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China's Landspace Fails to Complete Reusable Rocket Test

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
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China's Landspace Fails to Complete Reusable Rocket Test

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS

The maiden flight of LandSpace's next-generation Zhuque-3 ended in failure on Wednesday, dashing the Chinese firm's hopes of becoming the third company after Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to successfully test a reusable rocket.

The rocket was not able to complete the crucial controlled landing following an initial launch, state news agency Xinhua reported.

"An abnormal combustion event occurred during the process, preventing a soft landing on the recovery pad," Xinhua said. "The recovery test failed and the specific cause is still under further analysis and investigation."

The failure of Zhuque-3's maiden flight highlights the difficulty of developing a rocket that can be recovered and reused after being launched into orbit, Reuters reported.

A Chinese reusable orbital rocket, if successfully brought to market, would accelerate Beijing's growth in space, allowing for a quicker cadence of missions and lower launch costs as the country pushes to deploy large satellite constellations to rival SpaceX's Starlink.

SpaceX pioneered commercial rocket reusability about a decade ago with its workhorse Falcon 9, disrupting an established US launch industry that relied primarily on expendable boosters that are discarded in the ocean or remain in space after their mission.

The reusable Falcon 9 core stage allowed SpaceX to start launching its Starlink satellites in 2019 far faster than its rivals, becoming the world's largest operator the following year and disrupting the global satellite communications industry.

In October, Musk praised Zhuque-3's design, saying on X that the Chinese rocket could even beat Falcon 9.

But the gap is still wide and there is no guarantee that LandSpace will catch up. SpaceX had its first successful Falcon booster landing in 2015 after two failed attempts. Much of the global rocket industry has since gradually sought to mimic the company's reusability model.

Nevertheless, Zhuque-3's maiden flight puts LandSpace ahead of domestic rivals like iSpace, Galactic Energy and Deep Blue Aerospace, which are working on smaller or less mature systems. And it marks the first time that a Chinese firm has come close to a Falcon 9-class reusable vehicle.

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Satellite Observations Offer Insight into a Tsunami’s Early Stages

A person shows a cell phone displaying a message to evacuate to a tsunami safety zone during an evacuation of the coast following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia, triggering warnings and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Dichato, near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)
A person shows a cell phone displaying a message to evacuate to a tsunami safety zone during an evacuation of the coast following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia, triggering warnings and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Dichato, near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)
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Satellite Observations Offer Insight into a Tsunami’s Early Stages

A person shows a cell phone displaying a message to evacuate to a tsunami safety zone during an evacuation of the coast following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia, triggering warnings and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Dichato, near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)
A person shows a cell phone displaying a message to evacuate to a tsunami safety zone during an evacuation of the coast following a tsunami warning issued by local authorities after an earthquake struck the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia, triggering warnings and evacuations across the South Pacific, in Dichato, near Concepcion, Chile, July 30, 2025. (Reuters)

Observations made by a satellite operated by the US and French space agencies shortly after a strong earthquake struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula last year are giving scientists a better understanding of how tsunamis originate and propagate.

The researchers said the findings may help improve understanding of future tsunamis and earthquakes at subduction zones, particularly near the ocean trench where two tectonic plates meet and one slides beneath the other. The strongest tsunamis often are generated by such quakes.

The magnitude 8.8 quake struck on July 29, 2025, triggering a tsunami that spread across the Pacific Ocean. A tsunami - a series of extremely long and powerful ocean waves - is caused by large movements of the seafloor that push water up or down, often during earthquakes or landslides that occur under water.

The NASA-CNES Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite ‌made its observations ‌within 70 minutes of the start of the earthquake. It observed not ‌only ⁠the leading wave ⁠of the tsunami, but also a distinct pattern of smaller waves trailing behind it.

Such wave patterns had long been predicted in computer models and theoretical studies, but had been difficult to confirm with real-world observations, the researchers said.

"I believe SWOT represents a new lens for observing and studying tsunamis and their generation," said Ignacio Sepúlveda, a professor of coastal engineering at San Diego State University and lead author of the study published this week in the journal Science.

"It is also likely to improve our understanding of the physical mechanisms that generate tsunamis, including earthquakes," ⁠Sepúlveda added.

