Shorter LEO Deorbit Won't Affect Most Satellites: Aerospace

The FCC's five-year deorbit rule for satellites in low earth orbit adopted in September (see 2209290017) will have little to no effect on large commercial LEO constellations since they all plan deorbits of less than five years anyway, and instead will primarily affect U.S. smallsat and cubesat missions lacking propulsion, said Aerospace Corp. In a docket 18-133 filing Friday on a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers, Aerospace said its analysis of 855 satellites launched since 2016 found 45 -- about 5% of commercial satellites -- likely wouldn't have complied with the five-year rule if that rule existed then. The political and policy impact "may be larger than practical impact," it said.