SpaceX's Powerful Starship Explodes after Launch

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April 20, 2023

Ah yes, what better day than April 20th for something to go up in smoke? Our lead story concerns this morning’s test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, a potentially revolutionary launch system that is also the largest and most powerful ever built. The flight ended mere minutes after liftoff when the Starship vehicle failed to separate from its Super Heavy booster, resulting in what engineers charitably call a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of both objects. Still, the test is being hailed as a success thanks to the wealth of data it provided for future launch attempts. Elsewhere, we have stories about the recently launched JUICE mission to Jupiter, potential pitfalls in the search for life on Mars, the weight of “nothing,” the limits of cosmic humility, and much more! Enjoy.

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics

Space Exploration SpaceX's Powerful Starship Explodes after Launch Starship, a super powerful launch system that could revolutionize access to space, soared for mere minutes—but its test flight is still being hailed as a success By Meghan Bartels

Extraterrestrial Life How Far Should We Take Our Cosmic Humility? For centuries, scientific discoveries have suggested humanity occupies no privileged place in the universe. Now, however, studies of worlds beyond our solar system could place meaningful new limits on our existential mediocrity By Mario Livio

Extraterrestrial Life Mars Rovers Might Miss Signs of Alien Life, Study Suggests The hunt for Martian life focuses on detecting organic molecules that could indicate its past existence. Are our instruments up to the task? By Derek Smith

Planetary Science Dried-Up Lagoon Is 'Time Analog' for Martian Life If Martian microbes were like those in this Earth lagoon, they could have survived the Red Planet’s primordial desiccation By Allison Gasparini

Particle Physics How Much Does 'Nothing' Weigh? The Archimedes experiment will weigh the void of empty space to help solve a big cosmic puzzle By Manon Bischoff

Astronomy A Mission to Jupiter's Strange Moons Is Finally On its Way The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper will search for signs of habitability on three of Jupiter's potentially ocean-bearing moons By Clara Moskowitz,Lee Billings,Kelso Harper | 07:29

Planetary Science Europe Successfully Launches JUICE Mission to Study Jupiter's Icy Moons The ambitious Jupiter moon mission JUICE has begun its long journey to the Jovian system By Mike Wall,SPACE.com

Planetary Science The Six Moons Most Likely to Host Life in Our Solar System Vast quantities of liquid water may exist on moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, making life possible there, too By Rebecca Boyle,Juan Velasco

Microbiology This Microbe Withstands an Incredible Range of Pressures A microbial discovery could help guide the search for life beyond Earth By Katherine Kornei

Astronomy Citizen Science Art Showcases Jupiter's Beauty Jupiter shines in images made by citizen scientists using data from NASA’s Juno probe By Clara Moskowitz

Genetic Engineering Synthetic Morphology Lets Scientists Create New Life-Forms The emerging field of synthetic morphology bends boundaries between natural and artificial life By Philip Ball

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Volume 328, Issue 5

QUOTE OF THE DAY "'Rockets' solve a problem unique to space, in a way that currently has no good substitute. It's a good business to be in, because if you're going to space, you will be using a rocket. Unfortunately - everything else needed to live in space doesn't have a great business model." Space entrepreneur Chris Lewicki, on the challenging economics of making humans multiplanetary

FROM THE ARCHIVE SpaceX's Starship and NASA's SLS Could Supercharge Space Science Scientists are beginning to dream of how a new generation of super-heavy-lift rockets might enable revolutionary space telescopes and bigger, bolder interplanetary missions By Jonathan O'Callaghan | April 2022

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