FCC Still Digesting ISAM Feedback

The FCC is continuing to look at comments received last year on in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (see 2211010025) and to assess whether its rules need updating to help foster ISAM commercial activities, said Space Bureau Satellite Programs and Policy Division Chief Merissa Velez Wednesday at a Secure World Foundation space sustainability symposium. She said a focus for the new bureau will be transparency, particularly on ensuring new entrants get needed information about their regulatory obligations. Satellite maneuvering capabilities and the altitudes at which that should be required is an area needing regulatory certainty and industry best practices, said Kalpak Gude, Amazon's Kuiper domestic regulatory affairs head. Orbit Fab Managing Director Manny Shar said there's a need for more speed by regulatory agencies because every month's delay "is a month less runway for a startup."