SpaceX's Starhopper just made its highest leap yet, flying 150 meters into the air above the company's test facility in South Texas before coming in for a smooth landing.
Why it matters: Founder ElonMusk hopes that one day SpaceX will help bring about a future where people are living in a city on Mars, and Starhopper — a prototype of the company's Starship vehicle — is one of the first small steps toward that goal.
The robots responsible for exploring Mars from the surface and orbit are about to go on holiday.
The big picture: Every 2 years, Mars and Earth reach a point in their orbits known as solar conjunction, when the 2 planets are on opposite sides of the Sun, making communications more difficult.
Satellite internet startup Astranis is planning to launch its first commercial satellite to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2020, the company announced Monday.
How it works: The satellite is designed to improve broadband internet service in Alaska starting in March 2021.
Remaking Earth on another planet is likely not possible, and experts say the current talk about it perpetuates a problematic idea that we could one day leave Earth's problems behind.
Driving the news: SpaceX founder Elon Musk yet again waded into the world of terraforming — transforming a planet to make it like our Earth. He declared on Twitter that a series of nuclear explosions above Mars could create "artificial suns" to warm the world and make it habitable.
