# NASA Asks How to Save Hubble, an Air Taxi Flies Florida's First Airline Route, and India Adds a Navigation Satellite

Evening Edition No. 5 · Friday, October 30, 2026, 8:00 PM ET · Singularity Nightly
Covers Thursday, October 29, 2026, 6:00 PM ET to Friday, October 30, 2026, 6:00 PM ET
Edited by Dennis W. Davis. AI-assisted; see How We Make This: https://singularitynightly.com/how-we-make-this/

> NASA asks companies how to boost, fix or safely bring down the Hubble Space Telescope, Joby flies an air taxi between St. Petersburg and Tampa International 112 years after the first airline flight, India launches its NVS-03 navigation satellite, the FDA removes old warnings from more menopause patches, the Navy picks a Philadelphia shipyard for a new landing ship, and Uber earns weekend interest with a tokenized fund.

## In 60 Seconds

- NASA asked companies how they could raise Hubble's orbit, upgrade it, or bring it down safely, because the 36 year old telescope is slowly sinking toward Earth.
- Joby flew its electric air taxi from St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport, the same route as the world's first scheduled airline flight in 1914.
- India launched NVS-03, the newest satellite in its own GPS-style navigation system, the only orbital launch in the last 24 hours.
- The FDA removed old cancer, heart and dementia warnings from three more menopause hormone patches, and the Navy picked a Philadelphia shipyard to start building a new kind of landing ship.

## Lead Signal

**NASA asks companies how to keep Hubble flying**

![The Hubble Space Telescope floating above Earth after astronauts released it from the space shuttle Atlantis in May 2009](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/hubble-over-earth-1920.jpg)
*Hubble above Earth in May 2009, just after the fifth and last shuttle servicing mission. Credit: NASA*

NASA [asked industry for ideas](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-explores-potential-commercial-servicing-for-hubble-telescope/) on three ways to handle the Hubble Space Telescope's future: boost it to a higher orbit, send a mission to service and upgrade it, or guide it to a safe, controlled fall into the ocean. The formal notice, called a request for information, went out Thursday, and NASA described it Friday at 10:51 AM ET. Hubble has no rocket engine of its own. The thin air at its height drags it a little lower every year, and NASA expects it to fall back into the atmosphere around 2033 to 2034, so any rescue would need to fly by about 2032. Companies have until Nov. 30 at 3:00 PM ET to answer. "Hubble still has important science ahead of it," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

Hubble [launched in 1990](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/). Space shuttle crews [visited it five times](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/observatory/missions-to-hubble/) to repair and upgrade it, the last in 2009. The shuttles are retired, so any visit now would be on a commercial spacecraft.

> **Why it matters:** Hubble has shown us galaxies billions of light years away and helped measure the age of the universe, and it still works. A boost could keep it taking pictures for years longer. If that is not possible, a controlled fall keeps big pieces away from people. This is an early question, not a plan: NASA has not decided anything or promised money yet.

