Spectrum Five has until Jan. 19 to respond to an Intelsat claim it has evidence from the government of Papua New Guinea confirming that its Intelsat 30 and 31 satellites operate under an ITU filing by Papua New Guinea that has an earlier priority date than Spectrum Five's, filed by the Netherlands, the FCC Office of General Counsel said Tuesday (docket 20-399). Spectrum Five is seeking revocation of the Intelsat 30 and 31 satellite licenses (see 2012010057) and it sought an extension to reply.

Citing critics of its advocacy for sunsetting interference protections for earlier processing round satellite systems, SpaceX told the FCC International Bureau Monday in docket 21-456 those critics should come up with their own alternatives for encouraging coordination. It urged the FCC to release a Further NPRM focusing on routes for balancing between protecting existing systems and encouraging competition; that way the agency and sunsetting critics can weigh that idea against alternatives. New America's Open Technology Institute, recapping meetings with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks and bureau staff (see here and here), told the agency it's important to have a good faith coordination requirement among all non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service operators regardless of processing round; otherwise early round operators lack an incentive to coordinate with later-round competitors. OTI said a sunset period that's not much longer than the buildout period, such as six years, would be a good way to fight spectrum hoarding.

Private equity firm Advent International signed a merger agreement to buy Maxar Technologies for $6.4 billion, Maxar said Friday. It said the deal will let it accelerate investments in satellite technologies, pursue M&A on its own, and grow its earth intelligence and space infrastructure businesses. It said the deal is expected to close in mid-2023.

SpaceX could start launching its second-generation Starlink satellites this month, the company told the FCC International Bureau Friday. It received partial approval from the agency of its second-gen constellation plans earlier this month (see 2212010052)

Defense contractor L3Harris is buying rocket propulsion system maker Aerojet Rocketdyne in a $4.7 billion deal, L3Harris said Sunday. L3Harris said the deal will make it more able to meet defense demand in areas such as advanced missile technologies and hypersonics.

Allowing SpaceX to add very-high frequency telemetry, tracking and command beacons to its second-generation Starlink satellites would give them redundant TT&C capabilities, which would allow better tracking of Starlinks, the company said in an FCC International Bureau special temporary authority application Friday. The improved tracking "will benefit all operators in the instance of a conjunction or an anomaly," it said. The commission, in its approval earlier this month of part of the second-gen constellation (see 2212010052), deferred decision on Starlink's proposed tracking beacons. In a letter posted Friday, Dish Network said SpaceX was deliberately dragging its feet on a request for data on the validation software used to show its second-generation constellation's compliance with equivalent power flux density limits. SpaceX doesn't need the 30 days it says it will respond by, Dish said. "SpaceX needs that time only for the purpose of withholding the information from parties entitled to it," Dish said. SpaceX didn't comment.

AST SpaceMobile said it expects to start commercial operations of its satellite-provided mobile service in the latter half of 2023, and prompt approval of its petition for U.S. market access for V-band feeder links "is necessary to avoid jeopardizing the preparations necessary to meet commercial deployment objectives," company representatives told the offices of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Brendan Starks, per an International Bureau filing last week. The company said it anticipates doing 4G LTE and 5G tests globally with partner companies in the U.S., Japan, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.

SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper disagree about Kuiper's orbital debris remediation plans for its proposed satellite constellation. In a letter Wednesday to the FCC International Bureau, SpaceX said Kuiper promises to limit conjunction risks while deorbiting and to cooperate with other operators, but it's not giving technical details that can substantiate such pledges. Last month Amazon said concerns raised by commenters about its orbital debris mitigation plan were "unfounded and represent no reason to delay grant of the application."

DOT needs to improve its process for identifying and documenting GPS interference incidents, per a GAO report Thursday. It said DOT identified 196 potential GPS interference incidents in the first five months of this year, but its process doesn't include all available user reports and its data has inaccuracies. "Without a process that produces quality GPS interference information, federal efforts to quickly respond to and stop interference could be delayed," GAO said. It said DOT has worked to improve transportation sector resilience to GPS interference, but it's not clear how those efforts improved resilience. The report recommended DOT document its incident identification process and develop a strategic approach to resilience.

Intelsat's Galaxy 35 and 36 geosynchronous orbit satellites were launched into orbit Tuesday on an Arianespace Ariane rocket, the company said. The two C-band satellites are part of a fleet refresh that started in 2020 and are the fifth and sixth out of seven satellites it's launching in 2022 and 2023, it said.