Friday, March 20, 2026

SpaceX conducted the first static fire test of its next-generation Starship V3 rocket, successfully igniting 10 Raptor 3 engines on Booster 19 at Starbase's new Pad 2; the company is now preparing for a 33-engine full-scale test ahead of an April launch.^[1]

The SuperCDMS dark matter experiment at SNOLAB in Canada has cooled to its operating temperature—thousandths of a degree above absolute zero and 100 times colder than deep space—allowing scientists to begin calibrating detectors for the first search for light dark matter particles.^[2]

NASA has used advanced imaging techniques to peer inside samples from asteroid Bennu, discovering extensive networks of cracks running throughout the rock particles that explain why the asteroid heats up and cools down rapidly as it rotates in sunlight.^[3]

Pink granite boulders on Antarctica's Hudson Mountains have led scientists to discover a hidden granite mass buried beneath Pine Island Glacier, stretching nearly 100 kilometers wide and 7 kilometers thick.^[4]

A 43-year study found that moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee or tea was linked to an 18% lower risk of dementia and better cognitive performance over time.^[5]

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan issued a joint statement expressing readiness to help ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and pledging to work with energy-producing nations to stabilize markets amid surging oil and gas prices.^[6]

Rocket Lab will launch an Earth-observing radar satellite for Japanese company Synspective on Friday, marking the eighth mission in a 27-launch deal between the companies.^[7]

Scientists using satellite radar imaging have developed a method to detect millimeter-scale structural shifts in bridges worldwide, potentially revealing early warning signs of failures long before traditional inspections would notice them.^[8]

A UCLA Health study found that long-term residential exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos is linked to more than 2.5 times the likelihood of developing Parkinson's disease, with lab experiments showing the chemical harms dopamine neurons and disrupts the brain's protein-cleanup system.^[9]

Scientists have confirmed that the Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea formed when a roughly 160-meter asteroid struck the seabed about 43–46 million years ago, triggering a 330-foot tsunami and resolving a long-running scientific debate about the crater's origins.^[10]