SpaceX's Starship 36 prototype exploding (Image courtesy Jerry Pike / NASASpaceflight)

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A few hours ago, SpaceX was setting up the Starship 36 prototype for a static fire test, the ignition of the six Raptor engines on the ground in preparation for what was supposed to be the 10th launch test to be conducted together with the Super Heavy rocket. It was just after 11 pm in Texas when Starship 36 exploded. Even the static fire tests are conducted in safe conditions, so the SpaceX staff was well away from the prototype, and no one was injured. It must be said that mishaps can happen more easily with prototypes, but it’s clear that, at best, there will be further delays on the development schedule of a spacecraft that has already suffered three failures in the latest flight tests.

The Sun observed across eight different wavelengths by the Solar Orbiter space probe

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ESA has released the first information, including the first images, of the Sun’s South Pole, captured between March 16 and 17, 2025, by the Solar Orbiter space probe, a mission operated in collaboration with NASA. Three of the scientific instruments on board made it possible to observe that area in different electromagnetic bands: Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), and Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE). The Sun’s poles aren’t visible from Earth, and Solar Orbiter is observing them as never before. The first observations have already revealed some surprises.

A simulation of the Hakuto-R Resilience lander's trajectory

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It was early morning in Tokyo when the Hakuto-R Resilience lander of the Japanese company ispace inc. attempted the Moon landing. For the people who watched the conclusion of the first Hakuto-R lander’s mission, the end of Resilience’s mission unfortunately offered a sense of deja vu. This time, the telemetry transmission was interrupted less than two minutes before the Moon landing, when the speed was measured at 187 km/h at an altitude of 52 meters. This was the so-called Phase 4, during which Resilience was supposed to decelerate. The clear impression is that something went wrong, and this second mission also ended in a crash.

ASKAP J1832-0911 (in the circle) (Image X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ., Z. Wang et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/IPAC; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports a study on ASKAP J1832-0911, or simply ASKAP J1832, an object whose nature is still uncertain. A team of researchers combined data collected by different instruments, including NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ASKAP radio telescope, to detect the emissions coming from this object. This allowed them to reveal anomalies with respect to the categories considered to try to identify it.

The radio emissions led to cataloging it as a long-period radio transient, but ASKAP J1832 has variable emissions of the same duration in X-rays as well. An object with that type of emissions has never been found before, so it arouses a lot of curiosity. It could be a magnetar or a white dwarf with a companion star, but its behavior remains strange, so the investigations will continue.

The Tianwen-2 space probe blasting off atop a Long March 3B rocket (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Cai Yang)

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A few hours ago, the Tianwen-2 mission was successfully launched. A Long March 3B rocket blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and after about 18 minutes, the space probe separated from the rocket’s last stage to begin its journey towards the asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa. The goal is to collect samples from its surface to bring back to Earth and then resume its journey in space towards the comet 311P/PanSTARRS.