New Delhi, Jan 17: Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s Starship successfully aced the seventh test flight but lost the upper stage.

Starship and Super heavy booster lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas at 5:37 p.m. EST (4.07 am IST). All 33 Raptor engines powered the Super Heavy booster and Starship on a nominal ascent. Starship’s giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy was caught by the Starbase’s launch tower, using the structure’s “chopstick” arms, as it did for the first time on Starship Flight 5 in October.

While this was achieved about seven minutes after liftoff, SpaceX lost contact with Ship. “All six of Ship’s Raptor engines fired up during the stage’s ascent burn, but telemetry was lost with the vehicle after approximately eight and a half minutes of flight,” SpaceX said in a statement after the flight.

“Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” it added.

The ship was earlier stated to fly much of the way around the world, then splash down softly in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia about 66 minutes after liftoff. Meanwhile, the company launched an investigation, in coordination with the FAA, to understand the root cause.

“Starship is the first rocket design where success in making life multiplanetary is in the set of possible outcomes,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X.

He also stated that more than individual launches, building up civilisation on Mars is more important. “Any individual launch is not very important.

What matters is the expected date when Mars becomes a self-sustaining civilisation,” Musk said in a post.

Starship’s Flight 6 occurred in November last year. It could not repeat the success of Flight 5 to catch Super Heavy due to a communication issue with the launch tower.

SpaceX is developing the resusable Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built standing 123 meters tall, to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other feats.

The company informed that preparations are underway for the eighth flight test, and is going through prelaunch testing.

New Delhi, Jan 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the successful docking of the satellites of the SpaDEX mission is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come.

India became the fourth nation to ace the space docking technology, after the US, Russia, and China, as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) informed the merging of two small spacecraft — SDX01, the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target — weighing about 220 kg each.

“Congratulations to our scientists at @isro and the entire space fraternity for the successful demonstration of space docking of satellites,” PM Modi said in a post on X social media platform.

“It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come,” he added.

The satellites were part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, which lifted off aboard the PSLV-C60 rocket, from Sriharikota on December 30.

“Docking successfully completed. India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking. Congratulations to the entire team! Congratulations to India!” ISRO posted.

Dr V. Narayanan, Secretary DOS, Chairman of Space Commission, and Chairman ISRO, congratulated the team ISRO.

On Sunday, the two satellites came as close as three metres in a trial attempt for space docking up to 15 m. It later moved back to a safe distance.

But now, “manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point completed”, ISRO said while noting that the docking was achieved “with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture”.

The docking technology was indigenously developed and has been named the ‘Bharatiya Docking System’.

The SpaDeX mission will help establish India’s capability in orbital docking — a key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions. The docking technology is also key for India’s impending space missions including the Moon mission, setting up the Indian space station, and lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without the support of GNSS from Earth.

New Delhi, Jan 16: Driven by the growing use of Indic languages for digital content, the internet user base in India is set to surpass 900 million by 2025, driven by the growing use of Indic languages for digital content, a report showed on Thursday.

The number of active internet users in India reached 886 million in 2024, marking a robust 8 per cent year-on-year growth. Rural India, with 488 million users, leads this growth and now accounts for 55 per cent of the total internet population, according to the report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar.

Nearly all internet users (98 per cent) accessed content in Indic languages, with Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam emerging as the most popular due to their extensive availability.

Over half (57 per cent) of urban internet users prefer consuming content in regional languages, underscoring the growing demand for local language content across platforms, according to the report.

AI has emerged as a significant game changer over the past year. Nine out of 10 internet users have interacted with apps featuring embedded AI capabilities.

“The widespread acceptance and enthusiasm surrounding AI should encourage digital companies to introduce more next-generation AI features in India,” Biswapriya Bhattacharya, Director, B2B and Technology, Kantar Insights–South Asia, said.

The digital gender gap in India is steadily narrowing, with 47 per cent of all internet users in the country being women — so far the highest.

Female internet users now form a significant portion of shared device users in rural India at 58 per cent. This marks substantial progress in making digital access more inclusive and equitable over the years, the report noted.

Rural India dominates online engagement for top activities, including OTT video and music streaming, online communication, and social media usage, outpacing urban users in these categories.

Urban India leads in the adoption of non-traditional devices such as smart TVs and smart speakers, which have grown by 54 per cent between 2023 and 2024.

Concurrently, mobile devices remain the primary means of accessing the internet across both urban and rural demographics, said the report.