## The Ticker

- [ORBIT] NASA asked companies how they could boost, service or safely deorbit the Hubble Space Telescope, with answers due Nov. 30. [source](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-explores-potential-commercial-servicing-for-hubble-telescope/)
  - Why it matters: without help, Hubble falls back to Earth in the early 2030s.
- [ORBIT] The James Webb Space Telescope released an infrared picture of the "Cat's Head" Nebula, a cloud of gas in the Carina Nebula shaped by nearby giant stars. [source](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-captures-eerie-cats-head/)
  - Why it matters: Webb's pictures show how starlight carves the clouds where new stars are born.
- [LAUNCH] India's GSLV-F18 rocket launched the NVS-03 navigation satellite from Sriharikota at 2:21 PM ET Friday, and ISRO says it reached its intended orbit. [source](https://aninews.in/news/national/general-news/isro-places-nvs-03-satellite-in-orbit-restores-navic-to-minimum-operational-configuration20261031011359/)
  - Why it matters: India is building its own version of GPS that it controls.
- [LAUNCH] Turkey aims to launch its first Moon orbiter, TLM-1, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 between April and June 2027. [source](https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/10/30/turkey-aims-for-first-moon-orbiting-mission-in-2027/)
  - Why it matters: more countries are reaching for the Moon on their own.
- [LAUNCH] Europe's Callisto, a test rocket built to land and fly again, began ground tests in French Guiana ahead of a first flight in 2027. [source](https://europeanspaceflight.com/ground-qualification-testing-begins-for-callisto-reusable-rocket-demonstrator/)
  - Why it matters: Europe wants reusable rockets like the ones that made SpaceX launches cheaper.
- [LAUNCH] The U.S. government spent $42.6 billion on non-military space in fiscal 2026, down $1.6 billion, with NASA getting 55%, the Aerospace Corporation found. [source](https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/government-spending-on-civil-space-topped-42-billion-in-fy2026/)
  - Why it matters: this is what the country spends on weather satellites, science and astronauts.
- [AIR] Joby flew its electric air taxi from St. Petersburg's Albert Whitted Airport to Tampa International, the route of the first scheduled airline flight in 1914. [source](https://ir.jobyaviation.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/195/joby-brings-its-vertical-takeoff-and-landing-air-taxi-to)
  - Why it matters: air taxis are now flying into real, busy airports.
- [AIR] Beta Technologies' electric Alia airplane also flew the 1914 St. Petersburg to Tampa route this week, making 26 flights in 3 days on about $300 of electricity, WUSF reports. [source](https://wusf.org/transportation/2026-10-30/an-electric-aircraft-demonstration-in-tampa-offers-a-glimpse-at-possible-future-travel-in-florida)
  - Why it matters: cheap electricity could make short flights far less costly to run.
- [AI] Workers who lost jobs exposed to AI since 2025 took about a month longer to find new work than other laid-off workers, a Goldman Sachs economist found. [source](https://fortune.com/2026/10/30/goldman-sachs-ai-layoffs-displaced-workers-older-workers-past-tech-disruptions/)
  - Why it matters: the change AI brings to jobs is starting to show up in real numbers.
- [AI] Cursor says tampered copies of Anthropic's Claude Code add-on were in its app store for about 11 hours on Oct. 29 and could let an attacker into a computer; Anthropic says its own systems were not breached. [source](https://cursor.com/blog/claude-code-extension-security-notice)
  - Why it matters: programmers who installed it on Oct. 29 need to check their machines.
- [WILD] Humanoid robot maker Agility Robotics expects about $465 million and plans to start trading on Nasdaq as AGLT on Nov. 5. [source](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/30/3392148/0/en/agility-robotics-and-churchill-capital-corp-xi-announce-expected-gross-capital-raise-of-approximately-465-million-and-anticipated-closing-of-business-combination.html) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: anyone may soon be able to buy shares in a company making walking robots.
- [WILD] China's biggest computer memory maker, CXMT, reported 54.4 billion yuan in quarterly profit, with revenue up 613% from a year ago. [source](https://en.sedaily.com/international/2026/10/30/chinas-cxmt-posts-sevenfold-revenue-jump-but-growth-slows) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: the AI boom has made memory chips scarce and very profitable.
- [WILD] Intel shares fell 28.6% Friday after it forecast $15 billion to $16 billion in sales for next quarter, below what analysts expected. [source](https://www.stocktitan.net/articles/stock-market-today-live-october-30-2026) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: investors are nervous about the huge sums going into AI, and chipmakers feel it first.
- [MED] The FDA approved new labels for three more estradiol hormone patches without the old boxed warnings about heart disease, breast cancer and dementia. [source](https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/fda-advances-menopause-care-hormone-therapy-labeling-access.html)
  - Why it matters: many women avoided menopause treatment because of warnings that newer research did not support.
- [MED] The FDA approved Sun Pharma's Ilumya for adults with active psoriatic arthritis, a painful joint disease linked to the skin condition psoriasis. [source](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ilumya-tildrakizumab-asmn-approved-in-the-us-for-the-treatment-of-adults-with-active-psoriatic-arthritis-302924320.html)
  - Why it matters: about 2.4 million Americans have this disease, and more options help.
