SpaceX's second-generation Starlink satellites are proving more robust than expected and can operate easily a couple of hundred kilometers lower than their 525-535 km operational orbits without hardware changes, the company told the FCC Space Bureau last week. It said its pending request for operating in the 340-360 km range capitalizes "on the significant space sustainability and service improvements that lower-altitude operations allow." SpaceX said it has been coordinating with NASA and the National Science Foundation to ensure that the lower-altitude operations won't increase risk to federal space and science missions and in many cases will decrease risk. Earlier this month, the bureau posed a series of questions to SpaceX about its lower-altitude plans. Pointing to its partial approval of the company's second-generation constellation (see 2212010052), including a condition that it not deploy satellites that operate below the International Space Station -- roughly 400 km altitude --, the agency asked how many satellites SpaceX anticipates operating below the ISS at any one time. In its filing last week, SpaceX said the figure could vary, but potentially 600, though perhaps more. It said it hopes ultimately the FCC will sign off on 19,440 satellites at 340-360 km altitudes, as it requested in its second-generation application. However, for now it wants to include those orbital shells as an option for its first tranche of 7,500 second-gen satellites. SpaceX said its automated collision avoidance system "has proven its mettle on-orbit."

Given the expected growth in low earth orbit traffic, the FCC's pending 100 object-years metric proposal (see 2405290074), while a good idea, should be reduced to 25 to 50 years, Kall Morris said in docket 18-313 Thursday. It also urged data collection that it said would improve rulemaking. The data would include planned and actual total derelict time on orbit for failed and planned disposals for each object launched and tracked by the operator. It said the FCC also could play a role in fostering collaboration between insurance companies and in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing operators. Operators' premiums could pay for ISAM services if relocation of a satellite is needed owing to damage or if it exceeded object-year time frames, it added.

With the FCC signing off on four of Tomorrow Companies' planned non-geostationary orbit satellites and deferred action on 14 more, Tomorrow is asking the agency's Space Bureau to modify its grant, going to six satellites and allowing the company to move on the remaining 12. The Space Bureau application posted Thursday included updated re-entry casualty risk information; the agency in granting the four weather satellites had deferred action on the 14 pending updated re-entry casualty information (see 2405200049). Tomorrow said it's trying to make redesigns that are part of the updated re-entry casualty information, but they don't appear to be practical to be implemented before the seventh and eighth scheduled missions. It said it anticipates an October launch for its third and fourth satellites, with another 10 launching in Q1 2025.

As part of a reorganization of SiriusXM's ownership structure, Liberty Media is asking the FCC Space Bureau for approval of a pro forma transfer of control of Sirius XM and its licenses. In a bureau application posted Tuesday, Liberty said the people who control Liberty Media, which has a controlling interest in Sirius XM, will also run New SiriusXM directly through the transaction. It said the simplified New Sirius XM ownership structure, with a single class of stock shares, should attract a broader investment base. New SiriusXM's formation was announced in December.

Oppositions to a SpaceX petition seeking reconsideration of the aggregate out-of-band power flux density (PFD) limits that the FCC adopted in March's supplemental coverage from space order (see 2405300044) are due July 5 in docket 23-65, according to a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Replies to the oppositions are due July 15, it said. SpaceX has pushed for band-specific out-of-band PFD limits.

Muon Space wants to add a third satellite to its authorization for a two-satellite non-geostationary orbit constellation. In an application with the FCC Space Bureau posted Monday, Muon said MuSat-4 will carry a global navigation satellite system reflectometry payload similar to MuSat-2 and -3, plus a new infrared sensor. The company said that while MuSat-2 is in orbit, -3 and -4 are scheduled for a Q1 2025 launch.

The FCC needs a solid threshold for accidental explosions that applies to all space operators, but the record lacks specific proposals for calculating or enforcing such a metric, SpaceX said Monday in docket 18-313, recapping meetings with the offices of the five commissioners. As such, the FCC should seek comment on methodologies that can make this transparent and ways of enforcing it, SpaceX said. It said the current record lacks much information about the appropriate method for calculating the probability of accidental explosions, so operators can assess compliance. A draft order on circulation proposes a cap on the probability that a satellite applicant suffers a debris-generating accidental explosion (see 2405290074).

Extensive regulatory reviews of SES's buy of Intelsat could push its close into 2026, Quilty Space said Monday. Quilty said it doesn't see a high regulatory risk to that close ultimately happening. The new SES would have "unparalleled scale" in geostationary orbit and medium earth orbit, along with a robust ground network and a variety of managed services, it predicted. However, the acquisition alone will not reverse Starlink’s advance or "blunt the future effects of Kuiper," it said. In announcing the $3.1 billion deal in April, the companies said they expected to close in latter-half 2025 (see 2404300048).

Space vehicles used principally for rendezvous and proximity operations and in-orbit servicing will be treated as small satellites for the purposes of regulatory fees, the FCC said in Friday's Daily Digest. The agency said it will group them with small satellites on an interim basis until it "can develop more experience in how these space stations will be regulated." The order didn't address other fee proposals raised in the pending space regulatory fee proceeding (see 2403140060).

Worldwide satellite industry revenue rose 2% in 2023 from a year earlier and would have jumped 5% if not for a decline in video distribution, the Satellite Industry Association said Thursday in its annual state of the industry report. As of year's end, 625 active satellites were in geostationary orbit, 29 more than 2022, and 9,066 in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO), 2,346 more than 2022. U.S. entities operate more than 6,500 of the satellites, some in partnership with other nations, it said. Roughly 1 Tbps of high-throughput capacity was deployed in 2023, the report said. In addition, NGSO deployments total close to 170 Tbps of capacity. Operators plan on deploying nearly 150 Tbps through 2028, the vast majority of that from NGSO constellations in development.