Traditional deep-ocean pressure sensors and other satellites have limitations in coverage ‌and measurement, making it difficult to capture the full structure of ‌the waves, especially near the trench, the researchers said.

SWOT scans a wide swath of the ocean, producing two-dimensional maps ‌of sea surface height. This allows scientists to see the shape, direction and spacing of tsunami waves ‌in much greater detail.

Tsunamis are among the strongest and most destructive natural forces, with powerful waves radiating from a point of origin outward in all directions. These waves can cause damaging and deadly coastal flooding.

The tsunami in this study did not cause significant loss of life, but others have caused huge death tolls such as the 2004 Indian Ocean ‌tsunami that killed some 230,000 people.

The July 2025 tsunami originated within about 10 kilometers (six miles) of the trench, the place in the seafloor ⁠where two tectonic plates intersect, ⁠the researchers found. This location could not previously be determined using traditional land-based instruments or sparse sensors on the seafloor alone.

Earth's surface is made up of immense plates that move very gradually in a geological process called plate tectonics.

The researchers found that when earthquake-caused movement extends close to the trench, it can generate shorter waves that travel more slowly and spread out over time, forming a trailing pattern behind the main tsunami front. This behavior means that different parts of the wave move at different speeds, with longer waves moving more quickly and leading, while shorter ones lag behind.

The study also showed that the strength of the trailing waves increases when earthquake movement extends closer to the trench, suggesting these waves are linked to where and how the tsunami was generated near the trench.

"This opens a new window to understand in a better way what happens with earthquakes and tsunamis near the trench," Sepúlveda said, referring to SWOT observations. "In the future, this knowledge will allow us to improve models we use to evaluate tsunami hazards in coastal communities and make them more resilient."

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Gabon Battles for Baby Sea Turtles’ Survival

An olive ridley sea turtle hatchling moves on a beach after emerging from its nest near Libreville on February 15, 2026. (AFP)
An olive ridley sea turtle hatchling moves on a beach after emerging from its nest near Libreville on February 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Gabon Battles for Baby Sea Turtles’ Survival

An olive ridley sea turtle hatchling moves on a beach after emerging from its nest near Libreville on February 15, 2026. (AFP)
An olive ridley sea turtle hatchling moves on a beach after emerging from its nest near Libreville on February 15, 2026. (AFP)

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, newly hatched sea turtles emerged on a Gabonese beach to embark on the treacherous 10-meter (33-foot) scramble across the sand to the ocean.

"The survival rate for turtles is one in 1,000," Francois Boussamba, a Gabonese turtle expert and head of the NGO Aventures Sans Frontieres (Adventures Without Borders), told AFP, scouring for nests.

Conservationists from NGOs and the national parks agency patrol Gabon's beaches daily during the nesting season to protect the turtles' nests.

Those under threat are moved to a hatchery, a fenced enclosure near the sea, where the eggs are kept safe until they are ready to hatch.

On Pongara National Park's white sandy beaches, about 30 minutes by boat from the capital Libreville, conditions are optimal for nesting: wild coastline, a favorable equatorial climate and an open ocean beach with gentle slopes, ideal for the females.

But dangers lurk. Nests are threatened by coastal erosion due to encroaching sea levels, or myriad predators such as crabs and birds that prevent the eggs from reaching their 60-day incubation period, Boussamba said.

"The chances of survival are tiny," he said.

- Muscle up -

In Libreville, every morning around 7:00 am, volunteers from the Project Turtles Tahiti Gabon association crisscross the beach and check the nests in the hatchery.

After one has hatched, the baby turtles have to be moved so they can reach the sea -- but they are never put straight into the water.

"They need to build up their muscles so they can swim in the ocean," volunteer Clemence said.

Four species of turtles -- green, olive ridley, hawksbill and leatherback -- come to nest along Gabon's 900 kilometers (560 miles) of coastline from October to April.

It has the highest nesting density on the African continent, according to the US-based NGO Wildlife Conservation Society.

Gabon is the world's leading nesting site for the leatherback turtle, the largest of the species and listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In addition to predators, sea turtles are also threatened by human activities, from plastic pollution to industrial fishing and poachers.

