SpaceX catches rocket, search for life near Jupiter begins

SpaceX has achieved a new milestone in space exploration, having caught its own rocket booster as it landed back on Earth this week. 

SpaceX's launch tower caught the rocket in 'chopsticks' as it performed a carefully calculated ‘landing burn' while slowly returning to Earth. 

This latest achievement is a key step in SpaceX's goal to develop a reusable space launch system for its Starship space transport.

Elon Musk— who co-owns the private space company — posted on his social media platform X that "Hopefully early next year, we [SpaceX] will catch the ship too.”

SpaceX's reusable rocket tech could reduce 'space junk'

SpaceX's rocket-catching achievement is a step towards creating a reusable launch system, and reducing its contribution to space junk. 

Currently, there are about 36,860 objects like 'dead' satellites and other man-made debris in orbit around planet Earth.

The biggest danger they pose are to the International Space Station and functional satellites, causing them to make collision avoidance maneuvers.

Experts also warn that space junk falling to Earth's surface could become a safety concern in the next decade. But the risks are low — you're 65,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to have a bit of space debris fall on your head.

Eight-year long search for life near Jupiter gets underway

In other space-related news, NASA's Europa Clipper launched towards Jupiter's moon Europa on October 14, also aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket.

Europa Clipper is a space probe that is set to spend three years gathering data about Jupiter's Europa moon.

The probe will use its nine on-board instruments to gain detailed data as it performs over 50 ‘flybys' of the moon, beginning from 2031.

Europa is Jupiter's fourth biggest moon and sixth farthest from the planet. 

Scientists expect the mission will confirm the existence of a large saltwater ocean beneath Europa's frozen surface, which may have the right chemical elements to support simple life.

Its closest flyby will bring it within 25km (16mi) of the moon's surface.

Jupiter is located an average of 480 million miles from our planet, but the Europa Clipper will travel 1.8 billion miles to reach its destination.

That's because it will gravity ‘assists' by slingshotting past Mars and Earth to enable it to reach incredible speeds in the vacuum of space to reach its destination.

 

Europe's asteroid survey mission Hera

The Europa launch comes days after another successful space mission took flight, this time spearheaded by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Named ‘Hera', this mission is targeting a shattered asteroid called Dimorphos.

Dimorphos is a tiny asteroid that was struck by NASA's DART spacecraft in 2022 to determine whether an asteroid could be deflected by a spacecraft collision.

Like Europa Clipper, Hera will use a gravity-assisted flyby of Mars to accelerate towards its destination. The spacecraft will inspect the remains of Dimorphos, the larger asteroid it orbits called Didymos, and the impact site left by the DART spacecraft.

The mission is part of ongoing efforts by space agencies to prepare space defense systems against nearby asteroids.

Our Sun is now at maximum solar activity this decade

Earth's sun is now at its maximum level of activity during its 11-year magnetic activity cycle, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Solar Cycle Prediction Panel.

At the solar maximum, the sun's magnetic poles flip, causing an increase in solar activity.

Solar activity includes solar flares, coronal mass ejections, high-speed solar wind, and solar energetic particles.

Space monitors will pay particular attention to increased numbers of sunspots on the solar surface, as these are sites of the highest magnetic field activity and where solar eruptions occur.

These eruptions belch charged particles and solar energy into space. Sometimes these blasts head towards the Earth.

Normally, anything caught in the way of a solar burp would be in a path of destruction, but fortunately Earth has a strong magnetic field of its own that shields our planet from these blasts.

Instead, we get treated to the afterglow of these impacts in the form of the aurorae — also known as northern or southern lights.

But not every human is on Earth. Astronauts in near-Earth orbit, like those on the International Space Station, are generally safe because most particles cannot penetrate the hull.

The biggest risk is that technology might get damaged by the solar energy. Power grids and orbiting satellites are usually the most threatened pieces of infrastructure during peak solar activity periods if a geomagnetic storm occurs in our atmosphere.

Edited by: Fred Schwaller