Hey, Space Fans! Happy Tuesday and welcome to Space.com's daily update on what's up and down and up again in space. Today, we're starting off with a spectacular sunrise on the moon captured by Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander on the heels of its smooth weekend landing. Check it out!
It wasn't all awesome views for the start of the week. SpaceX hoped to kick off March with its Flight 8 launch of its Starship megarocket, but something went wrong. At the T-40 second mark, several glitches popped up with the Starship's Ship and Super Heavy booster. The launch is now scheduled for Wednesday, March 5.
For all you skywatchers, a pocket planetarium can be a handy tool on the go. This Dark Skys Skyview does its job without any bells and whistles, apps or remote controls. However, we would have liked the company to include more information to make this device truly educational.
A pocket planetarium is certainly cool, but nothing really beats the real thing when it comes to the night sky. And if you've been hoping for auroras when you look up, you may be in luck. Amped up northern lights are possible for lower latitudes tonight. Here's what we know.
Firefly's Blue Ghost isn't the only probe landing on the moon this week. Intuitive Machines' lunar lander Athena is on track for the feat, too. The Athena lander is carrying a tiny rover, hopping robot and experiments galor for the moon. It lands on March 6.
Let's leave the moon behind for a bit to look a bit further, to Saturn. There, scientists have long thought that the icy moon's vase water plumes erupt from a buried ocean, but now? Maybe not so much.
When SpaceX launched 21 Starlink satellites into orbit on Sunday night, the launch itself was fine. But, in a rarity, the company's Falcon 9 rocket booster missed its landing. Instead, a fire broke out on the rocket after touchdown that led it to tip over into the sea.
Finally, we'll end with a mystery older that Space.com's Editor in Chief Tariq Malik (okay ONE year older). Some scientists are wondering if it is time to take another look at what NASA's Viking landers in 1976 found on the Red Planet. "It is important to note that we are not saying that the Viking results imply 'no life on Mars.' Nor are we saying the Viking results imply there is life on Mars," scientist Chris McKay says.
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