The FCC's reconsideration petition process shouldn't be used "to get additional bites at the apple on arguments [a petitioner] overlooked, deemed unworthy of discussion, or otherwise failed to raise in a timely manner," SpaceX told the International Bureau Wednesday. SpaceX was responding to Viasat's petition seeking clarification of the agency's partial authorization of SpaceX's second-generation constellation (see 2301040007). SpaceX said Viasat is trying to cloak a flawed reconsideration petition by calling it a petition for clarification, "a type of filing unknown in the Commission’s rules." Viasat didn't comment Thursday.

Boeing is seeking FCC special temporary authorization for what will be the inaugural flight of its CST-100 reusable space capsule in a mission to the International Space Station. Boeing said in its application Wednesday the mission will be its first crewed test flight mission, with the STA for command, tracking and analysis.

SpaceX wants the conditions the FCC put on its second-generation constellation to be required of other satellite applications pending before the agency. In a series of near-identical filings with the International Bureau Tuesday, SpaceX said those conditions should be required of Amazon's Kuiper, Tomorrow Company's earth exploration satellite service constellation and Kepler's requested U.S. market access for its mobile satellite service. The conditions SpaceX seeks include the other operators having to file semi-annual reports on collision avoidance maneuvers and satellite disposal, including any difficulties or failures, and the agency employing with those operators a performance-based method for assessing disposal failures that accounts for the number of failed satellites and their entire passive decay time. SpaceX also urged the FCC to require the operators to coordinate with the National Science Foundation to reach agreement about mitigating their satellites' impact on optical ground-based astronomy and that there be related annual reporting requirements. SpaceX said questions remain about FCC authority regarding space sustainability, but the agency's rules, to be effective, "must apply ... equally to similarly situated operators, and not through a patchwork of conflicting licensing conditions." Adopting those conditions for the others would create "a meaningful and broadly applicable baseline for sustainable operations in space." The FCC, Kuiper, Tomorrow and Kepler didn't comment Wednesday. "The strategy seems more likely to be to hobble competitors, by increasing their perceived regulatory risk, especially in a challenging economic environment where those competitors either need to raise money, or (in the case of Kuiper) convince senior executives to continue pouring billions of dollars into the project," satellite and spectrum consultant Tim Farrar emailed. He said those operators aren't likely to advocate for the conditions to be removed from SpaceX. "In reality SpaceX doesn’t need them to be removed anytime soon, it will take several years (at a minimum) to get 12,000 Gen1 and Gen2 Starlink satellites on orbit," he said.

The addressable smartphone market for Iridium's Qualcomm Snapdragon Satellite partnership (see 2301050061) includes China, and Samsung, and Chinese Android original equipment manufacturers Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo are likely to adopt QSS in their premium brands, William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma wrote investors Wednesday. QSS partnerships could be announced at February's Mobile World Congress conference, he said. The Samsung Galaxy S23 likely won't have the new chip, but it should be ready for the S24, he said. Iridium's third constellation could cost less than the $3 billion spent on its 66-satellite NEXT constellation, with the spending for that likely being 2030-2037, he said.

OneWeb received additional time it requested to provide complete responses to questions posed by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector, per a letter last week from the DOJ Foreign Investment Review Section to the FCC International Bureau. The committee will notify the FCC when it has received the responses and is restarting the review period, DOJ said. The committee is reviewing OneWeb's pending application to modify its U.S. market access grant (see 2203290001).

Eutelsat continues to press the FCC for the Wireless Bureau to release a framework for certifying completion of the C-band accelerated relocation process' second phase by satellite operators (see 2301030061). "Such guidance is long overdue" since Eutelsat finished its work more than a year ago, a Eutelsat representative told an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, per a docket 18-122 filing Friday. Lack of such certification "raises a profound risk of harmful interference" when Verizon begins operating in second-phase markets in Q1, it said. Eutelsat also urged allowing a C-band transition plan update, saying the last one was in September 2021 and an update could help streamline review of future second-phase certifications. SES has also urged the agency to issue a certification framework (see 2211220072).

The FCC International Bureau approved transfer of SES' AMC-11 license to Telesat (see 2211100013), per a file notation last week.

SpaceX and the National Science Foundation inked a coordination agreement to protect optical and infrared astronomical observations from interference due to Starlink satellites, NSF said last week. It follows a 2019 coordination agreement on radio astronomy, it said. NSF said the latest agreement -- which fulfills conditions of the company's second-generation constellation license authorized by the FCC (see 2212010052) -- means SpaceX agreed to continue working on ways to reduce optical brightness of Starlinks via their physical design and attitude maneuvering and to provide orbital information publicly that astronomers can use for scheduling. It said mitigations SpaceX developed for its second-gen satellites include dielectric mirror film and new black paint. NSF said adaptive laser optics at ground-based astronomies no longer have to close when SpaceX satellites are nearby, and said the company committed to dynamic coordination with radio astronomy facilities operating in frequencies outside the 10.6-10.7 GHz band, which already has protection. NSF said SpaceX and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory did field tests -- and have more planned in 2023 -- to verify radio astronomy observations aren't affected. NRAO raised concerns earlier this month about SpaceX's planned direct-to-handset service with T-Mobile (see 2301090060).

Comments are due March 3, replies April 3, in docket 22-411 on the FCC's proposed space application review process streamlining, said a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. The streamlining NPRM was adopted 4-0 in December (see 2212210054),

The FCC International Bureau signed off on BlackSky Global's starting to replace its first-generation constellation with second-gen satellites, approving a request to launch and operate its Global 16 satellite and its Global-1 and -2 replacement satellites, per an order this week. The bureau deferred action on BlackSky expanding its constellation with third-gen satellites (see 2208080014).