May 11, 2026

Florida a Hotbed for UFO Sightings (Source: Tropic Press)
Florida politicians have been at the forefront demanding the government open its filing cabinets to the public, notably Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Marco Rubio, back when he was still a senator. Other well-known Sunshine State pols and personalities demanding answers have included Rep. Jared Moskowitz, the late astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (who quite possibly could be a space alien mole).

There have been more than 8,800 sightings since 1995, vaulting the state near the top of the list. But not the very top. That distinction belongs to California with nearly four times the number of reported unidentified flying objects. Why so many? Both Cali and Florida have extensive coastlines, which make for clearer skies. Large populations also mean more eyes looking heavenward.

In Florida’s case, we’re also home to several military bases and the state is a hub for aviation, including aircraft testing, which can be mistaken for what bureaucrats are now calling Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. (5/11)

Online Mob Fuels 6,000% Stock Rally at AST SpaceMobile (Source: Bloomberg)
Every so often, a tribalistic cry goes out to the community of zealots and space geeks who invest in and obsess over an obscure satellite company called AST SpaceMobile. It’s in essence a rally-around-the-stock moment when it’s plunging. In the vernacular of the SpaceMob, as they call themselves, this is a Kook Bottom, and it starts, naturally, with the Kook. An anonymous oddball of a character, the Kook plays the role of rah-rah bull on most days, firing off posts on X, one after the other, to remind the mob that AST will soon grow into a cash-minting powerhouse with a satellite business that can go toe-to-toe with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. (5/11)

Virgin Delta-Class Spaceplane Begins Production Acceptance Tests (Source: Aviation Week)
Suborbital space company Virgin Galactic is beginning a series of critical ground tests on the initial Delta-class SpaceShip, a new production-standard vehicle on which its hopes for long-term commercial success depend. Static and fatigue trials are underway. These tests are essential for validating the new design, which is designed to fly up to eight times per month, for commercial operations.

The first Delta-class vehicle finished structural assembly in April 2026, with rigorous ground, structural, and system tests scheduled to continue through July 2026. After the ground tests, the spaceplane will move to Spaceport America in New Mexico for glide tests later in Q3 2026, followed by powered flights. Virgin Galactic remains on track for commercial service to resume in late 2026, with specialized research flights planned for summer 2026 and private astronaut flights later in the fall. (5/11)

UK Ministry of Defence Hands Musk’s Starlink £16m (Source: Telegraph)
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has spent £16.6 million over the past four years on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet to support Ukraine and maintain British military communications. Newly released figures show that,, as of May 2026,, £10.6m has been spent in the last two years alone, with the MoD confirming the technology provides vital connectivity for troops in remote areas and supports Ukraine-donated terminals. (5/10)

Moving Like an Inchworm – a Smarter Robot for Planetary Exploration (Source: ESA)
A robot exploring another planet needs to traverse unpredictable, uneven terrain, withstand extreme temperatures and radiation, and do all of this with minimal power and without maintenance. Conventional rigid robots – like those deployed on Mars – have a fixed number of joints and degrees of freedom, limiting their ability to squeeze through narrow gaps or adapt to irregular surfaces. Soft robots, by contrast, are flexible and compliant, making them far better suited to unstructured terrain. The challenge has always been how to make them move with precision. (5/11)

Italy Completes Air-Launched Rocket Demonstrator Test (Source: European Spaceflight)
An Italian consortium has successfully completed a suborbital demonstration of an air-launched rocket system. The project, which utilized a Dornier Alpha Jet aircraft and T4i’s HAX25 sounding rocket equipped with avionics supplied by GMV, was initiated to support Italy’s push to develop a more responsive launch capability. The Aviolancio program, which translates roughly to “air launch program”, was initiated by Italy’s Interministerial Committee for Space and Aerospace Policies.

Initial testing began in February 2022 with a small, vertically launched rocket from Salto di Quirra in Sardinia, which was used to validate the hybrid propulsion system. After completing a captive-carry test in September 2025, the Dornier Alpha Jet aircraft, carrying the HAX25 rocket under its wing, took off from the Houston Spaceport in Texas on 22 April. Approximately 100 kilometers off the coast, over the Gulf of Mexico, the rocket’s cluster of four hybrid motors was ignited, and the rocket was released. (5/11)

The Mangled Remains of Probes Sent to Venus May Still Be There (Source: Scientific American)
When international space agencies send probes out into the solar system, many are abandoned to expire and deteriorate on extraterrestrial terrain. But if they’re still out there, can we learn something from them? Many researchers had assumed that all robotic missions sent to Venus would so thoroughly succumb to the brutal combo of scorchingly hot surface temperature and crushingly high atmospheric pressure that little would be left behind for subsequent study. And erupting volcanoes and landslides from “Venusquakes” could bury whatever remained in geologically short order.

