AP Top Science News at 4:33 p.m. EDT

Original source (on modern site)

• Futurism

  SpaceX Preparing for Next Starship Launch, Elon Musk Says

  SpaceX's Starship rocket — the most powerful in the world — may finally take to the skies for the fourth time as soon as next month, according to CEO Elon Musk. On X, formerly Twitter, Musk shared a photo of several Starship systems being prepared for launch at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. […]

• AccuWeather

  Miss the solar eclipse and the northern lights? Look for this 'once-in-a-lifetime' exploding star

  The celestial wonders of April's solar eclipse and the mesmerizing dance of last weekend's aurora borealis captivated millions, yet the cosmos has an even more elusive spectacle in store. Before the year's end, the night sky will unveil an astronomical phenomenon so extraordinary that it eclipses the rarity of both these events combined. A blazingly bright event known as a nova, a light show that happens approximately once every 80 years, is expected to be visible in the coming months. "This cou

• Reuters

  Blue Origin to resume space tourist flights after near 2-year pause

  Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin will resume flights to space on Sunday, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration closed its review of Blue Origin's New Shepard investigation last year, agreeing with the company's findings. It required Blue Origin to make 21 corrective actions, including an engine redesign and "organizational changes".

• TechCrunch

  Intuitive Machines wants to help NASA return samples from Mars

  Intuitive Machines is looking to help reshape the Mars Sample Return mission architecture with its own technology, based on architecture it has been developing for the moon, executives told investors during a quarterly earnings call Tuesday. "Intuitive Machines has engaged the agency and intends to provide a solution set based on technology architecture we have been developing for lunar material return," Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said. The Mars Sample Return (MSR) program is the agency's $11 billion, 15-year mission to collect and return samples from the red planet, but NASA administrators finally admitted last month that the architecture had become too complex and too expensive.