SpaceX wants to add 1.6 GHz- and 2.4 GHz-band transceivers to its first-generation satellites to give it more spectrum options when offering mobile satellite services, it told the FCC International Bureau Tuesday in an application to modify its first-gen constellation license. SpaceX said after evaluating current use of the mobile satellite service bands, it determined it can serve customers in the band without causing harmful interference to other licensed systems. It said it also wants to use the 2020-2025 MHz band for uplinks, and requested a waiver since there's no MSS allocation in the band. The company also has a pending request that its first-gen constellation be authorized to use the 2 GHz band (see 2207260005).
The "slow and cumbersome approach" of the DOD and intelligence community to incorporating commercial satellite imaging capabilities means the U.S. could lose a technological advantage over emerging competitors like China, the GAO said Wednesday. It urged the defense secretary and director of national intelligence to set out clear roles and responsibilities in the various agencies for acquisition of commercial satellite imagery and that they assess different approaches for incorporating and scaling commercial satellite capabilities into operational support contracts.
Meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, SpaceX repeated its stances on orbital debris rules, including shortening post-mission orbital lifetime to five years, requiring maneuverability capabilities for operations above the International Space Station, and publishing of ephemerids and covariance data that would help with coordination, the company said in docket 18-313 Friday.
Congress, working with NASA and commercial space operators, should look at crafting market mechanisms that incentivize orbital debris mitigation and technology, and at investing in and testing innovations to remove debris in low earth orbit, Joshua Levine, American Action Forum technology and innovation policy analyst, wrote Thursday. Domestic and international guidelines for reducing orbital debris are largely voluntary and carry almost no consequence for violation, he said.
SpaceX is launching roughly every five days, with a goal of up to 100 launches in 2023, CEO Elon Musk said in a series of tweets Wednesday.
Hughes CEO Hamid Akhavan met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about potential interference harms posed by the proposed Lynk Global and AST satellite systems to terrestrial mobile network operators and the need for a uniform licensing regime, Hughes said Wednesday in an International Bureau ex parte filing. It urged denial of their pending applications for their direct-to-handset systems (see 2206290004).
The Royal Caribbean Group will use SpaceX's Starlink for fleetwide crew and passenger connectivity, it said Tuesday. Royal Caribbean said the satellite-delivered broadband will be installed on all its vessels by the end of Q1 2023.
Satellite-to-handset mobile service is the largest business opportunity in satellite communications' history, and will become reality with the inclusion of nonterrestrial networks in the definition of 5G and different companies working on the technology, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm wrote Monday. Using mobile network operator spectrum will allow backward compatibility, but convincing 5G chipset manufacturers to incorporate mobile satellite spectrum capabilities into their future designs would offer higher performance capabilities and much higher regulatory certainty, he said.
Kepler hasn't responded to an analysis showing its planned operations using its Courier-3 system would significantly interfere with Globalstar's Hibleo-X system, Globalstar told the FCC International Bureau Tuesday, urging the agency to dismiss Kepler's pending U.S. market access petition. Globalstar said contrary to Kepler claims (see 2207080007), German regulatory authority Bundesnetzagentur hasn't signed off on Kepler's full mobile satellite service system. Kepler didn't comment.
The FCC's approval of some SpaceX satellites operating at lower altitudes didn't violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday in a docket 21-1123 opinion. The court also rejected Dish Network claims the FCC ignored harmful interference the SpaceX license modification would cause. The red flags Viasat raised about orbit congestion are "much too speculative," said the opinion by Judges Gregory Katsas, Robert Wilkins and Justin Walker. The opinion, penned by Katsas, said SpaceX might create additional expenses for Viasat for having to move its own satellites more frequently to avoid SpaceX satellites, but Viasat can't "fairly be described as having personally suffered a nuisance, aesthetic, or other environmental injury from congestion in outer space," as NEPA requires. The opinion said Balance Group, which joined Viasat in the NEPA arguments, lacked standing. The court said Dish's interference claims were based on different methods for assessing interference than FCC rules require. It said it lacks jurisdictional standing to address Dish criticisms of the requirement licensees get a favorable ITU finding, and Dish didn't press those issues before the commission. Viasat, in a statement, called the decision "a setback for both space safety and environmental protection. ... Had the Court forced the FCC to properly grapple with the complicated issues surrounding deployment of mega-constellations (in low earth orbit), we believe harmful impacts that otherwise may persist for decades or even centuries to come could have been avoided." It said it "will continue to strongly advocate for space safety and further encourage all industry participants to be responsible stewards of our shared orbital environment." Dish didn't comment. Oral argument was in December (see 2112030034).