Last month, however, space archaeologists suggested that the Venusian environment may preserve probes far better than once thought. Out of 20 probes, landers and balloons sent by the U.S. and Soviet Union that have reached the surface of Venus in the past 60 years, the study found that at least seven were probably hardy enough to endure the hostile environment and ended up in places on the planet where they’re not imminently threatened with geological burial or destruction. (5/11)

The UAE Is Betting Big on Space – Can It Take on Starlink and Amazon? (Source: WIRED)
Over the past decade, the UAE has invested more than $5.9 billion (22 billion UAE dirhams) into the space sector, according to the UAE Space Agency, through state-backed programs, international partnerships and institutions such as the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). Projects including the Hope Mission to Mars, astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi’s mission aboard the International Space Station and a growing portfolio of satellite programs helped raise the country’s global profile in the sector.

The newer push is more commercial: building companies that can manufacture, operate and eventually export parts of that infrastructure. Orbitworks is planning a $1 billion Earth observation satellite network, alongside a manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi that can scale production from 10 satellites annually to as many as 50. Its first satellite is scheduled to launch on 1 October.

Operating at a different layer of the same ecosystem is Madari Space. Founded in Abu Dhabi in 2023, the company is developing what it describes as "space data centers offering data storage and data processing in low Earth orbit." Where Orbitworks is building the eyes in orbit, Madari is working on what sits behind them – the infrastructure that stores and processes what those eyes see. Al Romaithi frames the objective simply: "to give the UAE government complete independence from terrestrial systems." (5/11)

India to Upgrade Hope Habitat in Ladakh for Training Gaganyaan Astronauts (Source: India Today)
India’s ambitions for human spaceflight are driving new upgrades deep in the high-altitude cold desert of Ladakh, where a remote analogue habitat designed to simulate the harsh conditions of space is being expanded to support future astronaut training missions linked to ISRO's Gaganyaan program. The Hope Habitat, set up in the Tso Kar valley of Ladakh and developed by space research company Protoplanet, is now being upgraded after completing an earlier analogue isolation mission with help from the Indian space agency. (5/11)

Cowboy Space Raises $275 Million for Orbital Data Center-Topped Rockets (Source: Space News)
Cowboy Space, a startup formerly known as Aetherflux, has raised $275 million to build rockets with upper stages that would serve as data centers once in low Earth orbit. The company is now valued at $2 billion. The deal makes two-year-old Cowboy one of the space industry’s fastest “unicorns” — privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more — just a little more than a month after two-year-old Starcloud crossed the threshold with a $170 million Series A to develop its own orbital data centers. The company was founded as Aetherflux to pursue space-based solar power, but recently pivoted to orbital data centers.  Cowboy Space's long-term plans include the development of a rocket larger than a Falcon 9 whose upper stage would serve as an orbital data center once in low Earth orbit. (5/11)

Swift Reboost Mission Passes Testing at Goddard (Source: Space News)
A mission to reboost a NASA space telescope is a step closer to launch. NASA announced Friday that Link, a spacecraft developed by Katalyst Space to raise the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, passed environmental testing recently at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Link is back at a Katalyst facility for final preparations and will be integrated with its launch vehicle, a Pegasus XL, in early June for launch later that month. Link is designed to attach to Swift and raise its orbit before Swift reenters late this year. (5/11)

Viasat Wins $307 Million Marine Corps Contract for Satcom Services (Source: Space News)
Viasat won a $307 million contract to provide communications services for the U.S Marine Corps. The five-year contract announced Friday is for the Marine Corps Enterprise Commercial Satellite Services, or MECS2. Under the MECS2 program, the Marine Corps is seeking to integrate multi-orbit and multi-band services that leverage newer commercial satellite architectures. The contract was awarded by Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office, which procures commercial satellite communications services on behalf of U.S. military branches. (5/11)

China Launches Cargo to TSS on Long March 7 (Source: Space News)
China launched a cargo spacecraft to its Tiangong space station Sunday night. A Long March 7 rocket lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, placing the Tianzhou-10 spacecraft into orbit. Tianzhou-10 docked with the aft port of the space station's Tianhe core module five hours later. The spacecraft carried a new extravehicular spacesuit, a treadmill, around 700 kilograms of propellant, consumables for the future Shenzhou-23 and Shenzhou-24 crews, and more than 220 spare parts and maintenance components for the station. (5/11)

