Globalstar to Reconfigure LEO Constellation Starting Later This Month

Globalstar plans to move all its second-generation satellites to eight orbital planes while keeping its eight remaining first-generation satellites in their current orbital configurations, the company told the FCC International Bureau in a notification Thursday. An FCC modification order in 2011 permitted Globalstar to operate a 32-satellite configuration -- using first- and second-generation satellites -- over eight orbital planes plus a separate 16-satellite configuration using solely its first-generation satellites, the company said. Since that order, multiple first-generation satellites have been retired, the company said, saying it will do the reconfiguration over about 11 weeks, with the work starting about Jan. 22. The FCC last month approved Globalstar's proposal for terrestrial use of 11.5 MHz of its licensed satellite spectrum for low-power mobile broadband (see 1612230060).