Science News Roundup: India's second lunar mission delayed due to 'technical snag'; SpaceX astronaut mission and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

SpaceX astronaut mission looking 'increasingly difficult' in 2019: executive

As Elon Musk's SpaceX closes in on the possible cause of a fiery explosion in April that destroyed one of its astronaut capsules, a company executive said on Monday its plan to launch humans into space this year looked "increasingly difficult." One of the space company's Crew Dragon capsules exploded on a test stand at a Florida Air Force station moments before firing eight emergency abort thrusters designed to propel an on-board crew to safety in the event of a failure.

Robots to install telescopes to peer into cosmos from the moon

As the United States races to put humans back on the moon for the first time in nearly 50 years, a NASA-funded lab in Colorado aims to send robots there to deploy telescopes that will look far into our galaxy, remotely operated by orbiting astronauts. The radio telescopes, to be planted on the far side of the moon, are among a plethora of projects underway by the U.S. space agency, private companies and other nations that will transform the moonscape in the coming decade.

India's second lunar mission delayed due to 'technical snag': ISRO

India's space agency said it delayed the launch of its second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, in the early hours of Monday due to a "technical snag" which was observed less than an hour before the scheduled liftoff. "A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at T-56 minute," the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said in a tweet https://twitter.com/isro/status/1150512237045379072. "As a measure of abundant precaution, Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today."

On the menu soon: lab-grown steak for eco-conscious diners

Diners in some upmarket restaurants will soon be able to tuck into a laboratory-grown steak, thanks to an Israeli startup that seeks to tap into consumer concerns about health, the environment and animal welfare. While lab-grown hamburgers and chicken are already in development around the world, Israel's Aleph Farms claims to be the first company to have developed steak in a laboratory and is in talks with some high-end restaurants in the United States, Europe, and Asia to have it on the market in 2021.