The number of maritime vessels with geostationary orbit very small aperture terminal satellite connectivity has leveled off at around 42,000, and GSO VSAT use has likely peaked in favor of low earth operator satellite systems, Valour Consultancy blogged Tuesday. Some service providers have reported their GEO VSAT spending dropping 30%-50% in 2023. Valour predicted the number of vessels subscribing to LEO services will surpass GEO VSAT by 2026's end.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr watched the Sunday launch and landing of SpaceX's Starship heavy launch rocket. "A historic day here in Texas. The most powerful rocket ever built. And an extraordinary booster catch back at the pad. Amazing to see," Carr posted Sunday on X along with short video clips.

With OneWeb backing O3b's proposed short-term non-geostationary orbit satellite interference metric, it's the only short-term metric before the FCC to have support from a third party, O3b officials told the offices of Commissioners Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez, according to a docket 21-456 filing Tuesday. O3b said its approach can provide protection for all established NGSO systems, not just its own. O3b representatives told FCC Space Bureau staffers the company would urge that the FCC seek comment on an appropriate short-term interference metric in a Further NPRM, allowing parties to weigh in on different proposals. O3b said the FCC should defer a decision on the appropriate short-term interference metric as that would allow the agency to ensure an adequate record.

Northwood Space announced last week a successful test with Planet Labs of phased array Earth-to-space antenna technology for use in satellite ground stations. “Our multi-beam system achieved bidirectional communications links over the full duration of a pass, running nominal operations for Planet,” said a news release: “We achieved commanding capabilities on our very first shot.” Northwood said it built and deployed the antenna in four months, “less time than it takes many companies to repair a parabolic dish.” Former TV actor and singer Bridgit Mendler leads the startup. "At Northwood we’re taking on the big task of transforming connectivity between Earth and space” and “a few days ago we made meaningful progress,” Mendler said on X.

AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan discussed the company's satellite system and its interest in the 5G Rural America Fund with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said a filing Friday in docket 20-32. Avellan has met with all the regular commissioners in recent days (see 2410080045 and 2410030025).

Financier BIU can't show any FCC error in how the agency handled a private contractual dispute between BIU and satellite company Spectrum Five, the respondent commission said Thursday as it urged denial of BIU's petition for review (see 2409100005). In a docket 24-1189 brief Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the FCC said its Enforcement Bureau's denial of BIU's request that the agency reopen Spectrum Five's complaint against Intelsat was in line with the agency's "long-standing practice of non-involvement in private contractual disputes." The FCC said BIU has given no reason why it can't pursue its contract claims in state court, which is the proper forum. The commission said that while BIU alleges that Spectrum Five's Intelsat complaint was withdrawn due to fraud, the fraud allegations "hinge on the contested interpretation of loan agreements that the Commission properly refrained from resolving."

Viasat is rolling out uncapped speeds, expanded capacity and greater network prioritization features for its business aviation in-flight connectivity service. It said Wednesday the enhancements come as part of the company's harmonization of its business aviation service with Inmarsat, which it acquired in 2023 (see 2305310003).

Satellite imaging company Pixxel Space Technologies hopes to launch its Honeybee-00 demonstration satellite, which is to be part of its planned hyperspectral imaging constellation, in June, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Tuesday. Pixxel asked for a waiver of the requirement that the probability of human casualty from portions of the satellite surviving reentry be zero. It said simulations show its propulsion tanks could survive reentry and cause "a 1:19,100 chance of human casualty," but the tanks can't be readily replaced this far along in the manufacturing process. It said in the future Pixxel will use propulsion tanks that fully burn up on reentry.

The FCC Space Bureau gave the green light to the rest of Tomorrow Companies' planned 18-satellite non-geostationary orbit constellation intended to provide near real-time weather monitoring and forecasting (see 2406200007), according to a bureau grant last week. The approval was for 14 satellites; four were approved previously.

A non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service spectrum sharing order put on circulation last week will disappoint some satellite operators, but should see 5-0 FCC commissioner approval, an FCC official told us Friday. The draft order, announced Friday, would clarify some details from the FCC's 2003 NGSO FSS sharing order, according to the commission. That 2003 order was adopted 4-0 (see 2304200039). The FCC said the draft order would address some specifics of the degraded throughput methodology that NGSO FSS licensees use in compatibility analyses when coordinating with satellite systems in other processing rounds absent a coordination agreement. The draft order also denies on the merits a OneWeb partial reconsideration petition on the 2023 order (see 2307210037), the FCC official said. The draft order, we're told, adopts the 3% average degraded throughput metric that operators backed, including SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper. "There is widespread consensus that the Commission’s resolution of issues here is critical to promoting the growth of non-geostationary satellite orbit systems and the provision of services to the U.S. public," Eutelsat's OneWeb said Friday in docket 21-456. It urged rejection of the 3% metric.