Muon Space wants to add a third satellite to its authorization for a two-satellite non-geostationary orbit constellation. In an application with the FCC Space Bureau posted Monday, Muon said MuSat-4 will carry a global navigation satellite system reflectometry payload similar to MuSat-2 and -3, plus a new infrared sensor. The company said that while MuSat-2 is in orbit, -3 and -4 are scheduled for a Q1 2025 launch.

The FCC needs a solid threshold for accidental explosions that applies to all space operators, but the record lacks specific proposals for calculating or enforcing such a metric, SpaceX said Monday in docket 18-313, recapping meetings with the offices of the five commissioners. As such, the FCC should seek comment on methodologies that can make this transparent and ways of enforcing it, SpaceX said. It said the current record lacks much information about the appropriate method for calculating the probability of accidental explosions, so operators can assess compliance. A draft order on circulation proposes a cap on the probability that a satellite applicant suffers a debris-generating accidental explosion (see 2405290074).

Extensive regulatory reviews of SES's buy of Intelsat could push its close into 2026, Quilty Space said Monday. Quilty said it doesn't see a high regulatory risk to that close ultimately happening. The new SES would have "unparalleled scale" in geostationary orbit and medium earth orbit, along with a robust ground network and a variety of managed services, it predicted. However, the acquisition alone will not reverse Starlink’s advance or "blunt the future effects of Kuiper," it said. In announcing the $3.1 billion deal in April, the companies said they expected to close in latter-half 2025 (see 2404300048).

Space vehicles used principally for rendezvous and proximity operations and in-orbit servicing will be treated as small satellites for the purposes of regulatory fees, the FCC said in Friday's Daily Digest. The agency said it will group them with small satellites on an interim basis until it "can develop more experience in how these space stations will be regulated." The order didn't address other fee proposals raised in the pending space regulatory fee proceeding (see 2403140060).

Worldwide satellite industry revenue rose 2% in 2023 from a year earlier and would have jumped 5% if not for a decline in video distribution, the Satellite Industry Association said Thursday in its annual state of the industry report. As of year's end, 625 active satellites were in geostationary orbit, 29 more than 2022, and 9,066 in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO), 2,346 more than 2022. U.S. entities operate more than 6,500 of the satellites, some in partnership with other nations, it said. Roughly 1 Tbps of high-throughput capacity was deployed in 2023, the report said. In addition, NGSO deployments total close to 170 Tbps of capacity. Operators plan on deploying nearly 150 Tbps through 2028, the vast majority of that from NGSO constellations in development.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology gave a green light to the inaugural test launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, according to a special temporary authorization granted Wednesday. The authorization expires Nov. 1.

Spire Global has the green light to operate non-voice, non-geostationary mobile-satellite service in the U.S. in the 399.9-400.05 MHz uplink. In an order in Monday's Daily Digest, the FCC Space Bureau said Spire must ensure its operations don't interfere with Orbcomm's adjacent-band activities at 400.15-401 MHz. The bureau waved off SpaceX-suggested conditions about orbital debris, saying the grant addresses only operations in an additional frequency band. But it said the grandfathering period for the commission's rule requiring non-geostationary orbit satellites deorbit within five years of their missions being complete expires in September, and Spire must supplement its orbital debris mitigation plan before deploying any more satellites afterward. It said that supplement should expand information on collision risks, how Spire will comply with the five-year post-mission disposal rule and how many of its satellites have failed at altitudes above 350 km.

Lockheed Martin contracted with Firefly Aerospace for as many as 25 launches through 2029, Lockheed said. The launch agreement covers a variety of future Lockheed spacecraft, Lockheed added.

The FCC should deny Sateliot's petition for providing mobile satellite service in the 2 GHz band as it rejected a similar request from SpaceX, EchoStar told the agency's Space Bureau this week. EchoStar said Sateliot's proposed uplinks and downlinks in the band would interfere with its 5G broadband network. In addition, it said Sateliot's application makes "no practical sense," as Sateliot supposedly wants to use the 2 GHz band for narrowband IoT service for mobile network operators, but EchoStar, the only mobile network operator in the band, "does not want this service." In its April petition, Sateliot said its planned 10 smallsats and blanket-licensed terminals would minimally affect the band's other users. Sateliot said that while EchoStar's Dish Network is the sole licensee of the terrestrial AWS-4 service in the band, creation of that service and Dish's license were "never intended to transform the 2 GHz MSS band into primarily terrestrial spectrum."

Amazon's Kuiper and SpaceX are clashing over SpaceX's request that the FCC Space Bureau impose an object-years condition on the Kuiper system. In an application for review, SpaceX said the bureau's granting a license modification for Kuiper in April "unreasonably deviated" from commission policy because it failed to impose the object-years condition, though it has been applied to multiple other non-geostationary orbit systems. In its opposition last month to the review application, Kuiper called the AFR "meritless." Kuiper said a 100 object-years condition -- that being a cap on the total cumulative time to deorbit failed Kuiper satellites -- isn't appropriate due to orbital characteristics, and the proposed Kuiper system is very different from SpaceX's proposed, much-larger, second-generation constellation, which had a 100 object-years condition on it. Kuiper's arguments against the AFR are "an Orwellian spin on the facts," SpaceX told the bureau this week. The bureau has applied the object-years condition numerous times, it said. The FCC can't wait for a rulemaking to address the reliability risk Kuiper presents, it said.