Sunsetting non-geostationary orbit satellite protections by condensing processing rounds over time without the loss of interference protection rights for earlier rounds could encourage NGSO innovation and competition, Intelsat representatives told FCC International Bureau staffers per a docket 21-456 filing Friday. Intelsat said sunsetting shouldn't mean later-round licensees can interfere with earlier-round ones or that it puts earlier- and later-round systems on equal footing for coordination. It said it doesn't support sunsetting licenses or interference protections. The sunsetting provision in the NGSO spectrum sharing NPRM adopted in December has been an area of contention (see 2203280029).
To make sure SpaceX's proposed second-generation broadband satellite constellation doesn't create too big an astronomy problem, it must operate below 580 km and reach a coordination agreement with the National Science Foundation to protect optical ground-based astronomy, the FCC said in an authorization order released Thursday. The authorization green-lights 7,500 of the proposed 29,988 Ku-/Ka-band Starlink satellites, deferring on the rest of the constellation and on SpaceX's request to also use the E band. The partial grant lets SpaceX start deployment while also "protect[ing] other satellite and terrestrial operators from harmful interference and maintain[ing] a safe space environment, promoting competition and protecting spectrum and orbital resources for future use," the order said. Among the conditions, SpaceX must submit regular reports to the FCC about progress to protect optical astronomy and limit operations in some frequency bands to one satellite beam from any of its second-generation Starlinks in the same frequency in the same or overlapping areas at a time.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined in-space services, assembly and manufacturing advocates in urging the FCC to move toward an NPRM on licensing ISAM missions (see 2211290047). In docket 22-272 Thursday, the Chamber said the agency also should use the 2023 World Radioccommunication Conference as an opportunity to push international discussions on ISAM spectrum needs.
As SpaceX's Starlink broadband service adds subscribers -- with numbers hitting roughly 400,000 in Q2 -- its download speeds continue to slow, Ookla said Tuesday. It said its average download speed in the U.S. during Q3 of this year, 53 Mbps, was a 17% decline year over year. It said upload speeds were largely unchanged year over year, with Starlink averaging 7.22 Mbps in the U.S. It said Starlink's U.S. customer base has grown sizably over the past year, from at least 10 unique users in 776 counties -- which is roughly 25% of all counties -- to 2,399 counties, which is about 75%.
AST SpaceMobile's BlueWalker 3 prototype satellite "is now one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshining all but the brightest stars," and its use of terrestrial frequencies "poses a new challenge to radio astronomy," said the International Astronomical Union Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS) Monday. The satellite “is a big shift in the constellation satellite issue and should give us all reason to pause,” said IAU CPS Director Piero Benvenuti. The group urged low earth orbit constellations to "be conducted with due consideration of their side effects and with efforts made to minimize their impact on astronomy." AST emailed it's "eager to use the newest technologies and strategies to mitigate possible impacts to astronomy." It said it's working on such mitigations as anti-reflective materials and is "also engaged with NASA and certain working groups within the astronomy community to participate in advanced industry solutions, including potential operational interventions." It said it's committed to avoiding broadcasts inside or adjacent to the National Radio Quiet Zone in the U.S. and additional radioastronomy locations as required or needed. "We also plan to place gateway antennas far away from the NRQZ and other radio-quiet zones that are important to astronomy," it said.
Last Saturday's SpaceX launch, a resupply mission to the International Space Station, was the 500th commercial launch licensed by the FAA, the agency said Tuesday.
Sirius XM is hiring Maxar for two new geostationary satellites, SXM-11 and -12, the companies said Tuesday. Maxar said the two would allow increased Sirius XM capabilities, including an expanded service area and better service quality. The two join SXM-9 and -10, which are in the development pipeline at Maxar.
An FCC order allowing geostationary orbit fixed satellite service satellites to operate downlinks in the 17.3-17.8 GHz band will be effective Dec. 27, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register. The commission adopted the 17 GHz order in August (see 2208040055).
As the FCC considers how to define protection criteria for non-geostationary orbit systems and the level of protection for earlier-round systems, the agency should at minimum preserve the processing round regime and balance targeted protections for operating systems with opportunities for new entrants, satellite operators said Wednesday in docket 21-456. Recapping a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, they said since there's disagreement about how to protect earlier-round systems from later entrants, they urged issuing a Further Notice as a route to "drive toward a consensus view." Meeting with the FCC were SpaceX OneWeb, Kepler and SES/O3b. Separately SpaceX said any Further NPRM should seek comment on ways to encourage spectral efficiency among NGSO systems in a single processing round. It also suggested that, in the commission's pending NGSO spectrum sharing NPRM, the FCC should require that later-round NGSO systems use information acquired through coordination when demonstrating compliance with an interference protection regime. If earlier-round systems don't provide that information, only then should later-round operators resort to information found in public applications, it said.
Comments are due Dec. 23 on the proposed transfer of OneWeb authorizations as part of its purchase by Eutelsat, with replies and oppositions to petitions due Jan. 3 and replies to those due Jan. 10, the FCC International Bureau said Wednesday in a public notice in docket 22-204. The all-stock transaction was announced in July.