ESA and JAXA Agree on Asteroid Mission Cooperation (Source: Space News)
ESA and JAXA finalized an agreement to cooperate on an asteroid mission. The heads of the agencies signed a cooperation agreement last week for the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, or Ramses, scheduled to launch in 2028. JAXA will provide the solar panels and an instrument for Ramses, as well as launch it on an H3 rocket. Ramses will rendezvous with Apophis in February 2029, two months before the asteroid makes a very close flyby of Earth, studying the asteroid before and after it swings by Earth. (5/11)

Study Planned to Assess Launch Noise at Cape Canaveral (Source: Florida Today)
The city of Cape Canaveral, Florida, is partnering with a college to study noise from launches. Rollins College will place sensors on buildings throughout the city, just south of the Cape Canaveral spaceport, to measure noise from launches. Local residents have raised concerns about the effects of noise and vibrations from launches on their homes, particularly given future launches of SpaceX's Starship from the Cape starting as soon as late this year. (5/11)

India's TakeMe2Space Switches From PSLV to Falcon-9 Transporter for MOI-1A Launch (Source: The Print)
An Indian startup says consecutive PSLV launch failures forced it to go overseas to launch a spacecraft. TakeMe2Space said it now plans to launch its MOI-1a satellite on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission in October rather than a PSLV rocket. MOI-1a is a replacement for MOI-1, which was one of several payloads lost on a PSLV launch failure in January, the second consecutive failure of that rocket. The satellite is intended to test orbital data center technologies. The Indian space agency ISRO has not provided any recent updates on the status of the failure investigation and plans to return the PSLV to flight. (5/11)

Kratos Eyes $67M Orlando Expansion with 100 New Jobs (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Orlando’s defense sector could be in for a sizable jolt. San Diego-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions is lining up a roughly $67 million expansion of its local operations that would bring about 100 new jobs to the area. The pitch is big enough that city economic-development staff are now weighing a $150,000 job-creation incentive tied to the plan. (5/7)

SpaceX's Gigabay Facility Rises in Florida Ahead of Starship Launches (Source: Florida Today)
As SpaceX prepares for its next Starship launch from Texas — the version of the rocket expected to launch from Florida — the company’s massive Starship maintenance facility continues to rise on the Kennedy Space Center skyline. Its name is Gigabay.

The building's looming metal structure with black siding is easily visible from across the Indian River in Titusville. Situated at SpaceX’s Robert’s Road facility within KSC, it stands as a new landmark not too far from NASA's massive Vehicle Assembly Building. At 380 feet tall, the Starship Gigabay is shorter than NASA's 525-foot Vehicle Assembly Building but will still stand out near Cape Canaveral, offering the public a clear view of SpaceX's new operations.

Similar to the SpaceX facility in Texas, the Gigabay is intended for stacking and preparing the 232-foot-tall Super Heavy boosters (lower stages) before launch. When Starship is fully assembled on the launch pad, its height exceeds 400 feet. (5/9)

There Has Been a Sudden Increase in the Rate of Sea Level Rise (Source: New Scientist)
There has been an abrupt change in the rate of sea level rise as measured by satellites. Around 2012, it suddenly accelerated and has remained higher ever since. It is possible that the sudden jump is mainly due to natural variation. However, it could also be a response to the accelerating rate of global warming. The average global sea level has already risen by more than 0.2 meters over the past 15 years as a result of global warming. This has been caused by a number of factors: as well as increasing melting of mountain glaciers and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, the oceans are expanding as they warm. (5/8)

Antarctica Melting Worse Than Expected (Source: Science Daily)
Scientists have uncovered a hidden Antarctic threat that could accelerate global sea level rise far faster than expected. Deep beneath floating ice shelves, long channels carved into the ice appear to trap warmer ocean water, dramatically speeding up melting from below. Even regions of East Antarctica once considered relatively stable may be far more vulnerable than scientists realized. Researchers warn that current climate models may be missing this dangerous process entirely, meaning future sea level rise could be underestimated. (5/10)

U.S.-China Rivalry Reaches South American Skies (Source: New York Times)
In the foothills of the Argentine Andes, the enormous Chinese radio telescope sits in one of the world’s premier stargazing locations, surrounded by vast, undulating mountain ranges and beneath skies untouched by light pollution. It is also on the opposite side of the planet from Beijing, offering China a window on the half of the heavens it would not otherwise see.

