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Nov 10

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A black hexacopter with an orange top cover flies against a blue sky during NASA UAS traffic management research flights

NASA · FAA

FAA Touts 2.2 Million UTM Drone Flights at AUVSI. Part 108 Still Waits

At AUVSI the FAA cited 2.2 million deconflicted UTM flights and a type certification rethink, but gave no date for the Part 108 BVLOS rule.

Haye KestelooNov 103 min read

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, seen across the water with a steam cloud billowing beside the pad

Counter-Drone

Space Force Adds Lasers at Cape Canaveral After 500 Port Drone Flights

Space Force is adding a directed-energy weapon at Cape Canaveral. Next door, Port Canaveral logged 500+ drone incursions in 2025, already a Florida felony.

Haye KestelooSep 26

NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

Drone Incidents

NASA Kennedy Drone Case: Chinese Tourist Pleads Guilty, Faces a Year

Xiaodong He pleaded guilty over a 12-minute drone flight near Kennedy Space Center. Two earlier cases show what sentencing could look like.

Haye KestelooSep 19

NASA

NASA Langley Flew Donated Kidneys 7.5 Miles By Drone, And The Aircraft It Chose Says Everything

NASA researchers in Hampton, Virginia, put two human kidneys on a heavy-lift drone and flew them in 7.5-mile loops beyond the operator’s line of sight, then biopsied the organs to check for damage. They found none. The June 5 flights at NASA Langley Research Center reached a peak height of 250 feet across two roughly…

Haye KestelooJun 26

NASA

NASA Just Flew Human Kidneys by BVLOS Drone

NASA, UNOS, and LifeNet Health have successfully completed what they are calling a first-of-its-kind study: transporting human kidneys by drone.

Josh SpiresJun 20

NASA

NASA’s First Moon Drones Won’t Fly. They’ll Hop.

NASA is sending drones to the Moon, and not one of them has a rotor. Firefly Aerospace won a $75 million subcontract to fly four hopping drones to the lunar south pole under a mission called MoonFall, with delivery targeted for no earlier than 2028. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is building the drones. Firefly’s job…

Rafael SuárezMay 28

DJI

FCC Extends Foreign Drone Firmware Waiver to 2029, FAA Locks Down World Cup Airspace, Pierce Aerospace Builds Remote ID Network for NASA

The FCC just extended DJI and Autel firmware updates to January 2029. Plus FIFA World Cup no-fly zones and Pierce Aerospace's Remote ID network for NASA.

Greg ReverdiauMay 15

Ukrainian soldier wearing FPV goggles kneeling in a field while flying a small drone

NASA

An-28 Skydiving Plane Has 222 Drone Kills. The New York Times Just Filmed Inside It.

The New York Times rode along with a Ukrainian An-28 crew firing a Minigun at Russian Shaheds for $500 a kill. The same plane has 222 confirmed kills.

Haye KestelooMay 7

NASA

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.