centers on whether weather will hold for the next crew rotation to the International Space Station.

A BBC News science and environment story about space has prompted discussion about working conditions beyond Earth. Commenters are urging people to organise into unions now, before an expanded space economy takes hold, joking that without collective bargaining workers risk being exploited like the 'Belters' in the science fiction series The Expanse.

The Motley Fool has published a forecast of where SpaceX stock could trade in a year. SpaceX remains privately held, so the prediction concerns its valuation rather than a listed share price. The forecast has drawn attention as interest grows in the company's Starship programme, Starlink expansion and potential future public listing.

A Caltech robotics researcher is calling for safety to be the top priority in the development and deployment of humanoid robots. The remarks come as companies worldwide race to put human-shaped machines into homes, factories, and public spaces. The researcher's warning highlights growing concern that commercial momentum may be outpacing safeguards for humans working alongside these machines.

Astrophysics researchers suggest Earth's magnetic field may reverse, potentially increasing ionizing radiation reaching the equator by around 25%. Charged particles penetrating the weakened field could damage human cells and interfere with atmospheric processes. The claim is circulating widely online, sparking discussion about what a geomagnetic reversal would mean for health, technology and the planet's climate systems.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is facing a decisive test this year, with NASA increasingly short of alternatives for getting crews to the International Space Station. After repeated delays and technical setbacks, the program must prove it can fly reliably or risk losing its role in NASA's commercial crew plans.

Spaceflight journalist Ars Technica reports that NASA is grappling with a 'Dragon dilemma' — a problem involving SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft — and, per the report, there appear to be no good answers to it. Details beyond the headline are not available, but the story concerns NASA's reliance on Dragon and the difficult choices it now faces.

Google is moving to put AI data centers in outer space, aiming to run computing infrastructure in orbit rather than on the ground. The announcement puts the company ahead in the intensifying race among tech giants to scale AI computing capacity, where power and land constraints on Earth are becoming major bottlenecks. The project, reported by the New York Times, signals a bold bet that space-based data centers could become commercially viable.

A Chinese theme park is running with hundreds of humanoid robots built by AgiBot, which interact with visitors as part of the attraction. The project is being framed as an early glimpse of a humanoid robot future, with robots operating at scale in public spaces rather than in labs. Coverage suggests this kind of deployment could preview how humanoid machines enter everyday life.

SpaceX briefly surpassed both Amazon and Microsoft in market capitalisation following its stock market debut, an extraordinary milestone for a private space company turned public. Analysts are now asking whether the company can hold or regain that valuation, given questions about its revenue base, launch cadence, and the long-term promise of Starship and satellite internet.

NASA's Voyager 1, the farthest human-made object, is now about 25.76 billion kilometers (16.01 billion miles) from Earth and is expected to reach a distance of one light-day in roughly 49 days. Its twin, Voyager 2, trails at about 21.55 billion kilometers. Space watchers are marking the milestone, as the probe's radio signals will then take a full 24 hours to reach us.

Anthropic has disclosed agreements with SpaceX worth up to $84.5 billion for compute resources, according to a report by The Information. The disclosure highlights the enormous scale of AI companies' infrastructure commitments and their growing reliance on space-based or satellite-linked computing capacity. The size of the figure is drawing attention to how far major AI labs will go to secure the processing power needed to train and run their models.

New raw images from NASA's Perseverance rover show unusual bright rocks in Jezero Crater, captured by the SuperCam remote micro-imager on sol 1993 of the mission. Space enthusiasts are sharing white-balanced versions of the shots, noting the rocks' striking appearance and hoping future analysis will reveal their composition and origin.

Elon Musk's company SpaceX has announced that its Starship spacecraft has reached orbit for the first time. The news, reported by NPR, marks a milestone for the rocket that SpaceX is developing for missions to the Moon and Mars. Details about the flight, including its timing and outcome, remain limited to the initial report.

Citigroup analysts suggest SpaceX could one day reach a $12 trillion valuation, with the Starship rocket program cited as a key step toward that goal. The bank's long-term projection, reported by MarketWatch, points to Starship's potential to transform space launch costs and open new markets. The figure is a speculative long-term estimate, and critics note it depends on technologies and markets that do not yet exist at scale.