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

REYKJAVIK, Iceland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 14, 2023--

The remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary pummeled California with flooding rains on Monday, disrupting flights and knocking out

Elon Musk’s Twitter is set to be evicted from their office in Colorado after the social media platform failed to pay its rent, according to reports. A judge signed an order on 31 May giving law enforcement 49 days to kick Twitter out of the office at 3401 Bluff Street in Boulder, Colorado, reported The Denver Post. The company once had 300 employees at the 65,000sq-ft office, but it is unknown if anyone even still works there after sweeping job cuts made by the billionaire after he bought the company last October. Last year, Twitter fired 87 employees at the Boulder, with another 38 voluntarily resigning, according to a November notice to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Twitter’s landlords filed a complaint for unpaid rent against the company on 12 May, with court papers stating that the platform leased four units in the building in February 2020. The landlord stated that a default notice to Twitter was ignored and they instead used a letter of credit deposited by Twitter as security for the offices to pay $968,000 in rent, the newspaper reported. The landlord then asked Twitter to replenish the security deposit but says that the company ignored the request. The platform was also sued last month by Boulder’s Avalanche Commercial Cleaning for around $93,500 for unpaid bills. A request for comment from The Independent received an auto-reply with a poop emoji from Twitter. Read More Elon Musk to launch biggest ever rocket after dramatic failure Elon Musk eyes ‘highly habitable’ planet that’s ‘practically next door’ Jack Dorsey says Indian government threatened to ‘shut Twitter down’ and raid staff homes Elon Musk is hilariously shut down by his ‘favourite’ podcast Elon Musk appears to side with Republican shamed for criticising Megan Fox’s parenting

Months after access to a popular children’s book about a male penguin couple hatching a chick was restricted at school libraries because of Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law, a central Florida school district says it has reversed that decision

Rapper J Neat and Casper allegedly banned Adin Ross from Toronto and told him to land downtown if he comes to Canada

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Indonesia named Budi Arie Setiadi as the new minister of communications and information technology, replacing Johnny Gerard Plate

Schools for millions of students in Nepal are closed as tens of thousands of teachers protest in the capital against an education reform bill in parliament

Life forms surviving under sea ice have it pretty tough at the best of times, but they face a threat rarely caught on camera which is as terrifying as anything on the planet. BBC crew captured a brinicle on film for the first time for the BBC series Frozen Planet in 2011 and the natural feature resembling a deathly ice finger is the stuff of nightmares. A brinicle forms under sheets of sea ice, pushing downwards and posing existential risks to life forms on the ocean floor. As shown in footage captured for BBC Earth Unplugged, the natural formations can trap creatures and prove deadly – but how do they form? Well, salty water surrounding sea ice can form channels and inlets within blocks of ice. Ice then protrudes through the salty water and heads downwards as the salty water is heavier than the water around it. The salt water also freezes at a lower temperature to the water around it, meaning that it freezes everything it touches as it descends. Safe to say, if you see one of these heading towards you, you’d better start praying. It comes after it was discovered that the world’s biggest iceberg is drifting away from the Antarctic after having been grounded there for more than 30 years. The iceberg, which has the catchy name A23a, split from the Antarctic’s giant Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, but has been stuck to the ocean floor since shortly after that time. Now, according to the British Antarctic Survey, it is on the move. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel 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

'Jeopardy' has been facing a lot of criticism recently and the latest reason is the new category of questions

Olive Garden makes good on its promise of unlimited breadsticks, but the deal does come with some unpublicized caveats.