NASA/Robert Markowitz

A qualification test of a Raptor 2 engine has resulted in a dramatic explosion at SpaceX’s McGregor facility. The company has yet to comment on the incident, but it’s unlikely to affect the upcoming fourth test launch of the Starship megarocket.

Elon Musk shared his dystopian vision for the future on Thursday while remotely joining the Viva Technology Conference in Paris. An audience member asked whether AI would one day replace Musk, expressing real concerns about automation taking jobs—a situation many are already facing. The owner of X, xAI, Tesla, and…
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The International Space Station (ISS) was caught looking a little undignified in a new photo captured by an imaging satellite in orbit.

It’s raining space junk. Just one month after NASA admitted that a piece of trash tossed from the International Space Station (ISS) crash-landed through a home in Florida, a massive piece of space debris ended up on a farm in Canada.

It’s deja vu all over again. Boeing’s long-anticipated Starliner mission has been postponed for a second time due to a newly discovered issue with the spacecraft’s service module.

On Friday, Earth was hit by the strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years. Intense solar activity sent bursts of radiation toward Earth, causing fluctuations in the upper atmosphere that led to disruptions in the power grid and radio blackouts, among other technologies and infrastructure.

In our top stories this week, reporter Passant Rabie describes in in-development rocket engine that NASA could eventually use to reach Mars in two months. Reporter Isaac Schultz details the severe geomagnetic storm warning and a new fusion breakthrough, while health reporter Ed Cara describes a previously unknown…

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for Boeing’s attempt at launching a crew to orbit, in comes a longstanding industry feud over rocket valves for a shocking third act.