Reuters Science News Summary

SpaceX plans to launch its next Starship flight test as soon as this month, aiming to land the rocket's upper stage for the first time and deploy upgraded Starlink satellites.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

SpaceX plans next Starship launch as soon as this month, catching it on land

SpaceX as soon as this month aims to launch its ​next Starship flight test, sending its first upgraded Starlink satellites into orbit and then returning the massive rocket system's upper stage to ​land for the first time, CEO Elon Musk said on the company's first earnings call ‌Tuesday. The goals for ​Starship's 14th test flight represent a major leap in the reusable rocket's development from its last test flight in July, when Starship's upper stage appeared to demonstrate improved landing abilities over the Indian Ocean.

Ancient Roman firefighters' barracks may have been found near Colosseum

Archaeologists have uncovered a second-century building with mosaics and frescoes near the Colosseum that may have been barracks used by ancient Roman firefighters, the city's archaeological office said on Wednesday. Five ‌of the building's eight rooms have been fully excavated in the Villa Celimontana park, a former noble residence dating back to the 16th century on the Caelian Hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome.

Mountain flower from China joins the world's carnivorous plant club

For most insects, a flowering alpine plant might seem an unlikely predator. But researchers have discovered that a delicate wildflower that grows in rocky mountain crevices in southwestern China lures prey onto sticky hairs, digests their bodies and absorbs the nutrients left behind. It is the first confirmed carnivorous plant in its botanical grouping. Its scientific name is Saxifraga candelabrum, and ‌it is a member of a diverse botanical order — a taxonomic category — called Saxifragales that spans more than 2,000 species.

SpaceX plans next Starship launch as soon as this month, catching it on land

SpaceX as soon as this month aims to launch its next Starship flight test, ‌sending its first upgraded Starlink satellites into orbit and then returning the massive rocket system's upper stage to land for the first time, CEO Elon Musk said on the company's first earnings call Tuesday. The goals for Starship's 14th test flight represent a major leap in the reusable rocket's development from its last test flight in July, when Starship's upper stage appeared to demonstrate improved landing abilities over the Indian Ocean.

Defunct SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon, kicks up dust

A SpaceX rocket piece floating in space since last year smashed into the moon at high speed early Wednesday morning, joining the ranks of meteoroids, wayward spacecraft and other pieces of space junk that have bombarded the lunar surface for ages, astronomers confirmed. The ⁠school-bus-size object is the ​second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that had launched a lunar ⁠lander from Firefly Aerospace toward the moon in January 2025. Its predicted collision with the moon became a spectacle for astronomers and space enthusiasts eager to watch how it would unfold.

Swirling, vortex-like patterns observed on the sun's surface

Astronomers have obtained the highest-resolution images to date of our sun's visible surface, observing swirling, vortex-like patterns in superheated solar gases reminiscent ⁠of the shapes depicted in the nocturnal sky in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting "The Starry Night." The researchers made the observations of a portion of the sun's photosphere, a relatively thin layer — about 60 miles (100 km) in depth compared to the overall solar diameter of roughly 865,000 miles (1.4 million km) — using the U.S. National Science Foundation's ​Hawaii-based Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.

SpaceX slides as AI spending worries overshadow early returns

SpaceX touted faster-than-expected returns from its AI spending on its first-ever earnings call as a public company. But investors remained concerned about how long its profitable Starlink business could continue to bankroll ⁠costly investments in data centers and Nvidia chips.

SpaceX's satellite ambitions squeeze out rivals reliant on its rockets

SpaceX is increasingly reserving space on its rockets to launch its own Starlink satellites, crowding out rival space companies that have long depended on Elon Musk's company to get their payloads into orbit. Starlink's share of SpaceX missions has grown year after year, rising from 54% of the Falcon ⁠9 ​rocket's manifest in 2020 to about 79% so far in 2026, according to a Reuters analysis of launch data compiled by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.

Options market braces for $225 billion swing in SpaceX's value as earnings loom

Traders in the options market are braced for a swing of roughly $225 billion in the value of SpaceX shares following its first-ever earnings report on Tuesday, underscoring market anxiety over how the financials will look for Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company. Options are pricing a roughly 15% move in SpaceX shares in either direction, but with a bearish tilt, according to data from ⁠options analytics service ORATS.

Blue Origin zeroes in on rocket engine issue as source of New Glenn explosion

A massive explosion of Blue Origin's centerpiece New Glenn rocket in May was triggered by an issue with one of the rocket's seven BE-4 engines, the company's CEO said ⁠on Wednesday, as it races to return the vehicle to flight later this ⁠year. "The anomaly originated at the main oxygen valve on one of the BE-4 engines, which was later confirmed by hardware recovery and inspections," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp wrote on X. "The path forward is clear. We're making small modifications to the valve that can be quickly retrofitted to existing engines."

Bezos Earth Fund, Re:wild launch $200 million drive to save species from extinction

The Bezos Earth Fund, established by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Re:wild, co-founded ‌by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, on Tuesday pledged an initial $200 ‌million to support the recovery of critically endangered species. The Phoenix Species Project aims to help preserve 100 species across 30 countries through long-term funding ​and locally led conservation efforts involving Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists and governments.