SpaceX's Changing Satellite Plans Invalidate Its Approval, Application: Viasat

SpaceX's Starlink seems to be planning to deploy satellites that the FCC didn't approve or evaluate when it authorized the company's first-generation configuration and aren't described or assessed for risk in its pending second-gen application, Viasat told the FCC International Bureau Tuesday. The second-gen Starlinks CEO Elon Musk described in a recent interview -- 7 meters long, weighing about 1.25 tons each -- are larger and heavier than the first-gen satellites and thus not covered by the orbital debris mitigation plan approved by the FCC, Viasat said. That means they're not authorized by SpaceX's current satellite system license, it said. SpaceX's pending second-gen application indicates those satellites should be deployable using a Falcon 9 rocket, but Musk is now saying the Falcon doesn't have the volume or mass required, noting the second-gen satellites differ from what's described in the application, it said. Larger second-gen satellites pose higher collision risks, it said. Viasat again said SpaceX's second-gen application should be denied or held in abeyance (see 2203090006) and said the agency should compel the company to clarify the physical characteristics of all Starlinks it intends to deploy and to submit revised orbital debris mitigation plans and analyses. SpaceX didn't comment Wednesday.