Elon Musk's SpaceX will be launching flight 50 for the Falcon 9 tonight with a payload of Spain's Hispasat satellite. That satellite weighs about 6 ton and is the size of a bus, according to Musk, and will be the largest satellite SpaceX has flown yet.

You can catch the livestream right here!

SpaceX has now launched the most powerful spacecraft since the Apollo era – the Falcon Heavy rocket – setting the bar for future space launches. The most important thing about this reusable spacecraft is that it can carry a payload equivalent to sending five double-decker London buses into space – which will be invaluable for future manned space exploration or in sending bigger satellites into orbit. But what about the environmental impact?

This morning Elon Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into space using the Falcon Heavy rocket. A dummy driver named “Starman” wearing a SpaceX spacesuit pilots the car, as it speeds towards Mars to gather information about its orbit.

As Starman heads towards Mars, it's taken some stunning footage of the earth. Or has it?

SpaceX founder Elon Musk reminds us of Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. In addition to being a perpetually miserable robot from outer space (citation needed), he also has a brain the size of a planet. But how did he get so gosh-darned smart?

DNA and upbringing probably had a lot to do with it - but so did reading the right books at the right age. Here are five books that Musk reckons everybody should read; from weighty science-fiction to breezy business tomes. Best of all, they're all mentally accessible to the average person.

Earlier today, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk provided fresh details on the company's plans to create a permanent, self-sustaining human on Mars. The key to the mission will be "reuseable" rocket technology which will help to keep costs down. If Musk can be believed, the first colonial cargo drop could occur within five years.

It all sounds incredibly impressive and exciting, doesn't it? But is any of it actually feasible, particularly within the ambitious timeframes given? Here's what three physics, astronomy and earth science experts have to say...

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: MSI GT83VR Titan SLI review, why space fanatics are going crazy about SpaceX's next launch, Nintendo Australia's Zelda sale.

SpaceX plans to build a "self-sustaining city" on Mars, company founder Elon Musk announced today. But, while we now know a lot more about how SpaceX plans to get to Mars, details about how people will actually survive up there remain sketchy.