But the Chinese telescope at the site, the Cesco observatory in San Juan Province, picks up no signals. After the U.S. government repeatedly pressed them on the issue, the Argentine authorities stopped the project’s completion. Lacking key parts, the telescope now sits dismembered, its gigantic antenna pointing blindly at the sky.

As the United States increasingly views Beijing as a rival in space, the stars above South America have become flash points in a geopolitical struggle, with top American officials trying to halt astronomy projects in the Andean deserts out of fear China could use them for military purposes. (5/10)

India's GalaxyEye Combines SAR and Optical Sensors on Drishti Satellite (Source: Indian Express)
To get clear and intuitive images from space, Indian start-up, GalaxEye, designed the Drishti satellite where both optical and radar imaging sensors are put on the satellite and operate in sync with each other to produce simultaneous imaging of the same place. This eliminates the need for users to manually align datasets from two different satellites. For this reason, the company is describing its innovation as Opto-SAR technology. (5/9)

FAA to Engage AI in Air Traffic Overhaul (Source: Politico)
An artificial intelligence project launched inside America’s aviation safety agency is aimed at easing burdens on the thousands of air traffic controllers who guide planes through the skies. The initiative, being spearheaded by FAA chief Bryan Bedford, envisions a dramatic revamp of how the nation’s increasingly complex airspace functions. But it would not seek to supplant the role of human controllers in making the second-by-second decisions needed to keep air travel safe, two of the project’s three vendors said. (5/9)

Tiny 'Metajets' Could Use Light to Steer Sails for Interstellar Travel (Source: New Scientist)
Interstellar travel propelled by light just got one step closer. Light sails, which are huge sheets pushed along by light that bounces off of them, may be the best way to travel enormous distances through space, and now we may have a way to steer them. “We knew already that any light or laser can impart momentum transfer, but now we can control the direction as well,” says Kaushik Kudtarkar. He and his colleagues created a tiny device called a metajet that uses refraction of light, not just reflection, to move in more than one direction at once. (5/10)

AST SpaceMobile Eyes June Launch of Three BlueBirds After Satellite Loss (Source: PC Mag)
AST SpaceMobile, a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile, will try to make up for last month’s botched satellite deployment by sending up three “BlueBirds” in mid-June. The company will skip using Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which accidentally placed AST’s BlueBird 7 satellite in an orbit too low to sustain operations, causing it to descend and burn up in the atmosphere. (5/6)

Starship Cannot Build a City on Mars Without First Collecting These Materials From Space (Source: IDR)
Mars is, by most industrial measures, a poor planet. It lacks the concentrated mineral deposits that made large-scale construction possible on Earth, and the cost of shipping materials from our planet across tens of millions of miles is, in practical terms, absurd. Instead of sourcing materials from Earth or relying exclusively on Martian soil, future missions should mine the Main Belt asteroids, the ring of space rocks orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. In practice, however, the execution of that idea runs headlong into some of the most unforgiving laws of orbital mechanics.

Mars is notably lacking in elements like boron and molybdenum, both of which are essential for manufacturing high-performance materials. According to the research, the delta-v required to redirect resources from the asteroid belt to Mars is only 2 to 4 km/s, a fraction of what it costs to leave Earth. That single figure is what makes the entire proposal worth taking seriously. The study grounds its logistics in a spacecraft modeled on SpaceX’s Starship: a theoretical vehicle with a dry mass of 120 tons, a payload capacity of 115 tons, and a fuel capacity of 1,100 tons. (5/9)

Blue Origin Prepares to Snatch Away SpaceX's Biggest Project (Source: Extreme Tech)
It may be debatable whether Blue Origin won the race to put a billionaire into space, but the perennial second runner of the private space industry could be on the trail of a much more lasting win. Last week, NASA announced that a Blue Origin-designed Moon lander had completed critical testing in the agency's vacuum chamber, raising hopes that it could be the first to meet NASA's specifications for a crewed lander. This one is only a cargo lander, but many of its design principles apply to both projects.

These most recent tests of the Blue Origin cargo lander, dubbed Endurance Mk1, are meant to validate the crewed lander project, dubbed Blue Moon Mk2. The tests proved that the vehicle can withstand the vacuum of space and the extreme temperature swings caused by solar radiation spikes. The tests help to prove that the lander is ready for the rigors of space and of the approach to the Moon. The official report didn't specify the exact tolerances tested, but in the past, such tests have also examined shielding against radiation and even surface dust resistance on the Moon. (5/8)