White House taps Avi Loeb & Starlink launch and sea catch - Space News (Jul 11, 2026)

Welcome to The Automated Daily, space news edition. The podcast created by generative AI. Today, we go from Washington's new UFO study group to glowing rocket plumes, record-breaking quasars, a close-up of Earth's quasi-moon, and a new super-Earth that may be in the cosmic sweet spot. It's a packed snapshot of how policy, launch technology, astronomy, and planetary science are all moving at once.

White House taps Avi Loeb

First up, a major policy story: the White House has appointed Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to lead a new UFO, or more formally UAP, study group. Loeb is known both for mainstream astrophysics and for his willingness to explore unconventional ideas about extraterrestrial technology, so the appointment is likely to draw attention. The bigger significance is that the government appears to be framing unexplained sightings as a scientific data problem, not just a security mystery.

Starlink launch and sea catch

In launch news, SpaceX's Starlink 405 mission lifted off at 03:01 UTC on July 11 and produced one of those striking so-called jellyfish plumes in the night sky. That glowing shape happens when rocket exhaust is lit by sunlight high above Earth while the ground below is still dark. It's visually spectacular, but it also reflects how routine orbital launches have become in the era of megaconstellations.

Space mirrors threaten dark skies

Meanwhile, China reported a notable reusability milestone with a successful sea-based catch of a reusable rocket stage. Even without every technical detail, the message is clear: reusable launch systems are no longer the signature of just one company or one country. Reusability is becoming a global standard, and that has implications for launch cost, competition, and the pace of access to orbit.

Euclid spots earliest known quasars

Not all orbital news is good news for astronomy. Reflect Orbital has received FCC authorization for radio operations tied to an 18-meter prototype space mirror, part of a larger concept that could eventually redirect sunlight to Earth at night. Astronomers are warning that if such systems scale up, they could dramatically brighten the night sky and interfere with observations of faint objects, adding a new layer to the debate over how crowded and artificial Earth's skies should become.

Webb reveals detailed Centaurus A

Turning to deep space, ESA's Euclid mission has identified 31 ancient quasars from when the universe was only around 670 to 800 million years old. One of them, at redshift 7.77, is being described as the most distant quasar yet reported. These objects matter because quasars are powered by supermassive black holes, and finding them so early in cosmic history deepens the puzzle of how black holes grew so massive so fast after the Big Bang.

Tianwen-2 images quasi-moon Kamoʻoalewa

The James Webb Space Telescope is also making headlines with a new composite view of Centaurus A, one of the closest and most dramatic active galaxies in the sky. By combining near-infrared and mid-infrared observations, Webb can peer through dust and resolve stars, gas, and warm structures near the core in remarkable detail. It's both a beautiful image and a powerful lab for studying galaxy mergers, star formation, and black hole feedback.

Nearby super-Earth enters spotlight

In planetary science, China's Tianwen-2 mission has captured the first close-up image of Kamoʻoalewa, a quasi-moon of Earth. That means it travels around the Sun, but in a co-orbital configuration that keeps it near our planet over long periods. Scientists are especially interested in whether this object could be a fragment related to the Moon or whether it turns out to be a more typical near-Earth asteroid with a different origin story.

July skywatching brings planetary alignments

Exoplanet researchers also have a compelling new target: GJ 3378b, a nearby super-Earth about 25 light-years away. It sits in the habitable zone of its star and receives roughly 90 percent of the stellar radiation that Earth gets from the Sun. That does not mean it is definitely Earth-like or inhabited, but it does put the planet high on the list for future atmospheric studies and the ongoing search for potentially life-supporting worlds.

And finally, if you want a space event you can catch without a telescope the size of a building, NASA's July skywatching guide points to a predawn alignment featuring the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus around July 11 and 12. The guide also notes darker skies near the July 14 new moon, which should help with viewing Comet 10P/Tempel 2 and the Milky Way. It's a good reminder that even as observatories push to the edge of the universe, the sky still offers plenty to see from right here on Earth.

That's it for today's space news edition of The Automated Daily. From policy shifts to launch milestones and discoveries across the universe, the pace of space never really slows down. We'll be back with more soon.

White House taps Avi Loeb & Starlink launch and sea catch - Space News (Jul 11, 2026)

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