China’s Tianwen 1 spacecraft — in orbit around Mars since February — is scheduled to deploy a descent module to attempt the country’s first landing on the Red Planet in mid-May. Officials plan to share the Mars rover’s scientific data with researchers around the world, a senior Chinese scientist said last week.
SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight apparently ended with another explosion Tuesday in South Texas, but dense fog obscured clear views of the launch and failed landing. The Federal Aviation Administration said late Tuesday it is working with SpaceX to determine if light debris reported in a nearby town came from the Starship test rocket.
SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its next Starship test rocket Friday afternoon, and the the next opportunity for the atmospheric test flight is now expected Tuesday. SpaceX plans to launch and land the rocket at company’s South Texas development complex after losing three previous prototypes in explosions.
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