- [MED] HHS posted a draft policy that would let pharmacies mix six peptides that are not FDA approved, including BPC-157, under strict conditions; comments run for two weeks. [source](https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-22192/enforcement-discretion-policy-regarding-503a-compounding-using-certain-peptide-bulk-drug-substances)
  - Why it matters: these popular wellness peptides have not passed full FDA testing, so the rules on who can sell them matter.
- [MED] The FDA approved NRx Pharmaceuticals' preservative-free generic ketamine injection, a drug on the shortage list since 2018. [source](https://ir.nrxpharma.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nrx-pharmaceuticals-nasdaqnrxp-receives-fda-approval)
  - Why it matters: hospitals use ketamine for anesthesia and pain, and more supply helps.
- [MED] The FDA approved Inovio's Voceryq, the first DNA-based immunotherapy for adults with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, airway growths that often need surgery again and again. [source](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-plasmid-dna-based-immunotherapy-adults-recurrent-respiratory-papillomatosis)
  - Why it matters: in its study, about 1 in 4 patients with many past surgeries needed none in the first year.
- [DEF] The Navy's ship buyer TOTE Services picked Hanwha Philly Shipyard to build the first Landing Ship Medium for $269 million, with options for 3 more. [source](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tote-services-identifies-hanwha-defense-usa-for-medium-landing-ship-construction-additional-shipyard-selections-planned-302924909.html)
  - Why it matters: it brings Navy shipbuilding work to a Philadelphia yard.
- [DEF] The Pentagon said its military intelligence budget for fiscal 2026 was $30.9 billion. [source](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/10/pentagon-reveals-fy26-intelligence-budget-at-30-9-billion/)
  - Why it matters: it is a rare public number for spending that is mostly secret.
- [DEF] A Pentagon official said private partners could help pay to make U.S. bases able to run 30 to 90 days without outside power. [source](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/10/pentagon-eyes-public-private-partnerships-to-help-fund-fortress-america-homeland-base-plan/)
  - Why it matters: bases that keep their own power and supplies keep working in a storm or an attack.
- [DEF] Allen Control Systems and CX2 will combine a robotic gun turret with radio jamming to stop small drones. [source](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/30/3392282/0/en/acs-and-cx2-partner-to-advance-integrated-counter-drone-defense-capabilities.html)
  - Why it matters: cheap drones are a growing threat, so armies want several ways to stop them.
- [POLICY] Britain's competition regulator opened an investigation into Meta's terms that would let it use publishers' website content for its own products, including AI. [source](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-opens-investigation-into-metas-commercial-terms--2)
  - Why it matters: the case asks who gets a say when AI learns from someone else's work.
- [POLICY] New York Sen. Andrew Gounardes proposed bill S10731, which would let a new state office limit the computing power used to train the biggest AI models, with fines up to $1 million a day. [source](https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/andrew-gounardes/sen-gounardes-proposes-major-new-ai-safety-and)
  - Why it matters: states are trying to write their own safety rules for the most powerful AI.
- [POLICY] Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Nvidia's board for answers after a New York Times report that a suspected Chinese intelligence asset grew close to CEO Jensen Huang; Nvidia says related claims were debunked. [source](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/10/30/nvidia-facing-questions-as-suspected-chinese-intelligence-asset-got-close-to-jensen-huang/)
  - Why it matters: Congress keeps pressing on how AI chips reach China.
- [TOKEN] Uber parked cash over a weekend in Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund using HSBC tokenized deposits, earning about 1.5 extra days of interest. [source](https://crypto.news/uber-hsbc-franklin-templeton-canton-weekend-yield/) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: money that used to sit idle from Friday to Monday can now keep earning.
- [TOKEN] Crypto exchange Binance lost about $6.3 billion in a hack; partners have frozen about $3 billion of it, and Binance aims to restart withdrawals Sunday. [source](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/10/30/binance-uncovers-wider-breach-in-usd6-3-billion-exploit-targets-sunday-withdrawal-restart) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: it is the biggest crypto theft on record, and Binance says customers will be repaid.
- [TOKEN] Coinbase is converting 14 stablecoins that do not meet the EU's MiCA rules, including USDT, to USDC in European customers' accounts starting today. [source](https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2026/10/320712-coinbase-tells-european-users-to-withdraw-non-compliant-stablecoins/) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: Europe's crypto rules now decide which digital dollars people there can hold.
- [TOKEN] Tether reported $1.5 billion in profit for the quarter, with about $183 billion of its USDT stablecoin in circulation and $132 billion in U.S. Treasury bills behind it. [source](https://tether.io/news/tether-generates-1-5-billion-in-q3-net-operating-profit-as-reserve-buffer-doubles-to-almost-8-billion/) Not investment advice.
  - Why it matters: the biggest stablecoin earns most of its money from the U.S. Treasury bills behind it.

