Science News Roundup: Israel plans 2024 moonshot after first unmanned lander crashed; Musk's SpaceX scrubs key high-altitude Starship test and more

The new project, named "Beresheet 2", will involve launching two landing craft and an orbiter that would circle the moon for years, conducting experiments and collecting data on behalf of school students, Israel's Science Ministry said in statement.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Asteroid sample arrives in Japan after six-year space odyssey

Samples of an asteroid 300 million km from Earth arrived in Japan on Tuesday to applause and smiles, the climax of a six-year odyssey by a space probe pursuing the origins of life. Named for the peregrine falcon, the Hayabusa2 blasted off for the asteroid Ryugu in December 2014, overcoming an unexpectedly rough landing surface to collect samples of asteroid dust in a capsule.

Scientists clarify origins of pterosaurs, the dinosaur era's flying reptiles

Scientists may have solved one of paleontology's enduring mysteries - the evolutionary origins of the flying reptiles called pterosaurs that ruled the skies at the same time that dinosaurs dominated the land. Researchers said on Wednesday a poorly understood Triassic Period reptile group called lagerpetids, known from a few partial skeletons from the United States, Argentina, Brazil and Madagascar, appears to have been the evolutionary precursor to pterosaurs.

Musk's SpaceX scrubs key high-altitude Starship test

A key test of SpaceX's Mars rocket Starship was automatically aborted on Tuesday just one second before liftoff, postponing the first high-altitude test of a rocket system that billionaire Elon Musk hopes will carry humans on the moon and eventually Mars. The 16-story-tall Starship prototype was set for liftoff at 4:35 p.m. local time from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, launch facilities for its first suborbital flight using three of its new Raptor rocket engines. The plan was to reach an altitude of more than 40,000 feet before attempting to land on a concrete slab near the launch site.

Israel plans 2024 moonshot after first unmanned lander crashed

Israel will try another unmanned lunar landing in early 2024 after its first attempt ended last year with the spacecraft crashing on the moon's surface, officials said on Wednesday. The new project, named "Beresheet 2", will involve launching two landing craft and an orbiter that would circle the moon for years, conducting experiments and collecting data on behalf of school students, Israel's Science Ministry said in statement.

Gen Chuck Yeager, 'Right Stuff' test pilot who broke sound barrier, dead at 97

Chuck Yeager, the steely "Right Stuff" test pilot who took aviation to the doorstep of space by becoming the first person to break the sound barrier more than 70 years ago, died on Monday at the age of 97. Yeager's death was announced on his twitter account by his wife, Victoria.

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