The next closed Beta will hopefully start later this week. Quite a bit of new stuff in this Beta:

• New sectors, anomalies and side quests
• New discoveries
• New technologies
• Beam weapons
• Shields
• New alien race
• New station personnel dialogues
• Stars now do damage to ships coming close
• Minefields
• Ringed planets
• Gateway transitions are now constant time
• Custom ship blueprints
• Mission log improvements
• Comet discoveries
• Changed fighter flight patterns
• Lots of bug fixes, minor tweaks, balance changes

As usual, invites to this Beta will go out to random members of the mailing list. If that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, sign up here: http://www.starcomnexus.com/closed-beta-mailing-list-sign-up/ Beta testers will be able to access the game either:

• With a Steam Beta Key. These keys will expire when the game enters Early Access.
• As a download. The download doesn't expire (but also doesn't automatically update).

This will likely be the second to last closed beta before Early Access. I haven't locked down the exact date yet, but expect an announcement soon. :)