Amazon's Kuiper continues to lobby the 10th floor, urging the FCC to wrap up its proceeding on spectrum sharing among earlier and later round non-geostationary orbit satellite systems. In a docket 21-456 filing posted Tuesday, it recapped a meeting with Commissioner Anna Gomez. Amazon previously discussed the same issue with Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington (see 2408020034).
Intelsat reiterated its call for phasing in the regulatory fee hike FCC Space Bureau payers are facing. It met with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office, according to a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-85. The company similarly has lobbied the office of Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2408020039).
Albedo Space Corp.'s pending application to deploy and operate an earth observation satellite lacks the required materials, the FCC Space Bureau said Monday in a dismissal. It said the dismissal was without prejudice to refiling. Albedo didn't comment Tuesday.
The FAA expects nearly triple the number of commercial launches and reentries in FY 2027 than there were in FY 2023, Associate Administrator-Commercial Space Transportation Kelvin Coleman blogged Monday. Driving that growth will be increased use of reusable vehicles, more demand for commercial satellite services and more commercial human spaceflight missions, he said. With two months left in FY 2024, the FAA has already passed the record -- 106, set in FY 2023 -- for licensed launch and reentry operations, he said. So far this FY, the FAA has issued 121 licenses.
The ViaSat-3 F1 commenced offering commercial in-flight connectivity service over North America, the company said Monday. Viasat said its ViaSat-3 F2 and F3 high-throughput satellites are in the late stages of testing. It said antenna deployment problems that developed after F1's April 2023 launch (see 2307130003) caused a significant reduction in capacity, but it can support aviation connectivity over North America.
The FCC giving the green light to partial deployment of AST SpaceMobile's direct-to-device satellite constellation is "a significant step to targeting 100% nationwide coverage from space of the continental United States on premium cellular spectrum,” President Scott Wisniewski said Monday as the company announced the approval. Under the FCC Space Bureau authorization order in Monday's Daily Digest, AST may operate feeder links and telemetry, tracking and command operations in the V, S and UHF bands. The approval defers on additional frequencies, inducing terrestrial bands that it would use to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS). The agency said the approval lets AST begin deployment, with the goal of testing a system capable of providing SCS service, subject to additional approvals. "While this grant does not authorize any operations or testing for SCS, we believe that the deployment of five satellites under this limited grant ... will enable AST to request authority to further test this still emerging technology," the agency said. The FCC conditioned the approval on AST making "a good faith effort" to reduce optical brightness of its satellites, choose lower orbital elevations when feasible, and provide orbital information to astronomy sites and astronomers. SpaceX had sought conditions on AST satellites that matched those the agency imposed on the second-generation Starlink satellites. The commission agreed, saying that would let it monitor AST operations continuously. But the agency rejected a 100 object-years metric for measuring AST satellite failures, as Amazon's Kuiper was seeking. The approval covers five BlueBird satellites, with the FCC deferring on 243 others. AST said its first five BlueBirds have completed environmental testing and are ready for shipment to Cape Canaveral this week for a seven-day launch window in September.
Only Telesat and SpaceX have issued quantitative inference analyses of spectrum sharing among earlier and later processing round non-geostationary orbit satellite systems (see 2407220021), SpaceX said Friday. In a docket 21-456 filing recapping a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staff, SpaceX said the protection proposals from other commenters "involve hand-waving arguments to support arbitrarily-selected values." In a recap of meetings with the offices of Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington and the Space Bureau, Amazon's Kuiper said it urged the FCC to wrap the proceeding and discussed its recommended protection values.
Blue Origin hopes to launch its Moon Lander MK1 Pathfinder for an orbital mission around the moon as soon as Q1 2025, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday. The Pathfinder cargo lander will carry sensors and cameras; it will collect data and assist with training for Blue Origin's lunar program, the company said.
The FCC should phase in the regulatory fee hike facing Space Bureau payers or risk causing financial hardship that could stymie the satellite industry's growth, according to Intelsat. Recapping a meeting with the office of Commissioner Anna Gomez, Intelsat said Friday in docket 24-85 that it reiterated its argument for a five-year phase-in (see 2405170032).
FCC rules changes intended to expedite processing of satellite and earth station applications and new spectrum allocations for space launches go into effect Sept. 4, said a notice for Monday's Federal Register. The commissioners adopted the changes and allocations at their September 2023 meeting (see 2309210055). The application processing order among other things sets time frames for placing satellite and earth station applications on notice for public comment and lets non-geostationary orbit licensees have more than one unbuilt system without facing the possible dismissal of applications. The spectrum order sets an allocation in the 2025-2110 MHz band and makes the 2200-2290 MHz band available for launch telemetry.