## The Desks

### AI Models

**Tampered copies of a popular AI coding tool slipped into an app store**

![Illustration: a glowing add-on piece slotting into a circuit board, with a hidden thread leading away](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/tampered-extension-1376.jpg)
*A trusted add-on with something hidden inside. Credit: Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)*

Code editor company Cursor [says](https://cursor.com/blog/claude-code-extension-security-notice) its extension marketplace, an app store inside the program where coders download add-ons, offered tampered versions of Anthropic's Claude Code extension for about 11 hours on Oct. 29, from about 5:27 AM to 4:35 PM ET. Versions 2.1.312 and 2.1.313 for Windows and Mac were not made by Anthropic, Cursor says. The added code planted an attacker's key so they could log into the computer remotely, and set itself to restart after reboots, [researchers at OpenSourceMalware found](https://opensourcemalware.com/blog/trojanized-claude-code-extension-plants-persistent-ssh-backdoor). Cursor removed the files, rebuilt its marketplace and changed its security keys. Felix Rieseberg of Anthropic said it [was not a compromise of Anthropic's systems](https://www.theregister.com/cyber-crime/2026/10/30/anthropic-that-claude-code-extension-compromise-couldnt-be-us/5306682), and Anthropic's official download channels were not affected. [The Hacker News reports](https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/official-claude-code-vs-code-extension.html) up to 5,000 people may have installed it; Cursor's notice gives no number. How the attacker got in is not yet known.

Disclosure: Singularity Nightly is drafted with help from Anthropic's Claude. We cover Anthropic like any other company.

> **Why it matters:** AI coding helpers run with the same access as the person using them, so a fake one is like handing a stranger your house keys. This attack did not change the AI itself; it hid inside the package people download. Anyone who installed Claude Code in Cursor on Oct. 29 should follow Cursor's notice to check and clean their computer, because removing the add-on alone may not be enough.

### [LAUNCH] Launch and Orbit

**India launches the newest satellite for its own GPS**

![India's GSLV-F18 rocket on the launch pad at Sriharikota](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/gslv-f18-pad-2000.jpg)
*India's GSLV-F18 rocket with NVS-03 on the pad at Sriharikota before Friday's launch. Credit: ISRO*

India's GSLV-F18 rocket [lifted off](https://www.isro.gov.in/Mission_GSLVF18.html) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 2:21 PM ET Friday, 11:51 PM in India, carrying NVS-03, a navigation satellite of about 2,250 kilograms. It reached its planned geosynchronous transfer orbit, a long oval path from which the satellite climbs on its own to its final spot, [Asianet reports](https://newsable.asianetnews.com/india/isro-successfully-launches-nvs-03-navigation-satellite-via-gslv-f18-articleshow-mvyoeuf). ISRO chairman V. Narayanan said the launch brings NavIC back to its minimum working setup of 4 satellites, [ANI reports](https://aninews.in/news/national/general-news/isro-places-nvs-03-satellite-in-orbit-restores-navic-to-minimum-operational-configuration20261031011359/). NVS-03 is the third of India's new-generation satellites for NavIC, the country's own regional navigation system that covers India and about 1,500 kilometers around it. It carries an Indian-built atomic clock, a super-precise clock that navigation depends on, and adds a signal that works with more phones, per [ISRO's mission brochure](https://www.isro.gov.in/media_isro/image/index/GSLVF18_NVS03/GSLV_F18_NVS03_Mission_Brouchure_27102026.pdf). It was the 20th GSLV flight.

It was the only orbital launch anywhere in the world in the last 24 hours, and the 253rd of 2026, by the [Launch Library 2](https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.3.0/launches/previous/?net__gte=2026-10-29T22:00:00Z&net__lte=2026-10-30T22:00:00Z) count. Next up: a Falcon 9 with 27 Starlink satellites from California at 12:02 AM ET Saturday.

> **Why it matters:** the blue dot on your phone's map comes from satellites with very accurate clocks. Most of the world relies on America's GPS, and India wants a system of its own that keeps working no matter what. Each new satellite makes NavIC more accurate and easier for ordinary phones to use.

