Globalstar, Harris Given Cubesat Mission Experimental License OK

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology granted special temporary authority to Globalstar and Harris for an experimental cubesat mission. According to approvals (see here and here) granted Friday, Harris will do S-band downlinks using a Globalstar GSP-1700 duplex transmitter. Harris said the point of the mission is assessing radiation mitigation techniques and the performance of a broad-bandwidth deployable antenna specifically designed for cubesats and the effective coverage of Harris' downlink, uplink and payload experiment data communications. Globalstar said the cubesat mission will be about six months, and Harris will notify the FCC of the dates of the operation once established.