Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Eutelsat expects $11 billion revenue after ​EU's Starlink rival comes online

Eutelsat expects commercial services revenue ​of more than €10 billion ($11.1 billion) between 2032 ‌and ​2040 as it takes a leading role in the European Union's planned alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service, it said on Thursday.

The Franco-British operator had been chosen ‌to lead the low Earth orbit (LEO) segment of the EU's IRIS² network that will feature 330 satellites. The first IRIS² satellites are scheduled for launch in 2029, with initial services expected from 2030.

Martian meteorite found in the Sahara is 4.1 billion years old

A meteorite ‌found in 2022 in the Sahara in Mali formed in the Martian crust at least 4.1 billion years ago, ‌according to scientists, making the reddish igneous rock perhaps the oldest of the 435 meteorites from Mars known on Earth. The researchers said the composition of the meteorite, called Teghaza 001, is providing insight into the environment early in the history of Earth's planetary neighbor, with fresh evidence of liquid water on the ⁠surface that ​bolsters the notion that primordial Mars ⁠may have been conducive to microbial life.

Long-distance flights can interfere with the internal clocks of seabirds

People who travel across many time zones, like a ⁠trip from London to Tokyo, may experience jet lag, with the body's internal 24-hour clock — the circadian rhythm — thrown out of sync with the ​local time at the arrival location. A new study shows that birds that fly long distances may experience a similar ⁠phenomenon that causes them to drift off course. Research involving seabirds called Manx shearwaters found that crossing the Atlantic at speed can throw their internal clocks out ⁠of ​sync with local time, causing errors in the strategy they use to navigate their way home.

Strange beaked 'hell chicken' is the first fruit-eating dinosaur

While dinosaurs ate a lot of different things, including each other, fruit long seemed to have been absent ⁠from their menu. But scientists now have found fossils of a turkey-sized and toothless dinosaur possessing a parrot-like head that exhibited multiple ⁠adaptations for a specialized ⁠fruit diet. This first-known frugivorous dinosaur, named Infernogallus jamesi, lived about 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period at the twilight of the age of dinosaurs and displayed traits on its beak ‌and jaws for ‌mashing soft food like fruit. It is known from fossils unearthed ​in Montana and North Dakota.