### Satellites and Orbit

**Webb spots a cat's face in the stars, just in time for Halloween**

![A glowing cloud of gas and dust shaped like a cat's head, seen by the Webb telescope](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/webb-cats-head-2000.jpg)
*The Cat's Head Nebula in the Carina Nebula, seen in mid-infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale*

NASA [released a new picture](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-captures-eerie-cats-head/) from the James Webb Space Telescope of a glowing cloud of dust and gas nicknamed the Cat's Head Nebula, inside the much bigger Carina Nebula. Webb took it in mid-infrared light, a kind of light past red that our eyes cannot see but that shows warm dust. NASA says the cloud's shape was likely carved by the strong light and winds pouring off the huge, hot stars nearby.

> **Why it matters:** clouds like this are where new stars and planets form, and Webb can see through the dust to watch it happen. Hubble opened that window, and Webb, launched in 2021, sees farther into the infrared. Today's Hubble news is a reminder that these telescopes are worth protecting.

### Air Mobility

**An air taxi flies the route of the world's first airline, 112 years later**

![Joby's electric air taxi flying over Tampa](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/joby-tampa-1600.jpg)
*Joby's electric air taxi flying over Tampa on Oct. 29. Credit: Joby Aviation*

Joby Aviation [flew its electric air taxi](https://ir.jobyaviation.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/195/joby-brings-its-vertical-takeoff-and-landing-air-taxi-to) with a pilot from Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg to Tampa International Airport on Friday, the start of Florida's flights in a federal test program called the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The hop took about 10 minutes, against a drive of up to an hour, [WUSF reports](https://wusf.org/transportation/2026-10-30/an-electric-aircraft-demonstration-in-tampa-offers-a-glimpse-at-possible-future-travel-in-florida). eVTOL means an electric aircraft that takes off and lands straight up like a helicopter and flies forward like a plane. The route copies Tony Jannus's flight of Jan. 1, 1914, considered the first scheduled airline flight. This week Joby is also flying to a new landing pad, called a vertiport, at Orlando International Airport, and to the old Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. Florida's project is one of 8 in the program, and Joby says it is in the final stages of FAA approval of its design, called type certification. "Each flight provides crucial data and lessons learned," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.

> **Why it matters:** an air taxi could turn a long drive across a city into a short, quiet hop. Flying into a major airport alongside airliners is a big real-world test. These are demonstration flights with no paying riders yet; Joby still needs the FAA's final approval before regular service.

### Medicine

**The FDA takes old warnings off three more menopause patches**

![Illustration: a small skin patch beside a label whose black border is fading](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/hormone-patch-1600.jpg)
*A small patch, and a label rewritten with newer science. Credit: Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)*

The FDA [approved new labels](https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/fda-advances-menopause-care-hormone-therapy-labeling-access.html) for three estradiol skin patches, a form of the hormone estrogen used to treat menopause symptoms such as hot flashes. The labels keep a boxed warning, the FDA's strongest kind, but drop the statements about heart disease, breast cancer and probable dementia. The FDA made the same change for six other products in February, and 29 companies have asked to update their labels since November 2025. The agency says patch production has roughly doubled in a year and it does not expect a national shortage, and it is looking at letting some vaginal estrogen be sold without a prescription. [The Guardian and others report](https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/fda-removes-boxed-warnings-from-3-more-menopausal-hormone-therapy-products) the FDA did not ask an outside expert panel first.

> **Why it matters:** those warnings came from [a large study in 2002](https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/releases/2002/07/whi.html), and later research found the risks were lower for many younger women. Millions stopped or never started treatment out of fear. This change does not make hormones right for everyone, so the choice is still one to make with a doctor.

### Defense

**The Navy picks a Philadelphia shipyard for a new landing ship**

![An artist's rendering of the Navy's Landing Ship Medium](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/landing-ship-medium-400.jpg)
*An artist's view of the Landing Ship Medium, from TOTE Services and Hanwha Defense USA. Credit: TOTE Services / Hanwha Defense USA*

TOTE Services, which the Navy hired in July to manage building its new landing ships, [chose Hanwha Defense USA](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tote-services-identifies-hanwha-defense-usa-for-medium-landing-ship-construction-additional-shipyard-selections-planned-302924909.html) to build the first Landing Ship Medium at Hanwha Philly Shipyard for $269 million, with options for 3 more. The ship is meant to carry Marines and their gear between islands and onto beaches. Construction could start late in 2027 and the first ship is due in 2030, a year later than the Navy said in July, [Breaking Defense reports](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/10/navy-flexes-new-acquisition-muscles-with-totes-269m-lsm-award-to-hanwha/). The Navy plans 35 of them, and talks continue with two other shipyards. It is Hanwha Defense USA's first U.S. Navy contract.

