China is catching up to Elon Musk’s reusable rockets

China’s state-owned space company recovered its first orbital rocket booster after launch.

Dimming the sun sounds unhinged, but this new study on El Niño makes a surprisingly good case for it

Deliberately brightening Pacific clouds could weaken a Super El Niño’s worst effects by up to 40%, according to a study that’s turning heads even among cautious scientists.

China just caught a rocket in a net, and SpaceX should be watching
China just caught a rocket in a net, and SpaceX should be watching

SpaceX lands its rockets on legs. Blue Origin uses a platform. China just caught one in a giant net. China has recovered the first stage of an orbital rocket for the first time. The milestone pulls it into a club with only two other members. On Friday,…

Bezos opens Blue Origin to outside investors for the first time in 26 years
Bezos opens Blue Origin to outside investors for the first time in 26 years

Jeff Bezos is letting outside investors into Blue Origin for the first time since he founded it in 2000. The rocket company is seeking about $10bn in fresh capital at a $130bn pre-money valuation, according to CNBC. For 26 years, Bezos bankrolled the c…

Musk says he always wanted SpaceX staff to get rich, and thousands just did
Musk says he always wanted SpaceX staff to get rich, and thousands just did

Elon Musk says SpaceX’s blockbuster listing has probably made thousands of his employees millionaires. Asked on The Sean Hannity Show about a former welder whose stock topped $1m, he said the story was far from unique. “It’s not just one welder, it’s s…

A startup just 3D-printed kidney and liver tissue in space, a first
A startup just 3D-printed kidney and liver tissue in space, a first

Auxilium Biotechnologies has bioprinted kidney and liver tissue aboard the International Space Station. It says that is the first time anyone has made either in space. The samples flew home last month on a SpaceX cargo capsule, and the company announce…

Starlink deployments on record pace
Starlink deployments on record pace

SpaceX is currently ahead of last year’s record-setting pace for Starlink satellite deployments. SpaceX launched 1,589 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit in the first half of 2026, according to launch data compiled by Jonathan McDowell’s satellite tracker, compared to 1,489 satellites deployed at the same point in 2025. 2025 was already a record year for […]

Venus Aerospace raises $91M to build its ‘detonation’ rocket engine
Venus Aerospace raises $91M to build its ‘detonation’ rocket engine

A Texas startup has raised $91m to build a rocket engine most of the industry once wrote off as too hard. Venus Aerospace announced a $91m Series B to develop its Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine, or RDRE. Mercury Fund led the round. The backers read …

A tritium ‘nuclear battery’ just reached orbit for the first time
A tritium ‘nuclear battery’ just reached orbit for the first time

The nuclear age has quietly reached commercial spaceflight. City Labs, a Miami firm, has launched BOHR, which it calls the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite and the first nuclear CubeSat. The craft is about the size of a softball. It f…

Venus Aerospace raises $90M Series B to build a new kind of rocket engine

Build a new kind of rocket engine, and the world will beat a path to your door.