by Jason Rainbow — May 2, 2022

TAMPA, Fla. — Evidence is mounting of a need to perform an environmental review before approving SpaceX’s plans to add nearly 30,000 satellites to its Starlink constellation, satellite broadband competitor Viasat told the FCC May 2. 

SpaceX shouldn’t be allowed to greatly expand its Starlink network while light pollution issues surrounding its deployed satellites remain unresolved, Jarrett Taubman, Viasat vice president and deputy chief of government affairs, said in a letter to the regulator.

While calls for a thorough environmental review that Viasat made for Starlink’s current generation of satellites in December 2020 were largely rejected, Taubman said SpaceX’s plan to grow the constellation by seven times “would have significant aesthetic, scientific, social and cultural, and health effects on the human environment on Earth.”

SpaceX has already deployed more than half of the 4,408 first-generation Starlink satellites the FCC has approved to operate at altitudes of around 550 kilometers. The company is seeking FCC permission for a larger constellation of second-generation Starlinks that it proposes to operate at lower altitudes — between 340 and 614 kilometers — in order to improve performance.

Viasat and astronomers say operating significantly more satellites even closer to the Earth would exacerbate Starlink’s light pollution.

Read more at: https://spacenews.com/mounting-evidence-shows-need-for-starlink-gen-2-environmental-review-says-viasat/

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by Jason Rainbow — April 7, 2022

COLORADO SPRINGS —SpaceX has lost the right to provide Starlink broadband services in France after the country’s highest administrative court revoked its spectrum license. 

France’s Conseil d’État ruled April 5 that French telecoms regulator ARCEP should have launched a public consultation before authorizing Starlink in February 2021.

“In law, they should normally cease [providing services] immediately, pending ARCEP’s public consultation” following the court’s decision, a Conseil d’État spokesperson told SpaceNews.

Read more at: https://spacenews.com/starlink-loses-french-spectrum-license/

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Reference: SpaceX’s Gen2 amendment FCC filings licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe

EMFSA:

These frequencies are already in use, examples: radio astronomy, remote sensing, automotive radars, military applications, imaging, security screening, and telecommunications.

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Source: https://wccftech.com/starlink-study-reveals-mind-boggling-facts-about-service-outages/

By Ramish Zafar

Aug 21, 2021

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (SpaceX) Starlink satellite internet constellation was the center of a detailed study last month, conducted by the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences in Vienna. The study covers several areas of Starlink’s performance, such as its download speeds, latency and the ability to stream video continuously. Its results reveal that the internet service delivers an average download speed of 170 Mbps and a top download speed of 330 Mbps. Additionally, Starlink also demonstrates latencies as high as two seconds and dipping below 30 milliseconds reveals Carinthia’s ROADMAP 5G research group, which aims to study emerging technologies in the era of fifth-generation (5G) cellular internet connectivity.

Starlink Is Capable Of Working Outside Regions Covered By Dish And In Areas With Late Availability

For their study, the researchers connected a notebook to a Starlink router through a Gigabit-capable switch. They then ran their tests for the internet service’s download and upload speeds, latencies, downtime, video streaming, dish power consumption and the time the user terminal spends connected to the satellites.

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Finally, the researchers could also connect to the Internet with Starlink in areas outside of the service’s coverage map. This included coverage in one area where availability is scheduled for 2022 and others where it is possible to order a user terminal now.

With only a limited number of Starlink satellites being deployed so far, the results of the study, which was conducted last month, are far from being set in stone. SpaceX has several plans for its satellites, including second-generation spacecraft that are capable of using lasers for communicating with each other, as it plans to aggressively build its constellation of thousands of satellites within the next few years.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX revealed new details about plans for the next-generation of satellites in its Starlink internet system in federal filings on Wednesday, including that the company intends to use its massive Starship rocket as the primary vehicle to deliver the spacecraft to orbit.

SpaceX filed an amendment with the Federal Communications Commission that included descriptions of its plan, known as the Starlink “Gen2 System.”

SpaceX has launched 1,740 Starlink satellites to date, with its first generation system beginning launches in November 2019. Gen2 is planned to have nearly 30,000 satellites in total.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-new-capabilities-starship-launch.html

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By Ramish Zafar, Aug 8, 2021

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (SpaceX) Starlink satellite internet service is making progress in delivering internet connectivity to vehicles. SpaceX’s subsidiary, SpaceX Services Inc, also referred to as SpaceX, has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking it to operate brand new user terminals. These terminals, ‘high performance’ variants of the dishes currently under use by Starlink’s beta-testers, will provide coverage to moving vehicles, including automobiles, vessels and aircraft. In its application, SpaceX collectively refers to the terminals as Earth Stations In Motion (ESIMs), and it provides details for their technical parameters such as power output and transmit duty cycles.

