SpaceX Refutes FAA, Mitsubishi Secures Overseas Deal, and More in Science News

This summary covers current science news including: SpaceX's rejection of FAA's violation conclusions; Mitsubishi's deal to launch H3 rockets for France's Eutelsat from 2027; Rocket Lab's aborted launch due to equipment issues; Intuitive Machines' $4.8 billion contract with NASA; and record-setting energetic jets from a distant black hole.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

SpaceX said on Thursday it 'forcefully rejects' the Federal Aviation Administration's conclusion that Elon Musk's company failed to follow U.S. regulations during two rocket launches - alleged violations that led the agency this week to propose $633,000 in fines. The FAA on Tuesday faulted SpaceX's actions ahead of launches in June and July of 2023 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, prompting Musk to call the fines politically motivated and threaten to sue to contest them.

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has agreed to provide multiple H3 rocket launches for French satellite company Eutelsat Group from 2027, it said on Wednesday. The deal is a major overseas win for Japan's 220 billion yen ($1.55 billion) state-backed rocket project H3, which in February achieved its first successful flight after a failure last year.

Rocket Lab said on Thursday that the scheduled launch of its Electron rocket into space from a facility in New Zealand was aborted just prior to lift off due to issues with on ground support equipment. The rocket, carrying five satellites for Kineis, a French operator and provider of space-based internet-of-things (IoT) connectivity, failed to blast off from Rocket Lab's launch pad on the country's North Island about 11 a.m. (2300 GMT).

Intuitive Machines said on Tuesday it has bagged a navigation and communication services contract of up to $4.82 billion from NASA for missions in the near space region. Shares of the space exploration company rose 52% to $8.21 in aftermarket trading and have more than doubled so far this year.

Two mighty beams of energy have been detected shooting in opposite directions from a supermassive black hole inside a distant galaxy - the largest such jets ever spotted, extending about 140 times the diameter of our vast Milky Way galaxy. The black hole resides at the heart of a galaxy about 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). Because of the time it takes for light to travel, looking across great distances is peering back in time, with these observations dating to when the universe was less than half its current age.

(With inputs from agencies.)