In response to NASA and National Science Foundation concerns about OneWeb's pending second-generation broadband satellite constellation and mega constellations broadly, the company told the FCC International Bureau last week about efforts underway to tackle those concerns. NASA said last month OneWeb's proposed constellation "may pose a significantly increased risk to NASA missions due to lengthy transits" of low earth orbit. It recommended OneWeb analyze the maximum number of expected conjunction warnings and the number of high-risk conjunctions requiring maneuver planning actions per day and do an analysis showing its automated ground system has enough capacity and sophistication to prevent collisions among the fully populated constellation and with objects outside the constellation. NASA said it's concerned about an increasing unavailability of safe launch windows. It said the proposed second-generation constellation could increase astronomical light pollution levels significantly and OneWeb should look at ways to solve that, and demonstrate its full second-gen constellation won't increase light pollution substantially over current recommended levels. NSF said it's urging satellite constellation operators to look at such light pollution mitigation steps as deflecting light away from the Earth, attitude maneuvering, choosing orbital elevations of 700 km or lower when possible, and giving astronomers orbital information to allow scheduling observations around satellite locations. OneWeb said in its Thursday response it worked with launch providers, providing predicted ephemeris, and "is committed to working closely with NASA to limit the impact its satellites have on NASA’s ability to find urgent launch windows." It said all its collision avoidance maneuvers are cleared with Space Force to ensure they don't create a conjunction with another object before being uploaded to the maneuvering satellite. It said it worked with Italy's GAL Hassin Observatory for observations of in-orbit OneWeb satellites and is creating a tool for accurate production of the brightness of next-generation OneWeb satellites.
Tariff classification rulings
Momentus hopes to launch its Vigoride-5 craft in October and use it to transport and deploy various customer payloads and do some hosted-payload experimental operations for California Institute of Technology, it told the FCC International Bureau in an application Wednesday.
Though Globalstar's commercial IoT business was hit by component parts shortages in its most-recent quarter, it has several thousand units on back order and expects to resume production in Q2 to fill them, the company said Thursday, announcing its latest earnings. It said Q1 revenue was $5.8 million, up 22% year over year due to increased engineering services revenue more than offsetting a decline in subscriber equipment sales revenue.
The FCC granted AST SpaceMobile an experimental license for its BlueWalker 3 satellite and downlink testing using low-band cellular frequencies and Q- and V-band frequencies, the company said this week. The satellite is scheduled for launch this summer, it said.
Hughes ended Q1 with 1.4 million broadband subscribers, down 150,000 year over year, with subscriber numbers in Latin America down due to the economy and capacity allocation to community Wi-Fi and enterprise customers, it said Thursday announcing its quarterly results. Revenue for the quarter was $501.5 million, up $19 million year over year, with higher equipment sales more than offsetting lower service revenue due to the drop in broadband consumer subscribers. It said its Jupiter 3/EchoStar XXIV satellite is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2023.
SpaceX's opposition to OneWeb's pending modification application (see 2204200007) is "nothing more than [its] latest attempt to strip first round protections from a competitor" and "purely anti-competitive gamesmanship," OneWeb told the FCC International Bureau Tuesday. The issues Viasat raises may warrant further consideration, but that should be in a rulemaking proceeding, it said. It also filed interference and equivalent power flux density analyses. SpaceX didn't comment Wednesday.
The FCC International Bureau gave thumbs up to Avanti Communications Group's requested U.S. market access for its Ka-band Hylas-4 satellite (see 2112220004), per an authorization Tuesday.
The Transportation Department's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, known as AST, is ramping up staffing and will have middle managers increasingly focused on the day-to-day tasks to allow quicker decision-making, AST acting Administrator Kelvin Coleman told the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee Tuesday. AST has 110 staffers now and is authorized for 126, he said. The FY 2023 presidential budget request would give it more funding to further add staff, he said. AST staff said its adoption in April of a "complete enough" application process for space launches will be followed this fall by testing of the application portal. Coleman said the "complete enough" approach was aimed at speeding approvals, and streamlining AST's pre-application consultation process. Under "complete enough," AST does a quantitative analysis of an application's contents; if the material in the application is sufficient, the evaluation starts, he said. The FAA is moving toward an electronic system for launches that is akin to the electronic filing of flight plans, said acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen. He said the agency is reviewing software and vendors of electronic licensing portals, aiming for beta testing by year's end. Asked about concerns about the FAA over-regulating nascent commercial activity, Nolen said its primary focus on safety “doesn't mean we can't be innovative.” The U.S. is looking at its Article VI obligations under the Outer Space Treaty, about national responsibility for their national activities in outer space, as going from a focus on authorizations to more of a focus on supervision, with that being the route to space sustainability, said Diane Howard, National Space Council commercial space policy director. She said there's a need for a standardized process to track novel and nontraditional space missions, and a whole-of-government approach.
Management consultancy Analysys Mason bought Northern Sky Research, it said Tuesday. "At a time when 5G and satellite technologies and investment models are converging with disruptive effect, this acquisition couldn’t be more timely, and puts us in a unique position to advise our clients on these important developments," said Analysys Mason Executive Vice Chair Bram Moerman. Terms weren't disclosed. NSR said the deal gives it added size, scale and coverage, and its space and satellite coverage will be a key segment in the Analysys Mason research portfolio. It said the deal will accelerate NSR growth plans.
A new paper concluding no mitigation steps Starlink takes short of launching significantly fewer satellites can prevent its light pollution effects on astronomy is more proof that SpaceX's proposed second-generation constellation needs environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 1.1307 of the FCC’s rules, Viasat told the International Bureau Monday. SpaceX didn't comment.