Good morning. It's Thursday, May 8th, 2026. Here's what's happening in tech and space today.
Ars Technica reports that SpaceX is starting to wind down its most successful rocket. The company plans 140 to 145 Falcon 9 launches this year — down from 165 in 2025 — and President Gwynne Shotwell told Time they'll continue tailing off "as Starship comes online." The shift is already visible: Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy is being converted from Falcon 9 to Starship use. SpaceX is retiring one of its East Coast droneships, repurposing it to transport Starship boosters from Texas to Florida. The Falcon isn't going anywhere — it'll keep servicing the ISS through the early 2030s — but the center of gravity at SpaceX is unmistakably moving. This is the pivot point where the workhorse that built an empire makes room for the rocket designed to leave it.
The small launch company announced a double defense win on the same day it posted record Q1 revenue of 200 million dollars. First, Rocket Lab is partnering with Raytheon on the Space Force's space-based interceptor program — a key piece of Golden Dome, the administration's layered missile defense architecture designed to counter ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic threats from orbit. The Space Force selected twelve prime contractors for the interceptor program, which uses Other Transaction authorities to get companies investing their own capital upfront. Second, Rocket Lab signed a three-flight deal with Anduril Industries for hypersonic testing using its HASTE suborbital vehicle — already flying from Virginia within twelve months. Between those contracts and a 20-flight Pentagon hypersonic deal won in March, HASTE-related business now represents nearly a third of Rocket Lab's launch backlog of over 70 missions. The company's defense revenue is becoming as important as its commercial launch business.
The space analytics firm raised 416 million dollars in its IPO and shares popped hard on day one — a clear signal that Wall Street's appetite for dual-use defense technology is still growing. HawkEye operates a constellation of satellites providing signals intelligence — detecting, locating, and analyzing radio frequency emissions worldwide — to defense and national security agencies. Reuters notes the IPO is also being watched as a gauge for broader space-tech listings, with investors awaiting a public filing from SpaceX that could open the floodgates for private space companies to go public. If the SpaceX filing arrives, HawkEye's pop today might be the opening bell for a whole sector.
The Hyderabad-based startup doubled its valuation to one billion dollars and is preparing for the maiden flight of its Vikram-1 orbital rocket — India's first privately developed launch vehicle capable of reaching orbit. Founded in 2018, Skyroot has been methodically working toward this moment with suborbital test flights. The company joins a growing list of Indian space startups riding the wave of the country's space sector liberalization, which opened launch activities to private companies in 2020. India's space minister has publicly targeted a 30-billion-dollar space economy by 2030. Skyroot's unicorn status is a milestone for the entire ecosystem — proof that the private space race isn't just an American and Chinese affair.
That's all for today. See you tomorrow.