Reuters Science News Summary

SpaceX plans to launch its next Starship flight test as soon as this month, aiming to land the upper stage for the first time, while archaeologists discover ancient Roman firefighters' barracks near the Colosseum.

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.

Spain's 'Galactic Shepherd' to watch total eclipse from DIY observatory

In a tiny Spanish farming village, retired shepherd Joaquin Tapioles is preparing to watch next week's first-in-a-century total solar eclipse from the observatory he built after being inspired by ‌the mysteries of the skies as a boy. The first total eclipse visible from the Iberian peninsula since 1912 is set to draw skywatchers from across Spain and abroad.

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.

Why were there no tiny dinosaurs? You might blame the mammals

Everyone knows dinosaurs ⁠got ​really big. Some of the long-necked plant-eaters were the largest land animals ever on Earth, as shown by Argentinosaurus, perhaps 70 to 90 tons and upwards of 100 feet (30 meters) long. But how about tiny dinosaurs, like the size of a mouse? As far as we know, none ever existed. New research investigates this phenomenon. Scientists employed mathematical models to explore the evolution of body size across vertebrate groups. They determined that energetics and physiology can account for the sizes of mammals, birds that fly and turtles, but these factors fail to explain the absence of really small dinosaurs, aside from their ⁠avian descendants.

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."