> **Why it matters:** the Navy is trying a new way to buy ships, using a manager borrowed from commercial shipping, to get them faster. The work goes to a Philadelphia yard owned by a South Korean company, one of the world's big shipbuilders. Ships take years to build, and this first one is still about four years away.

### Law and Policy

**Britain investigates whether Meta can take publishers' work for its AI**

![Illustration: news pages flowing toward a large machine past a half-closed gate](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/publisher-content-ai-1600.jpg)
*News pages flowing into a giant machine, and a question of who decides. Credit: Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)*

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority [opened a formal investigation](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-opens-investigation-into-metas-commercial-terms--2) on Friday into Meta's terms for news publishers and other businesses. The new terms would let Meta collect content from those businesses' websites and use it in its own products, including AI features, with no way to say no. The regulator will decide whether Meta is dominant in a UK market and, if so, whether the terms are unfair. It says it has not decided whether Meta broke the law. Meta has put the change on hold and says there are no grounds for an investigation, [Reuters reports](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/uks-cma-opens-investigation-metas-112030849.html). News publishers' groups complained first.

> **Why it matters:** AI systems learn from what people write, photograph and publish. If one huge company can take that work on its own terms, the people who make it may get nothing back. This case could help set the rules for who gets paid when AI uses the news.

### Tokenized Assets

**Uber's cash keeps earning over the weekend, thanks to tokens**

![Illustration: weekend calendar pages with glowing coins multiplying across them](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/weekend-yield-1376.jpg)
*Money that keeps working while the markets sleep. Credit: Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)*

Uber's treasury team used HSBC's tokenized deposits, bank money recorded on a blockchain, to buy shares of a Franklin Templeton tokenized money market fund, a fund that holds safe, short-term government debt, on a Thursday, then sold them on Sunday, [crypto.news reports](https://crypto.news/uber-hsbc-franklin-templeton-canton-weekend-yield/), citing Bloomberg. The trade settled on the Canton Network, with Tradeweb and Fireblocks taking part. Companies normally pull cash out of funds before markets close on Friday, so it earns nothing until Monday. This test earned about 1.5 extra days of interest. The amount was not disclosed. Tokenized real-world assets now total [$39.56 billion](https://app.rwa.xyz/), per RWA.xyz.

> **Why it matters:** blockchains do not close on weekends, so money on them can move and earn at any hour. For a big company, a day and a half of extra interest on a large pile of cash adds up. It was a test, and more companies would have to follow before this becomes normal. Not investment advice.

### Wildcard

**A walking robot company heads for the stock market**

![Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid robot holding a grey crate](https://singularitynightly.com/img/editions/agility-digit-2000.jpg)
*Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid robot, from the company's press materials. Credit: Agility Robotics*

Agility Robotics, maker of the Digit humanoid robot that carries totes in warehouses, and Churchill Capital Corp XI [expect to raise about $465 million](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/30/3392148/0/en/agility-robotics-and-churchill-capital-corp-xi-announce-expected-gross-capital-raise-of-approximately-465-million-and-anticipated-closing-of-business-combination.html) as they merge, including about $201 million from investors led by Foxconn, the company that builds iPhones. Churchill is a SPAC, a "blank check" company already on the stock market that exists to buy a private company and take it public. Shareholders vote Nov. 2, and Agility expects to start trading on Nasdaq as AGLT on Nov. 5. Agility says it has more than $300 million in multi-year orders for its next robot, Digit 5, with first deliveries planned in the first half of 2027; that figure is the company's own and is not current sales.

> **Why it matters:** robots shaped like people can work in places built for people, lifting boxes and moving bins so workers do not have to. A stock listing would let ordinary investors own a piece of that bet. Digit 5 is still a year or more from wide use. Not investment advice.