By watching over the eggs, the rangers in Pongara help ensure "the survival of this species", Edouard Moussavou, Pongara park's deputy director, said.

- Unpaid wages -

Since 2013, Gabon's conservation efforts had received funding from the United States, notably through the US Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency responsible for biodiversity.

"If there are turtles, it means our ecosystem is sound and healthy," Boussamba said.

But since the suspension of grants by the administration of US President Donald Trump, "turtle monitoring activities have stopped or slowed down drastically", Moussavou said.

"There will be fewer staff, less data, and that really creates difficulties for us," he said.

Additionally, there have been delays in paying the staff of the National Agency for National Parks (ANPN), which manages the country's 13 parks, according to Sosthene Ndong Engonga, secretary-general of the National Union of Gabonese Ecoguards.

The around 580 eco-rangers regularly go unpaid.

"Even when there is money, we have to make a big fuss to get our salaries," he said, adding he battled with the treasury last month for back pay.

The eco-rangers, who are crucial for the conservation of Gabon's biodiversity, face having "to give everything up," Engonga warned. "We have expenses we can no longer cover," he said.

On Pongara beach, 40-year-old Alain Banguiya carries out night patrols, hoping to see a leatherback turtle emerge from the water to lay her eggs in the sand.

An eco-ranger since 2015, he has not been paid for two months but says that giving up is out of the question.

"We have a duty to fight to the end, to keep our spirits up," he said. "Despite the obstacles, we stay the course: conservation."

Varieties

Japan’s ispace Delays Nasa-Sponsored Moon Landing to 2030

A model of lunar lander "Resilience", operated by ispace, is displayed at a venue where ispace employees monitored the company's attempt to land on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, June 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A model of lunar lander "Resilience", operated by ispace, is displayed at a venue where ispace employees monitored the company's attempt to land on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, June 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Japan’s ispace Delays Nasa-Sponsored Moon Landing to 2030

A model of lunar lander "Resilience", operated by ispace, is displayed at a venue where ispace employees monitored the company's attempt to land on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, June 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A model of lunar lander "Resilience", operated by ispace, is displayed at a venue where ispace employees monitored the company's attempt to land on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, June 6, 2025. (Reuters)

Japanese spacecraft startup ispace said ‌on Friday it will further delay a US government-sponsored lunar mission to 2030 and cut its global workforce, in a strategic shift after two failed lunar landings.

The announcement highlights the murky outlook for the venture, as the US revamps space missions with commercial and international partners to send astronauts to the Moon before China does.

Tokyo-based ispace said it will consolidate moon lander development across its Japanese and US units and push back a launch commissioned under NASA's commercial lunar payload services program by three years from 2027, following previous delays.

In ‌the meantime, ispace ‌said it would launch five lunar orbiters by ‌2030 ⁠that can provide ⁠telecommunication, navigation and surface observation services to contribute to development on the Moon.

The company could incur costs of several million dollars due to the changes, which could lead to further equity financing and a reduction of a few dozen staff, Chief Financial Officer Jumpei Nozaki told a media briefing.

Since its 2023 Tokyo stock listing, ispace has ⁠had two failed lunar landing attempts, has been running ‌at a loss and has seen ‌its share price slump. It had about 300 employees across Japan, the US ‌and Luxembourg as of last year.

Its third mission is ‌scheduled for 2028 as part of the Japanese government's commercial space program. It will launch its "Ultra" lunar lander which is capable of carrying a 200 kg (441 lbs) payload to the Moon.

Only two private companies, Intuitive Machines ‌and Firefly Aerospace - both from the US - have landed on the Moon.

NASA on Tuesday announced updates to ⁠its Artemis ⁠program, including plans to send up to 30 uncrewed missions to the lunar surface starting next year.

"While it's true that we are moving against NASA's push to accelerate moon missions in 2028-29 ... as the only (private company) outside the US with moon landing technology, we are seeking a greater role in their program," Nozaki said.

Changes to the American space program under President Donald Trump has led to confusion among Japanese space ventures that had hoped for deeper US-Japan cooperation to counter China.

Tokyo-based rocket startup ISC, whose chief executive sits on the ispace management board, in December cancelled a launch test in New Mexico, citing disruption in regulatory procedures.