Elon Musk has revealed new details about the next major test flight for SpaceX’s Mars-bound Starship rocket, which he claims is ready to launch. SpaceX is still awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch the biggest rocket ever built, with the US regulators currently undertaking a “mishap investigation” for the previous Starship launch in April. The 400-foot-tall (121 metre) rocket exploded over the Gulf of Mexico just three minutes into a planned 90 minute flight on 20 April, breaking up into pieces over the water. An inadequate launchpad was also destroyed by Starship’s huge engines, blasting concrete chunks and metal shards across a 700-acre area. The SpaceX boss had predicted that the rocket would explode, saying ahead of the attempt: “I am not saying it will get to orbit but I am guaranteeing excitement.” The tech billionaire is more hopeful for the latest launch attempt, having made several key changes to how it operates. “We are doing a new staging technique called hot staging where you light the upper stage engines while the booster stage is still firing,” Mr Musk told the All-In Podcast this week. This is the most efficient way to do stage separation of a rocket going to orbit but we did not try that on the last mission... I think, I hope, we have a well over 50 per cent chance of getting through stage separation, and maybe a close to 50 per cent chance of getting to orbit if the hot staging separation method works. “I’d say it’s above 50 per cent chance of getting to orbit this time, whereas previously I said below 50.” Once in orbit, Starship will travel around the planet before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean just north of Hawaii. The Starship rocket is currently fully stacked at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, though it is not clear how long the private space firm will have to wait before receiving FAA approval. “The SpaceX Starship mishap investigation remains open,” the FAA said in a statement last week. “The FAA will not authorise another Starship launch until SpaceX implements the corrective actions identified during the mishap investigation and demonstrates compliance with all the regulatory requirements of the licence modification process.” Read More SpaceX launch of Starship rocket on hold amid ‘mishap investigation’ SpaceX launch of Starship rocket on hold amid ‘mishap investigation’ Starship ‘ready to launch’, Elon Musk says SpaceX smashes rocket launch record as Musk eyes historic Starship mission

Parts of southern Europe will get a final few days of hotter-than-normal temperatures before a broad pattern of

If you found water that was more than two billion years old, would your first instinct be to drink it? One scientist did exactly that after finding the oldest water ever discovered on the planet. A team from the University of Toronto, led by Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar, came across an incredible find while studying a Canadian mine in 2016. Tests showed that the water source they unearthed was between 1.5 billion and 2.64 billion years old. Given that it was completely isolated, it marked the oldest ever found on Earth. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Remarkably, the tests also uncovered that there was once life present in the water. Speaking to BBC News, professor Sherwood Lollar said: “When people think about this water they assume it must be some tiny amount of water trapped within the rock. “But in fact it’s very much bubbling right up out at you. These things are flowing at rates of litres per minute – the volume of the water is much larger than anyone anticipated.” Discussing the presence of life in the water, Sherwood Lollar added: “By looking at the sulphate in the water, we were able to see a fingerprint that’s indicative of the presence of life. And we were able to indicate that the signal we are seeing in the fluids has to have been produced by microbiology - and most importantly has to have been produced over a very long time scale. “The microbes that produced this signature couldn’t have done it overnight. This has to be an indication that organisms have been present in these fluids on a geological timescale.” The professor also revealed that she tried the water for herself – but how did it taste? “If you’re a geologist who works with rocks, you’ve probably licked a lot of rocks,” Sherwood Lollar told CNN. She revealed that the water was "very salty and bitter" and "much saltier than seawater." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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