Starlink Terminals For Vehicles Will Stay Connected To Satellites For Longer

The new terminals will be used on all kinds of moving vehicles, including those operating on the ground and in the sea and air. According to SpaceX’s application, they will lower their transmit power but feature a higher signal gain alongside a higher scan angle and other adjustments suited to their use cases.

While collectively, the new terminals are called Earth Stations in Motion (ESIMs), a segment of these are designed to withstand stringent environmental conditions. SpaceX calls this segment of terminals ‘High Performance’ or HP. Some of the changes that the HP terminals will feature include handling harsher environments by withstanding longer changes in temperature, operating at higher and lower extreme temperatures and improving snow melting capabilities.

Read more at https://wccftech.com/new-starlink-dishes-for-cars-planes-to-carry-radiation-hazard-warning/

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PUBLISHED THU, JUN 3 2021

LeoLabs, a private venture that tracks objects and debris in low Earth orbit through a network of radars around the world, raised $65 million in capital in a new fundraising round, the company announced on Tuesday.

“It’s a great endorsement of our success to date and where we’re headed,” LeoLabs CEO Dan Ceperley told CNBC. “We’re the largest data provider for [low Earth orbit] in the world now … we’ve stepped beyond anybody in the public or private [sectors].”

LeoLabs raised the new capital from Insight Partners and prior investor Velvet Sea Ventures. Including this round, the company has raised more than $100 million in total since its founding five years ago, with existing investors including Airbus Ventures, WERU Investment, Space Capital and Horizons Ventures.

Ceperley declined to comment on LeoLabs’ valuation after this round, but the company added Insight Partners senior advisor Nick Sinai to its board of directors. The LeoLabs board now stands at four, with chairman Manish Kothari, director Kiichiro DeLuca and director Peter Jackson.

LeoLabs will use the fresh funds to scale its business in three major ways, with Ceperley expecting the company’s headcount to grow from above 40 to more than 60, increase the rate at which it builds radar locations, and roll out new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products.

So far LeoLabs has built space radars on the ground in Texas, Alaska, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

The number of satellites and spacecraft launched per year has “shifted into high gear,” Ceperley said, as evidenced by the past few years of growth. According to a report by industry firm Bryce Tech, the number of spacecraft launched to orbit in 2020 jumped to 1,085 — doubling last year’s total and multiple times that of the average annual total. A significant driver of that increase has been launches by SpaceX of its Starlink satellite internet network, with more than 1,700 satellites launched to date.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/27wt2f2e

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by Jason Rainbow — May 25, 2021

TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite operator Viasat is asking the FCC to stop SpaceX from launching more Starlink satellites as it heads to court to compel a thorough environmental review of the rapidly growing megaconstellation.

On Friday, Viasat formally asked the Federal Communications Commission to stay an April 27 license modification that allows SpaceX to continue building out the broadband constellation, which already numbers more than 1,600 satellites.

Starlink surpassed the 1,584 satellites permitted under its previous license in 550-kilometer orbits soon after launching a fresh batch of 52 satellites May 15. SpaceX is slated to launch 60 more May 26.

Viasat’s bid to stop or at least slow Starlink’s expansion rests on convincing a federal appeals court that the FCC was legally obligated to assess the megaconstellation’s environmental impact before approving SpaceX’s request to more than double the number of satellites it intends to operate from 550 kilometers. 

The FCC originally approved a 4,409-satellite constellation, which included 2,825 satellites in orbits of 1,100 to 1,300 kilometers and 1,584 satellites at 550 kilometers. The FCC approved on April 27 a SpaceX application to modify that license, moving the satellites in the higher orbits to 550 kilometers and tweaking the size of the overall constellation to 4,408 satellites. 

The company says it sought the modification to reduce latency, or signal lag, between space and the ground to improve video calls, gaming and other activities on the network.

In December, the FCC awarded SpaceX $890 million under the first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which aims to bring broadband service to unserved homes and businesses in the United States. Low latency was a key qualifying criterion for receiving funding.  

Stopping Starlink

Of the more than 1,600 Starlink satellites in orbit, roughly 700 have launched since January. A Falcon 9 launch slated for May 26 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, would be the 13th Starlink launch of 2021. 

