Airbus and commercial space station startup Voyager Space finalized a joint venture agreement that would see them collaborate on design, construction and operation of the Starlab commercial space station, Voyager said Tuesday.
United Launch Alliance successfully launched its first Vulcan rocket Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. However, one of the two payloads on the flight, Astrobotic's first Peregrine Lunar Lander, suffered a propulsion system failure, the company said in a series of postings on X. As a result, ULA said it was prioritizing capturing as much science and data as possible. ULA said it has sold more than 70 Vulcan launches, including 38 for placing Amazon's Kuiper broadband satellites into space (see 2204050003).
Satellite operator Skylo and IoT services firm FocusPoint will partner on a satellite-delivered IoT monitoring and alerting service targeting such industries as agriculture, energy, transportation and utilities, Skylo said Friday.
Lynk's Tower 5 and Tower 6 satellites were supposed to launch in November, but damage during transit delayed that launch, the satellite operator told the FCC Space Bureau last week as it requested an extension in the deadline for posting its surety bond. Lynk said the satellites are now set for launch on a March 1 SpaceX mission, with the remaining 5 satellites in the constellation launching by April. In 2022, the International Bureau granted Lynk a 10-satellite license for a direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service (see 2209160067). Lynk said Towers 1, 3 and 4 are in orbit and operational.
Denying SpaceX participation in the rural digital opportunity fund (see 2312130004) effectively denied thousands of Virginians USF-funded internet access, a Virginia resident and retired E-rate consultant said in a docket 19-126 reconsideration petition posted Wednesday. Petitioner Greg Weisiger said many rural and insular locations, such as his home outside Richmond, are far from USF-funded roads or rights of way and thus burdened with high connection costs. Satellite installation costs are relatively low, he said.
The limited intent of the FCC Space Bureau grant allowing SpaceX to conduct supplemental coverage from space (SCS) operations over the G block (see 2312050029) is gutted by the thousands of SpaceX satellites involved, Dish Network said in a docket 23-135 reconsideration petition posted Wednesday. "At 10 days for each satellite, the authorization would be for the equivalent of centuries," Dish said, adding that the intended limits don't place meaningful boundaries on SpaceX's operations. It urged the grant be deferred or discontinued or limited to a sample of 10 SpaceX satellites. In a separate filing in the docket, Dish and new parent EchoStar (see 2401020003) called Omnispace's interference analysis of the 990-1995 MHz band (see 2310230035) "worthy of study." SpaceX launched its first batch of SCS-dedicated satellites this week (see 2401030032). It didn't comment Thursday on Dish's petition.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch late Tuesday included an initial six Starlink satellites dedicated to SpaceX's supplemental coverage from space service partnership with mobile carriers, including T-Mobile, the space company posted on X Wednesday. T-Mobile said field-testing of the direct-to-device service would follow soon. The FCC Space Bureau last month authorized SCS testing by SpaceX (see 2312050029).
SpaceX's accomplishments in 2023 are "what increasing domination of the world launch market looks like," the National Space Society blogged Monday. Those accomplishments include 96 Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy flights versus 61 in 2022, increasing flight cadence with 10 launches in November, and 1,985 Starlink satellites launched on 63 flights, NSS said. 2023 saw a total of 107 U.S. launches, with SpaceX responsible for 92% of them, up from 78% in 2022, it said. By comparison, China launched 62 times in 2023, NSS said. The society said SpaceX's rideshare launches have "taken a big bite out of the small launch providers" market. United Launch Alliance's Vulcan, Blue Origin's New Glenn and ArianeGroup's Ariane-6, once flying regularly, will likely influence SpaceX's launch manifest, yet Falcon 9 launches will continue to show steadily increasing metrics for another year or two, the report predicts. SpaceX's 2024 manifest "is stuffed," with 144 launches projected, the society said.
Dish Network is now a subsidiary of EchoStar. Announced in August (see 2308080009) the combination was completed Sunday, EchoStar said Tuesday in an SEC filing. Under the transaction, holders of Dish stock received EchoStar stock.
Introducing a secondary nonfederal allocation in 7190-7235 MHz could render the band unusable for future nonfederal operations absent adequate protections, Lockheed Martin said in a filing posted Friday in docket 23-120. While a nonfederal upload space research service allocation for lunar communications needs is necessary, that allocation should be on a primary basis, it said. That would improve the odds that U.S. space licensees used the band, it added. If the 7190-7235 MHz band is not used for communicating with deep space missions, the FCC and NTIA should start thinking about what band would be used for such needs, it said.