Space Odyssey: Musk's Mars Ambitions, Celestial Mysteries, and China's Asteroid Quest

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has set an ambitious goal for his company's Starship to make its maiden uncrewed voyage to Mars by the end of 2026. Despite recent testing hurdles, Musk remains optimistic about the timeline, as outlined in a detailed video presentation from SpaceX.

In a separate astronomical discovery, scientists have identified a peculiar star emitting both radio waves and X-rays. This enigmatic object, situated 15,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum, is believed to belong to a newly recognized class of celestial anomalies.

China advances its space exploration efforts with the Tianwen-2 mission, which aims to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid. This mission marks China's continued ascendancy in space, adding to achievements such as lunar explorations and aspirations to send humans to the moon by 2030.

(With inputs from agencies.)