Viasat is asking the FCC to hit pause on further launches until federal courts can review the legality of the license modification. 

Carlsbad, California-based Viasat, which provides broadband services from geostationary orbit (GEO), had petitioned the FCC to conduct an environmental review before granting the license modification as part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which currently categorically exempts satellite systems, but says this did not happen despite megaconstellations bringing new considerations for regulators.

Some astronomers had also requested an environmental assessment, worried about how the constellation’s reflectivity affects ground-based telescope observations. 

The FCC by and large rejected the requests when it approved the license modification, although it did urge SpaceX to continue to work closely with astronomers to mitigate the brightness of its satellites. The FCC offered several reasons for not performing an environmental assessment, from questioning whether light pollution is covered by NEPA to noting that the Federal Aviation Administration does its own environmental reviews as part of the launch licensing process.

Viasat said in a May 21 filing to the FCC that NEPA required it to at least consider environmental harms before granting SpaceX’s application, such as orbital debris, light pollution and the effect disintegrating satellites could have on the atmosphere. 

“We believe the FCC failed to conduct a legally required environmental review under NEPA and did not honor the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to a science-based approach to protecting the atmosphere, the Earth’s climate, space and the well-being of U.S. citizens before authorizing the launch of thousands of new Starlink satellites into low-earth orbit,” John Janka, Viasat’s chief officer for global government and regulatory affairs, said in an emailed statement.

“As such, we have asked the Commission to stay its order until the federal courts review its legality.” 

If the FCC does not grant a stay by June 1, Viasat intends to go to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where it will seek a stay and review of the modification order.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more at https://spacenews.com/viasat-asks-fcc-to-halt-starlink-launches-while-it-seeks-court-ruling/

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Written by Lee Kanayama & Joseph Navin May 15, 2021

SpaceX launched its third Starlink mission in just 11 days on the v1.0 L26 flight. The mission brings the total number of operational Starlink v1.0 satellites launched to near 1,567 – just shy of the 1,584 needed to declare all of the first shell of Starlinks launched.

The mission, with 52 Starlink satellites and two rideshare payloads (Capella Whitney 4 and Tyvak-0130), launched on a Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, 15 May at 18:54 EDT / 22:54 UTC.

Overall, this was the 28th Starlink mission, the 27th flight of operational Starlinks, the 15th Falcon 9 flight of the year, the fourth Starlink rideshare mission, the third time a Falcon 9 first stage will fly for an eighth time, and the third Falcon 9 flight in 11 days.

Read more at https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/05/spacex-starlink-rideshare-milestone-nears/

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News Analysis MIKE DANO, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies 4/27/2021

The FCC approved a request by SpaceX’s Starlink to make changes to its constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. The ruling represents a setback to Starlink competitors like Viasat and Amazon that had argued against the changes, as well as a knock against Dish Network.

For its part, Dish has been vehemently urging the FCC to reject the requests by SpaceX to modify its satellite operations. Dish’s ultimate goal is to get the agency to allow 5G operations in the 12GHz band – the same band that SpaceX is in part using for its expanding LEO satellite Internet services.

“Dish reiterates its request that any grant of SpaceX’s … modification should exclude the 12GHz band,” Dish wrote to the FCC just last week.

But the FCC announced Tuesday it plans to take the opposite approach.

“We grant subject to the conditions set forth herein the application of Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (SpaceX) for modification of its license for a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed-satellite service (FSS) constellation,” the agency wrote in a new order. SpaceX requested a number of changes to its LEO satellites, including lowering their altitude from around 680 miles above Earth’s surface to around 335 miles. The agency said SpaceX can continue to use the 12GHz band for its operations.

However, the agency didn’t shut the door to eventually allowing 5G operations into that same band.

“We recently released the 12GHz NPRM [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking], which assesses the potential for terrestrial 5G use of the band,” the FCC wrote. “We decline to prejudge any aspects of the 12GHz rulemaking proceeding by either commenting on the ability of terrestrial and satellite operators to share spectrum in the frequency band more generally, or by denying the requested modification that would include authorization to use the 12.2-12.7GHz band.”

Indeed, the FCC said that SpaceX can proceed with its changes, but that it needs to be aware that 5G might also be allowed into the 12GHz band at some point in the future – and that it should plan accordingly. “SpaceX proceeds at its own risk,” the agency wrote.

Read more at: https://www.lightreading.com/5g/dishs-5g-ambitions-for-12ghz-face-setback/d/d-id/769076

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