Space & Physics: Starship reaches orbit at last

Plus, U.S. space weapons aren’t what you think                    

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October 1— This week, we watched a spectacular orbital test of SpaceX’s Starship, learned more about mysterious U.S. space weapons, and pondered NASA’s controversial move to loosen some restrictions on missions to Mars. But that’s not all—check out some gorgeous new images of Earth taken from deep space. Plus, a first-of-its-kind test of orbital data center tech, a replan for Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft and much more. Enjoy! Thoughts? Questions? Let me know via e-mail (lbillings@sciam.com), X or Bluesky. —Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences

Top Stories

The next era of space warfare is upon us Elusive, satellite-stalking spacecraft could unleash space war—or help keep orbital peace Mary Randolph

SpaceX’s Starship lifts off in make-or-break orbital test flight The world’s largest rocket successfully entered orbit for the first time—a milestone for SpaceX and a relief for future NASA moon missions Lee Billings

Travel with Scientific American Experience Swiss Innovations and Alpine Inspirations Join us with expert Joseph Howlett, senior reporter, to explore scientific innovation across Switzerland. Each day delves into a different branch of Swiss excellence—from particle physics in Geneva to viticulture science in the vineyards of Lavaux to pioneering energy research in Lausanne, and more! Spaces are limited; book today!

NASA directive might increase the odds of contaminating Mars The new push loosens U.S. regulations for sterilizing spacecraft bound for the Red Planet and calls for modernizing the science of “planetary protection” Joseph Howlett

Google’s dream of AI data centers in space gets its first off-world test Today Project Suncatcher is sending four AI processors into orbit on a SpaceX rocket to see whether the building blocks of a data center can survive space Peter Hall

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NASA announces plans to revive Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft Starliner hasn’t flown since its failed 2024 mission left two astronauts onboard the International Space Station for 286 days Adam Kovac

A Jupiter-bound spacecraft just swung by Earth, snapping photos as it went Juice is on its way to study Jupiter’s moons, with a little assist from Earth’s gravity Mary Randolph

Satellite images reveal ethereal auroral storm raging above the North Pole The satellite, Smile, is a joint European and Chinese mission to study space weather and geomagnetic storms above Earth Adam Kovac

Surprising result seen in primordial matter inside atom smasher Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider on Long Island have seen hints of a phase transition from the early universe Clara Moskowitz

Scientists just found a bizarre cosmic object ‘hiding in plain sight’ Meet the Milky Way’s first microblazar Mary Randolph

What’s the point of the interstellar Fermi Explorer mission? Fermi Explorer, a proposed low-cost private mission to Alpha Centauri, seeks to address a question that’s already been answered Phil Plait

Vox’s Unexplainable and Scientific American take on dark matter, uncertainty and the unknowable What if the universe’s biggest mystery has no answer? Rachel Feltman, Joseph Howlett, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

What We're Reading

A lack of rockets is creating a crisis for space technology companies | New Scientist NASA has a Dragon dilemma, and there appear to be no good answers | Ars Technica Radio waves coming from an alien planet may be a cosmic first | New York Times

From the Archive

Proposed Interstellar Mission Reaches for the Stars, One Generation at a Time Starting in the early 2030s, the project could become our first purposeful step out of the solar system—if it launches at all Lee Billings

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