Spaceflight Seeking IB Approval for Its Sherpa Satellite Deployment System

Spaceflight seeks FCC International Bureau approval for communications with its Sherpa spacecraft sometime in the first four months of 2016. In its IB application posted Friday, Spaceflight said it intends to launch Sherpa on a Falcon 9 between Jan. 15 and April 15 into an elliptical orbit of between 450 and 720 kilometers, and Sherpa would then deploy satellites from each of its five ports. The company is seeking special temporary authority for communications between Sherpa and three earth stations during Sherpa's 12-hour operational span so as to monitor the launch and to download status information. The downlink communications would be at 401.5 MHz, while the uplinks would be at 450.2 MHz, Spaceflight said. Sherpa -- a nonpropulsive spacecraft with no solar panels, attitude control, propulsion or pressure vessels -- is designed to deploy up to three microsatellites and several cubesats and nanosatellites, and then ultimately de-orbits back into the atmosphere roughly 20 years after launch, Spaceflight said.