Amazon asked the FCC to amend the agency's 2020 authorization of the Kuiper constellation to include authority for the company to do launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) and deorbit operations. In a Space Bureau application Tuesday, Amazon said starting communications payload testing at insertion altitude and concurrently with orbit raising maneuvers during LEOP would enable it to better assess the health of the satellites and their payloads.

The FCC is continuing to look at comments received last year on in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (see 2211010025) and to assess whether its rules need updating to help foster ISAM commercial activities, said Space Bureau Satellite Programs and Policy Division Chief Merissa Velez Wednesday at a Secure World Foundation space sustainability symposium. She said a focus for the new bureau will be transparency, particularly on ensuring new entrants get needed information about their regulatory obligations. Satellite maneuvering capabilities and the altitudes at which that should be required is an area needing regulatory certainty and industry best practices, said Kalpak Gude, Amazon's Kuiper domestic regulatory affairs head. Orbit Fab Managing Director Manny Shar said there's a need for more speed by regulatory agencies because every month's delay "is a month less runway for a startup."

Sidus Space anticipates launching its first two LizzieSat earth exploration satellite service satellites, LS-1 and -2, in Q4 of this year, with the first two pairs of commercial LizzieSats -- LS-3, -4, -5 and -6 -- going up potentially in February and June 2024 on successive SpaceX Transporter rideshare missions, Sidus told the FCC Space Bureau Tuesday. In an application seeking authority to launch and operate the four commercial non-geostationary orbit LizzieSats, Sidus said the eventual goal is a 100-satellite LizzieSat constellation. It said LS-1 and -2 will be technology demonstrations.

Reusable satellite company Outpost Technologies, which received authorization in April for a cubesat test mission (see 2302100004), seeks FCC sign-off for another cubesat test flight of software, avionics, RF links and gas generators, it said in a Space Bureau application Monday.

Intelsat hopes to launch its geostationary orbit Intelsat 43 satellite in the first half of 2026, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application Monday. The Ku-/Ka-/Q-/V-band satellite will operate at 137.1 degrees west and is one of four software-defined satellites it plans to add to its fleet, it said.

The lack of an international mechanism for monitoring space debris and facilitating its removal is a big challenge, particularly for smaller nations just getting into space or with space aspirations, said U.N. Undersecretary-General-Policy Guy Ryder Tuesday at a Secure World Foundation space sustainability symposium. He said there's also the potential for tension and conflict about the lack of international norms and principles for debris removal and satellite refueling. He said consensus is needed on the use of space resources and on protecting landing sites, to ensure industry can fairly access resources. The next 15 months are a window of opportunity for more aggressive work on space norms and diplomacy, with upcoming meetings by the OECD Space Forum and U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in that time frame, capped by the U.N.'s sustainability focused Summit of the Future in September 2024, Ryder said. Venture capital funding in space has rocketed since 2018, with a peak in 2021, said Maureen Haverty, vice president at Seraphim Space venture capital fund. Driving that interest was the market disruption of new players, including SpaceX, the U.S. government increasingly buying services from commercial providers, and big reductions in the cost of accessing space, she said. Space now is seen as a market that can drive large enough returns to interest the VC community, she said. While 2022 and early 2023 were "very challenging" for space startups in search of funds, European investment has provided some rebound. European investing now eclipses U.S. investing for the first time, she said.

Dish Network's array of challenges to SpaceX "dramatically understates the lengths to which [it is] willing to go to deny American consumers connectivity," SpaceX said Wednesday in docket 23-135. It said the FCC "should consider admonishing DISH for its waste of Commission time and caution it against continuing to abuse Commission processes." In a filing earlier this week, Dish recapped its pending requests for denials or dismissal of six separate SpaceX applications. Dish didn't comment Wednesday. Dish Executive Vice President-External & Legislative Affairs Jeff Blum emailed that the SpaceX filing "is yet another odd attack on DISH and the FCC's regulatory process. DISH’s advocacy has consistently raised serious interference and other concerns about various SpaceX applications pending at the FCC. Rather than respond to the substance of DISH’s concerns, SpaceX has once again chosen to attack the regulatory process."

SpaceX/T-Mobile plans for supplemental coverage from space (SCS) using the PCS G Block (see 2302080001) are facing multiple interference criticisms. SpaceX and T-Mobile claim deployments in the PCS G Block won't interfere with adjacent channel terrestrial mobile service but don't substantiate that, AT&T said Tuesday in docket 23-135, urging the FCC not to authorize the SCS deployment until non-interference is proven. Dish Network said SpaceX is trying "to prematurely shoehorn" a SCS service into rules not designed for that, raising interference risks for G Block and adjacent band services. It said SpaceX still hasn't addressed such fundamental questions as how SpaceX transmissions won't compound T-Mobile terrestrial transmissions, raising the potential that they overwhelm adjacent band filters, and what's the timeline for launch of SpaceX Starlinks with a new antenna. Omnispace said T-Mobile's arguments about interference overlook the fact SpaceX satellites use higher power and antenna gain than T-Mobile terrestrial base stations. It said approval must await the companies addressing interference risks from SpaceX's SCS G Block downlinks into existing S-band mobile satellite service operators' uplinks.

Low earth orbit (LEO) should fall under the National Environmental Policy Act's scope, said Michael Runnels, California State University business law assistant professor, in a Journal of Air Law and Commerce article last week. He urged changes to federal law to include the orbital environment under NEPA's scope, which in turn would give the FCC clear Congressional authorization to regulate orbital debris. He said the FCC not substantively enforcing NEPA in LEO creates a "regulatory void" that could lead to more orbital debris. Needing changes are Title 42, regarding public health, and Title 47, on the structure and duties of the FCC, he said.

SpaceX was by far the busiest space launch provider in Q1, with 21 launches putting up 763 spacecraft, per BryceTech Tuesday. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. did 12 launches in the quarter, putting up 31 spacecraft, it said, and the Indian Space Research Organisation did two launches but put up 39 spacecraft. By country, U.S. launch providers did 27 launches in the quarter, while Chinese launchers did 14, it said. Of the 869 spacecraft launched in Q1 worldwide, 81% were communications satellites -- mostly SpaceX Starlink satellites, it said.