OneWeb Processing Round Brings Plans for More Than 5,000 NGOs
Eleven companies are proposing the launch of more than 5,000 non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) space stations in the Ku- and Ka-bands in coming years that could in some way conflict with OneWeb plans for its own 720-satellite low earth orbit (LEO) constellation (see 1604290016). Tuesday was the deadline for processing round applications for NGSO satellites that would operate in the same frequency bands as OneWeb (see 1607180006). OneWeb Vice President-Regulatory Kalpak Gude told us the company sees the plethora of proposals as validation of its own plans. "I think the next step is for us all to review the plans that have been filed and see what are the coordination challenges," he emailed Wednesday. "The reality is that it is unlikely that all the systems get built but that some will. Coordination will no doubt be a challenge but engineers can craft solutions only when they see the real details of proposed systems." According to the FCC, staff will review the applications to ensure they are complete and then put them out on public notice.
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The biggest proposed constellation by far is SpaceX's, with plans for 4,425 satellites in 83 orbital planes operating at altitudes of 1,100 to 1,325 kilometers. The company said deployment of its first 800 Ka- and Ku-band satellites will let it provide widespread broadband services, and the constellation, once fully optimized, will provide up to 1 Gbps per user of low-latency broadband globally.
Geostationary satellite operator ViaSat said its move into NGSO space would let it use the Ka- and V-bands for broadband provision more effectively and also create a hybrid satellite network combining NGSO and geostationary (GSO) operations. The company said it's planning a 24-satellite medium earth orbit (MEO) constellation. ViaSat said it planned to use 27.5-29.1 GHz, 29.5-30 GHz, 17.8-19.33 and 19.7-20.2 GHz spectrum for high-speed transmissions between its MEO and GSO satellites as an alternate route for transmitting data and opening the door to such services as remote sensing by cutting the need for coordination, reserving and licensing additional spectrum.
Boeing's 60-satellite NGSO constellation would go up in three stages with 10 satellites covering the Americas, followed by 20 to be divided equally into an Asia/Australia and Africa/Europe constellation, and a third phase of 30 NGSOs to join the three constellations to meet increasing capacity needs, the company said. LeoSat said it's planning to offer a variety of broadband services with its 78 high-throughput Ka-band LEO satellites.
Though it already has 12 NGSO Ka-band satellites in orbit and plans to launch eight more over the next two years, O3b said it wanted U.S. access for 24 satellites that will operate in a circular equatorial orbit and 16 in an inclined orbit. It also wants additional frequencies -- 19.7-20.2 GHz and 29.5-30 GHz -- on four of the eight that were subject of a modification application filed in September. The company said it "needs substantially more capacity to accommodate the growing demand for its high-throughput high-performance connectivity."
Promising an over-the-top "celestial video jukebox" using its 12 planned high earth orbit satellites, Karousel said its model would deliver content to Karousel user equipment on the ground, with the content then cached, thus eliminating any buffering, latency or network outage issues. Theia Holdings said it wants to target the remote sensing market with its Ka- and Ku-band LEO NGSO system. Each of the 112 satellites would carry visible wavelength and mid-infrared wavelength optical fixed-staring system, while some also would carry a hyperspectral sensor, an L-band radar or a passive offset microwave radiometer, it said.
Audacy said its three-satellite MEO constellation is intended to be a space-based data relay constellation for other NGSOs, targeting LEO operators, earth observation satellite operators and launch providers. The constellation would ease both regulatory burdens and obviate the need for operators to build out their own ground infrastructure, it said. The company said that while its spectrum plans overlap in part with spectrum the FCC's spectrum frontiers order made available for unlicensed devices or is seeking additional comment on, approval of its application won't be a burden to future 5G licensees "given the de minimis terrestrial contact and the need for Audacy to coordinate only one U.S. Gateway."
Canada's Kepler Communications said it hoped to have its 140-satellite constellation -- focused on the IoT market -- up by 2022, with the first two football-sized satellites to be launched next year. Kepler said it doesn't plan to operate gateway stations in the U.S. and is asking for U.S market access authority only for its 14-14.5 GHz uplinks and 10.7-12.7 GHz downlinks. Telesat Canada said it anticipates its planned LEO constellation of 117 satellites will start commercial operation in 2021, with two prototypes planned for launch next year.
Also seeking U.S. market access in conjunction with the processing round, Space Norway is proposing a highly elliptical NGSO satellite system, the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM). Its two satellites would provide pan-Arctic converge through overlapping Ka- and Ku-beams, it said. "The Arctic region, which includes Alaska, lacks high-quality internet connectivity services and ASBM is designed to address this issue," Space Norway said as it asked for a waiver of FCC geographic coverage requirements.