Space and Astronomy News for the 30th of August 2025

SpaceX Starship 10 Flight success

After a string of hardware failures that ranged from engines and systems not functioning properly through to major explosions, and after two delays, Starship 10 flew a successful mission this week.

This included another launch of the largest flying vehicle ever built, restart of rocket motors in space and the deployment of dummy satellites. Neither Starship itself nor the massive booster were returned back to the launch pad for a "chopsticks" catch. Both had planned but controlled ocean splashdowns which went to plan. 

SpaceX Starship 10 launch.  More here.

As this was a test flight, SpaceX had taken few measures such as deliberately removing a few heat tiles to stress test the vehicle during re-entry. 

Now this flight being largely successful, more launches are expected shortly.  

 Roo-ver books a flight to the Moon

The 20kg Australian Moon Rover, called Roo-Ver, that's a project of the Australian Space Agency and the ELO2 consortium, will be travelling to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis program. 

"Establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon and Mars is a key focus of the international space community over the coming decades," Australian Space Agency head Enrico Palermo said.

"This is also another chapter in our long and valued partnership with NASA in space – a partnership as important today and for our future as it was when it first began almost 70 years ago."

While compact, the Roo-ver is a complex device that highlights Australia's expertise.

Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, Tim Ayres, further commented that “This is one of the most specialised robotics and advanced manufacturing projects in the country. It’s accelerating the development of Australia’s advanced technical capabilities and deepening local manufacturing expertise."

When will it fly?

At this point, Roo-ver is slated to fly on an Artemis related mission sometime towards the end of this decade as part of NASA's CT-4 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.  Once landed, it will collect data about the Lunar surface and resources, with an aim of assisting with future crewed missions to the Moon.

You can read more here.

Mars was whacked. By something big. 

An artist's illustration of a large impact on Mars some 4.5 billion years age Image via: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Scientists have found evidence that Mars was hit by one or more large objects around 4.5 billion years ago. This a result of findings by NASA's InSight lander which finished its mission in 2012. By examining the treasure trove of data such instruments deliver, the found large chunks of the impact, buried deep and spread throughout the red planet's mantle. 

This was revealed by data on some of the 1,319 Marsquakes that InSIght's seismometer recorded.

What hit Mars?

Unfortunately, we'll likely never know.  There were a considerable number of large bodies in the early part of the Solar System and while major impacts were rare, they played a key role in the formation of the rocky planets that we see today. For example, our own Moon might be a result of the impact of an early Earth with body now called Thea.

Read more here.

Cheers,

Earl White 

BINTEL 

30th August 2025