Loft Orbital scaled back microsatellite constellation plans (see 1908080003). The company asked in an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday to amend its application to one IoT satellite that would use the 400.05-400.15 MHz downlink band and 864-925 MHz uplink. Its 2019 application was for 10 microsatellites. It expects September launch.
Communications and Power Industries shouldn't be allowed to buy General Dynamics' Satcom Technologies subsidiary until CPI sells its ASC Signal Division subsidiary, or CPI could end up with too tight a grip on the commercial and military geostationary orbit satellite antenna marketplace, said a DOJ Antitrust Division Clayton Act complaint (docket 20-cv-01416 ) filed Thursday with U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It said minus the CPI/GD Satcom competition, DOJ and commercial satcom customers would likely face higher prices, lower quality and diminished innovation. The lawsuit targets General Dynamics, CPI and owner Odyssey Investment Partners. In an accompanying proposed final judgment, DOJ said it and the defendants agreed to CPI selling all ASC Signal assets within 60 days of the court's order or 30 days after regulatory approvals are received.
With the FCC allocating part of the lower C band for terrestrial services, New Spectrum Satellite wants to move feeder links for its planned 15-satellite non-geostationary orbit constellation (see 1707270023) from the C and K bands to the Ka band, it said in an International Bureau letter of intent filed Tuesday.
Intelsat is about a year behind in its required funding of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, ITSO said in a motion Sunday (in Pacer, petition 20-32299) asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond for relief to allow it to go ahead with an arbitration proceeding with Intelsat before the International Chamber of Commerce. It said it submitted a FY 2020 budget of $1.85 million and a FY 2021 budget of $1.9 million. ITSO said after using up its reserves, it has been operating on $101,000 in interim funding provided by Intelsat, though that "falls far short" of its FY 2020 budget and will run out in July. Intelsat didn't comment Tuesday.
The Commerce Department's revised commercial remote sensing regulation released last week, with a streamlining of the licensing process, "will help enable continued innovation, decrease regulatory and licensing delays and ensure American leadership in commercial space and satellite remote sensing," the Satellite Industry Association said Friday.
Expecting C-band affected parties to make critical investments without the certitude of a finalized cost catalog is "unreasonable," SES said in a docket 18-122 posting opposing delaying the catalog finalization. Even a 30-day delay means "a cascading series of interruptions" in the FCC's C-band clearing schedule, it said. The catalog was based on stakeholder input and is largely thorough and accurate, SES said, saying further adjustments could be done without actions as disruptive as wholesale delay.
Orbital debris is a global issue, and actions by individual countries -- including the FCC's rules update in April (see 2004230040) -- won't significantly affect space sustainability or improve prospects for in-orbit services like end-of-life satellite disposal, Northern Sky Research analyst Shagun Sachdeva blogged Thursday.
An FCC order harmonizing emergency alert system test requirements for satellite digital audio radio service providers with those for direct broadcast satellite providers takes effect June 19, said Wednesday’s Federal Register. The order also partially grants a petition for reconsideration of the 2005 EAS rules.
The FCC unquestionably has authority to update orbital debris rules, proof being those legacy rules that existed for years through both Republican and Democratic administrations, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to House Science Committee members dated May 5 and released Wednesday. The committee criticized the draft orbital debris order and urged the FCC to yank it from the April agenda (see 2004150054). The 15-year life of the legacy rules "is a lifetime in the fast-moving commercial space sector," and the rules update incorporated big parts of the federal orbital debris mitigation standard practices, Pai said. The Further NPRM adopted with the updated rules (see 2004230040) also is an opportunity for more provisions reflecting the ODMSP, he said.
Other non-voice non-geostationary operators are urging the FCC to reject Swarm's petition for U.S. market access for its NVNG mobile satellite services in the 400 MHz band, saying it didn't justify getting a waiver, after missing by months the deadline for consideration in the 400 MHz band processing round. In an International Bureau petition to defer Monday, Myriota said Swarm hasn't established it can fully protect systems authorized as part of the NVNG UHF processing round. Hiber in a petition to defer or dismiss said waiving the cut-off deadline would cause regulatory and business uncertainty. Kineis said the NVNG processing round public notice effectively rejected waivers Hiber and Myriota sought on grounds similar to Swarm's request, and reopening the round now and accepting a petition months later would prejudice the rights of parties that acted in reliance on that PN. Swarm outside counsel didn't comment Tuesday.