## Watch

[Video: All-In: WHOOP CEO Will Ahmed on 50 billion hours of health data, 4 million members and the company's fight with the FDA (Oct. 29).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc6xXNBWjfc)
[Video: Marques Brownlee tries Apple's new touchscreen MacBook Pro with an OLED screen (Oct. 28).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2reQut8WNGc)
In case you missed it:

[Video: Unitree Robotics shows its H2-X humanoid in a staged action video (Oct. 21).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3zb4o47yqA)
## Voices

- Elon Musk wrote that Neuralink's Blindsight implant, meant to let blind people see, "is ready from an engineering standpoint" and waits on regulators. It is not FDA approved. [source](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2116019939056513218) (opinion)
- Peter Diamandis argued the AI stock selloff is a debt problem for companies that borrowed to buy chips, writing that "demand for intelligence is not the problem." [source](https://metatrends.substack.com/p/the-ai-selloff-is-a-debt-story) (opinion)

## By the Numbers

- 1: orbital launches worldwide in the last 24 hours; 253 so far in 2026. [Launch Library 2](https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.3.0/launches/previous/?net__gte=2026-10-29T22:00:00Z&net__lte=2026-10-30T22:00:00Z)
- 2032: about the latest a mission could reach Hubble before it starts falling in. [NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-explores-potential-commercial-servicing-for-hubble-telescope/)
- 112 years: since the first scheduled airline flight, St. Petersburg to Tampa, the route Joby flew Friday. [Joby](https://ir.jobyaviation.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/195/joby-brings-its-vertical-takeoff-and-landing-air-taxi-to)
- $42.6 billion: U.S. government non-military space spending in fiscal 2026. [SpacePolicyOnline](https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/government-spending-on-civil-space-topped-42-billion-in-fy2026/)
- $269 million: the first Landing Ship Medium, at Hanwha Philly Shipyard. [TOTE Services](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tote-services-identifies-hanwha-defense-usa-for-medium-landing-ship-construction-additional-shipyard-selections-planned-302924909.html)
- $30.9 billion: the Pentagon's military intelligence budget for fiscal 2026. [Breaking Defense](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/10/pentagon-reveals-fy26-intelligence-budget-at-30-9-billion/)
- $6.3 billion: taken in the Binance hack, the largest crypto theft on record. [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/29/potential-multi-billion-binance-hack-hitting-crypto-markets) Not investment advice.
- 59: the top score on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, still Gemini 4 Carbon. [Artificial Analysis](https://artificialanalysis.ai/models/gemini-4-carbon)
- 47: novel drugs approved by the FDA in 2026, unchanged. [FDA](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/novel-drug-approvals-fda/novel-drug-approvals-2026)
- $39.56 billion: tokenized real-world assets, excluding stablecoins. [RWA.xyz](https://app.rwa.xyz/) Not investment advice.

## Tomorrow's Watchlist

- Sat Oct. 31, 12:02 AM ET: Falcon 9, Starlink 15-18, 27 satellites, Vandenberg.
- Sat Oct. 31, 9:00 AM ET: The Week No. 1, our first weekly newsletter.
- Sat Oct. 31, 3:00 PM ET: NASA's pretend Mars crew leaves its habitat after 378 days, streamed on NASA's YouTube.
- Sun Nov. 1: clocks fall back one hour; times below are Eastern Standard Time. Binance aims to restart withdrawals around Sunday.
- Mon Nov. 2: Apple reports quarterly results; Agility Robotics shareholder vote; Canton Strategic Holdings shares may begin trading as tokens.
- Mon Nov. 2, 11:00 AM ET (to be confirmed): Rocket Lab Electron launches a radar imaging satellite for Japan's iQPS from New Zealand.
- Mon Nov. 2, 8:42 PM ET: Falcon 9 launches the USSF-432 Space Force mission from Vandenberg.
- Coming up: Joby results Nov. 4, 5:00 PM ET; Agility begins trading as AGLT Nov. 5; final solar array spacewalk Nov. 5; NASA's MAX POWER air show at Kennedy Nov. 6 to 8; Alibaba's Qwen4 models expected next week (not confirmed); Vulcan returns Nov. 13; Hubble ideas due Nov. 30.

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Source: https://singularitynightly.com/editions/2026-10-30-evening-5/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Cite: Singularity Nightly, "NASA Asks How to Save Hubble, an Air Taxi Flies Florida's First Airline Route, and India Adds a Navigation Satellite", Friday, October 30, 2026, https://singularitynightly.com/editions/2026-10-30-evening-5/. CC BY 4.0.