Space Bureau Lacks Consistency on Satellite Conditions: SpaceX

The FCC is inexplicably inconsistent about conditions it places on satellite constellations, SpaceX representatives told the offices of the five agency commissioners, said a filing Friday in docket 18-313. SpaceX said that while the agency has put 100 object-year caps -- that's the number of years each failed satellite remains in orbit, added up across all the satellites -- on some constellations, it has not done so with Amazon's proposed 3,232-satelite Kuiper constellation. Nor has it required that Kuiper report cumulative object-years any failures represent, though it has required such reporting of some other constellations, SpaceX said. "Now that a greater number of operators are beginning to deploy their systems in earnest, the Commission must ensure that the Bureau applies Commission-level precedent consistently and avoids providing special treatment," SpaceX said.