Eyeing lunar communications infrastructure as a service, Lockheed Martin seeks FCC sign-off for 230 robotic landers, vehicles, spacesuits, landing systems and handheld terminals to use on the moon's surface. In an International Bureau application Wednesday, LM said the fixed and mobile lunar surface stations would communicate with each other, the company's ParsecTM lunar orbit satellites and other satellites, and earth stations using the UHF, S, X and Ka bands. LM said it's also planning for a second phase of lunar deployment that would involve licenses for space manufacturing and lunar surface mining assets and a third phase that would include a fission power plant and lunar surface habitat. It said its planned Parsec communications network would provide connectivity between the Earth and moon. The initial lunar mission likely would provide services to NASA, though "various international space agencies and governments as well as commercial entities have expressed a need for these services," LM said. It anticipates that for its proposed lunar communications network, customers would buy time the same way they buy time for an earth station under a service agreement.
SpaceX's attempt to use the AWS-4 band and adjacent 2020-2025 MHz band for mobile satellite service direct to handsets (see 2302080001) would be "a grenade thrown at a carefully considered regulatory framework," Dish Network and EchoStar said in a petition to deny Tuesday. Giving SpaceX rights in the band that are superior to Dish's would essentially upend Dish's use of that band for its 5G network and harm EchoStar's deployment of a non-geostationary orbit system which will use 2 GHz spectrum for service links, said the petition. Spectrum sharing and competition are generally good, but co-frequency sharing by two different high-power mobile services "is not feasible and would result in harmful interference in operations," it said. SpaceX didn't comment Wednesday.
Spire Global, meeting with 10th-floor FCC officials including Commissioner Nathan Simington, and with the International Bureau, urged an easier approval process for technically identical satellites to bring earth exploration satellite service rules in line with the rules for other satellite services (see 2303100032).
The FCC Space Bureau reorganization "should be up and running soon," with OMB having signed off and the FCC working with Congress to get its approval, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said at the Satellite Industry Association's annual leadership dinner Monday, per prepared remarks posted Tuesday. The U.S. at 2023's World Radiocommunication Conference will take actions "that broadcast to the world how important we believe [the space sector] is to our future," she said. Rosenworcel said the single network future NPRM on this week's agenda and its proposed framework for allowing transmissions between satellites and consumer handsets using only spectrum available on terrestrial networks "can kick start more innovation in the space economy while also expanding wireless coverage in remote, unserved, and underserved areas." While making mobile dead zones "a thing of the past ... we have an opportunity to bring our spectrum policies into the future and think about how we move past the binary choices between mobile spectrum on the one hand or satellite spectrum on the other," she said.
More than 42,000 satellites, probes and capsules are expected to be launched between now and 2023, up 19% from the 2022 10-year estimate of nearly 34,200, Teal Group said Monday. Last year saw 2,521 payloads launched, it said.
The FCC needs "data-agnostic" earth exploration satellite service rules and an easier approval process for technically identical satellites to bring EESS in line with the rules for other satellite services, Spire Global representatives told FCC officials, per a docket 18-313 filing Friday. It urged "a holistic review" of license conditions "to restore certainty, consistency, and predictability among similarly-situated licensees." Spire also urged the agency to approve its pending request to use the 400 MHz band in the U.S. for mobile satellite service. The filing recapped meetings with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington.
As part of Viasat's buy of Inmarsat, the satellite operators committed to a series of conditions such as complying with all applicable lawful interception and all court orders for lawfully authorized electronic surveillance. Per a filing last week with the FCC International Bureau, New Inmarsat also would commit to creating a cybersecurity plan and system security plan, both guided by the current NIST cybersecurity framework.
Globalstar's arguments against SpaceX using the 1.6/2.4 GHz band for direct-to-device service (see 2302280074) run contrary to the band allocation and Globalstar's license, SpaceX told the International Bureau last week. It also runs against the FCC's overall mobile satellite service goal of a competitive market with multiple co-frequency operators sharing spectrum, it said. Globalstar's Apple arrangement is an attempt "to privately auction frequencies that are shared, while reaping a windfall in the process," SpaceX said. SpaceX's assertions are "nothing new," Globalstar emailed Friday.
The C-band accelerated clearing Phase II certification framework "is long overdue," with multiple satellite operators having wrapped up all their relocation obligations, Eutelsat representatives told FCC International and Wireless bureaus and Office of General Counsel staffers, per a filing forthcoming in docket 18-122. Further delay raises the risk of harmful interference to incumbent C-band satellite services when Verizon begins rolling out terrestrial operations in the band, it said. It urged the Wireless Bureau to verify that ubiquitous earth station filtering is in place before terrestrial transmissions start. A Phase II validation would provide confidence those earth stations will operate properly after the launch of terrestrial service. Eutelsat also urged the bureau to set up compliance obligations and an oversight process to ensure the service to incumbent C-band earth station operators not covered by a validated certification is protected before any terrestrial licensee starts service.
Space Norway asked the FCC for a one-year extension of the 50% milestone deadline in its U.S. market access authorization, granted in 2017 (see 1711030063). In an International Bureau application Wednesday, it said its Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission constellation ran into unavoidable production-related delays, with manufacturer Northrop Grumman shifting resources from SN's two satellites to its C-band satellite contracts with Intelsat and SES. Northrop Grumman then ran into supply chain and COVID-19 pandemic problems, causing further delays, SN said. It's requesting the milestone date be moved to Nov. 3, 2024. It said the earliest it could launch is November this year, but a 2024 launch is more likely.