Virgin Galactic is finally revealing its new Delta-class spaceship this week

space.com Oct 29, 2026

Virgin Galactic is finally revealing its new Delta-class spaceship this week

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Oct 29, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Virgin Galactic will unveil its first Delta‑class suborbital spacecraft on Wednesday, Oct. 28, after transporting the vehicle from Mesa, Arizona, to Spaceport America. The reveal will include the name chosen by a public vote in over 80 countries. The Delta‑class, designed to carry six passengers and fly up to eight missions monthly, replaces the earlier VSS Unity. Virgin aims for the first commercial flight in mid‑2027 and plans a second Delta vehicle for service by year‑end. The move marks a shift from assembly to flight testing.

💡 Why It Matters

· The Delta‑class launch signals a tangible step toward scalable commercial space tourism, potentially reshaping the industry’s capacity and frequency of suborbital trips.

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5 days beneath the waves: What it’s like to live in an…

Dr. Michaela Musilova, an award‑winning astrobiologist and explorer, has led 40 simulated Moon and Mars missions—the most of any commander—to date. She founded the nonprofit XtremeFrontiers, which is launching the Astro Seven Summits project, a world‑first program that pairs ascents of each continent’s highest peak with scientific research, NASA collaborations, educational outreach, and documentary filming. Musilova’s career spans work with NASA, ESA, CalTech and the Canada‑France‑Hawaii Telescope, and she has consulted for global firms and institutions such as the Smithsonian. Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, Top 100 Women in Aerospace and Aviation, and the Emerging Space Leaders Grant, she also serves as a prolific science communicator, keynote speaker, and co‑author of the biography “Woman from Mars.”

💡 By merging extreme mountaineering with space research, Musilova creates a novel platform for testing technologies and engaging the public in planetary science.

space.com · Oct 29

On this day in space! Oct. 28, 1971: Britain launches its 1st…

On 28 October 1971 the United Kingdom placed its first domestically launched satellite, Prospero (X‑3), into orbit from Australia’s Woomera Range Complex aboard a Black Arrow R‑3 rocket. The three‑stage, 12.9‑metre vehicle was the fourth and final Black Arrow flight and the only British‑built launcher to carry a UK satellite, after five earlier British satellites had ridden NASA rockets. Prospero, a 66‑kilogram research payload, tested solar‑cell performance, telemetry, and a micrometeoroid detector to assess space‑environment effects on communications satellites. Although the rocket’s upper stage struck the satellite after separation, breaking one of its four antennas, the craft remained functional until 1973 and was intermittently contacted through 1996. The mission marked the sole successful native British orbital launch and remains a historic milestone.

💡 Recovering Prospero would give the UK its first active debris‑removal demonstration, proving commercial capability for sustainable orbital management.

space.com · Oct 29

Black holes can split in two — but only if they spin…

A new study published in Physical Review D shows that a single black hole could split into two if it spins at near‑maximum speed. The researchers found that the extreme rotation allows a temporary loophole in thermodynamic laws, enabling the event horizon to divide in a “pair‑of‑pants” topology. The resulting pair would separate only if one fragment is significantly smaller than the other. The team estimates that primordial, tiny black holes are most likely to undergo this split, potentially producing detectable gamma‑ray signatures.

💡 Detecting such splits would provide a rare window into physics beyond Einstein’s theory, revealing how extreme spin alters spacetime and entropy at the quantum level.

space.com · Oct 28

Astronomers found a mysterious object beyond Neptune, and it could be a…

The Vera Rubin Observatory identified a new trans‑Neptunian object, 2026 ED138, likely 600–1,500 km wide, suggesting it could be a dwarf planet. Discovered by Matthew Holman using data from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the object was observed 30 times on 20 nights between March and July 2026, with earlier detections from 2016 by the Dark Energy Camera. If confirmed, it would become the sixth recognized dwarf planet, expanding the known population beyond Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake.

💡 Adding a sixth dwarf planet reshapes our understanding of the outer solar system’s size distribution and formation history. It demonstrates the Rubin Observatory’s power to uncover distant, rare bodies that challenge current models of planetary evolution.

space.com · Oct 28

China’s secretive space plane caught on camera in incredible new photo released…

A U.S. military intelligence agency released a high‑resolution satellite image of China’s reusable Shenlong space plane docked to an unidentified spacecraft. The photo, captured in 2024 by Vantor’s WorldView 3 sensor from 56 miles (90 km) away, shows Shenlong’s payload bay doors open and the companion satellite’s solar panels deployed, with a clarity of 4.5 cm per pixel. This is the first space‑based view of the vehicle, complementing earlier ground‑based sightings, and confirms the platform’s fourth mission, launched in February 2026, involved a rendezvous and possible payload release. Past missions in 2023‑2024 also documented Shenlong deploying objects, suggesting a pattern of sub‑satellite experiments or hardware jettison. The image adds concrete visual evidence to the largely opaque Chinese space‑plane program, mirroring similar disclosures of the U.S. X‑37B.

💡 The picture provides unprecedented proof of China’s on‑orbit docking capability, a key step toward autonomous reusable spacecraft that could reshape military and commercial space logistics.

spacenews.com · Oct 28

Flexell Space and Satoro Agree to Collaborate on In-Orbit Demonstration of Next-Generation…

Flexell Space and Singapore‑based Satoro have signed an agreement to demonstrate Flexell’s next‑generation CIGS and perovskite solar cells on two CubeSat missions launched aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets in 2027 and 2028. Satoro will build the satellites, while Flexell will supply the solar cells and test modules for integration. The missions aim to validate the cells’ power output, radiation tolerance and long‑term reliability in the space environment, comparing in‑orbit data with previous ground‑test results from Flexell’s 2025 and 2026 KSLV‑II flights. Collected data will inform design refinements and provide the technical evidence required for global customers, moving the technology toward commercial supply for satellites and other space infrastructure.

💡 Demonstrating ultralight, high‑efficiency solar cells in orbit will prove a viable, low‑cost power source for the growing CubeSat market, accelerating the shift to more capable, affordable satellite constellations.