Washington DC (UPI) Oct 3, 2025
SpaceX is planning the 11th flight test of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever developed, as early as Oct. 13 from South Texas. The private company, which is developing the fully reusable transportation system, said the launch window will open in 10 days at 6:15 p.m. CDT but said "the schedule is dynamic and likely to change." A webcast will begin 30 minutes before the window opens.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has expanded its capability to communicate with scientific, exploration and space safety missions across our Solar System with the inauguration of a new 35-m diameter deep space antenna – the fourth for Estrack, ESA’s deep space tracking network.

Week in images: 29 September - 3 October 2025

Discover our week through the lens

Video: 00:02:04

The intricate mechanisms of the most sophisticated laboratory on Mars are revealed in Episode 4 of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin series, called “Sample processing.” 

The Rosalind Franklin rover’s drill has a maximum reach of two metres – deeper than any other mission has ever attempted on the Red Planet. This depth allows access to well-preserved organic material from four billion years ago, when conditions on the surface of Mars were more like those on infant Earth. 

After receiving a sample from the drill, Rosalind’s laboratory must prepare the sample to make a detailed study of its mineral and chemical

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image captures an active lava lake on the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Video: 00:07:42

2025 marks a landmark year for Europe’s ‘bridge between Earth and space’. The European Space Agency’s Estrack satellite tracking network turns 50.

Since its inception in 1975, Estrack – ESA’s global network of ground stations – has formed the vital communication bridge between satellites in orbit and mission control at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.

Now comprising six stations spanning six countries, Estrack has grown into a strategic asset for Europe, enabling communication with spacecraft, transmitting commands and receiving scientific data.

The network keeps an eye on satellites no matter their location: tracking them across Earth