Charging a regulatory fee to foreign-flagged non-geostationary orbit constellations with U.S. market access that communicate with five or fewer U.S.-licensed earth stations for downlinking non-U.S. data would make U.S. earth station operators more competitive. That's per a docket 20-105 post Friday recapping Amazon discussions with aides to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington.

The FCC needs to refresh the record on spectrum allocated for space launch operations, rather than go ahead with the draft order on its April agenda (see 2103310050), United Launch Alliance (ULA) representatives told aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, per a docket 13-115 ex parte post Thursday. It said the agency shouldn't create a secondary allocation in the 2200-2290 MHz band without evidence the industry would be better served by that than the status quo. It said there should be discussion of a means for "deconfliction" of vying for spectrum among the various nonexclusive licensees. In calls with the regular commissioners' staffs this week, Blue Origin, Launcher, Planet, Relativity Space, Sierra Nevada, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit, said the April item is "a positive first step," but the agency needs to maintain access to other bands through the special temporary authority licensing process. They suggested an edit to the draft order to make clear it doesn't change the existing STA process or the odds of approvals for band use requests outside the covered allocation.

Orbcomm's requested stay of an FCC International Bureau letter involving Swarm (see 2104120063) is "an obvious delay tactic [and] beyond frivolous and ought to be addressed appropriately by the Commission," Swarm said in an ex parte filing Wednesday. The last time an operator disregarded a bureau decision using the same argument, it resulted in an admonishment, the company said, citing a 2013 Media Bureau order on a dispute between Massillon Cable TV and Fox Sports Net Ohio (see 1302040072). Orbcomm outside counsel said it "intend[s] to litigate these issues at the Commission, and not in the trade press."

Any approval of SpaceX's pending license modification to allow a lower orbit for more than 2,800 proposed satellites (see 2004200003) should be handled by putting the application in the 2020 non-geostationary orbit processing round or imposing a condition to tackle interference and facilitate coordination. That's according to Amazon Kuiper representatives in a meeting with FCC International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan, per a bureau ex parte filing Wednesday. Amazon also urged a license condition limiting SpaceX’s orbital altitude to below 580 km. Numerous satellite operators suggested conditions in recent days as approval is expected soon (see 2104130001). Viasat recapped discussions about its suggested conditions with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. Dish Network, meeting with aides to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said the license mod would exceed equivalent power flux density limits that protect DBS operations in the 12 GHz band, and any approval needs to either exclude that band or include "strong and clear conditions." OneWeb discussed its suggested conditions with Simington.

Commercial monitoring of and warning about close calls for satellites in orbit might be the best way to tackle such risk, though the space situational awareness (SSA) market is having emerging-market struggles, Northern Sky Research analyst Dallas Kasaboski blogged Wednesday. The proliferation of constellations raises the odds of collisions, but the SSA market remains fragmented and underdeveloped, he said: "Coordination, collaboration, and setting stronger standards for collision avoidance" are needed to advance the market.

Any approval of SpaceX's pending license modification allowing a lower orbit for more than 2,800 proposed satellites (see 2004200003) should be conditioned on 12 GHz downlinks being allowed at a minimum elevation angle of 40 degrees and subject to future rules that the FCC adopts in the pending 12 GHz rulemaking, said RS Access in an International Bureau filing Friday. The condition would mitigate the inference risk in the 12 GHz operating environment of SpaceX's proposal while still letting the company operate "unfettered ... in the approximately 97 percent of its spectrum" outside that band, RS Access said. SpaceX didn't comment Monday.

Northrop Grumman's SpaceLogistics Mission Extension Vehicle-2 docked with Intelsat's 1002 communications satellite, it said Monday. A previous Grumman mission extension vehicle docked with an Intelsat satellite in February (see 2004170003). It said it's working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on a mission using a commercial robotic servicing spacecraft with an eye on an expanded satellite servicing market that includes in-orbit repair, augmentation, inspection and relocation.

Orbcomm asked the FCC for a stay of an International Bureau letter that it says could have a variety of regulators around the world letting Swarm start operations, and requiring Orbcomm to cease transmit operations, in uplink frequency bands in which those administrations currently authorize Orbcomm to operate transmitters. In a posting Monday, it said the bureau letter is "substantively" flawed, but Swarm has been telling those regulators it's an agency final order. In the March 10 letter to Orbcomm, International Bureau Satellite Division acting Chief Karl Kensinger said it was obligated to ensure that any of its non-U.S.-licensed earth station operations are on the primary frequencies specified in its U.S. license and not throughout the entire 137-138 MHz and 148-150.05 MHz bands, to avoid interference with Swarm, another U.S. licensed system that has begun operations. Orbcomm said it's also filing an application for review of the Kensinger letter. The FCC and Swarm didn't comment.

Kepler, which plans to ask the FCC for regular authority to communicate with earth stations in motion, is seeking special temporary authority to do proof-of-concept demonstrations of communications between its satellites and the National Science Foundation's Research Vessel Sikuliaq. In an International Bureau submission Wednesday, Kepler said that would demonstrate the functionality of communications with ships in motion and compatibility with Kepler’s constellation ahead of deployment of satellite services for U.S. maritime assets.

Concerns about orbital debris are "both overblown and underblown," Iridium CEO Matt Desch said at a Satellite 2021-related event Thursday. A relatively modest amount of garbage is in orbit now, and Iridium's satellites don't frequently have to shift orbit to avoid proximity to something, he said. But, while a debris-related disaster is not likely in the next 10 years, if steps aren't taken now to address the problem, there "absolutely" will be a catastrophic event in 30 or 50 years, he said. He said global regulation is needed, but there's not the will yet to do so. There also isn't a business case for tackling the problem, he said: A variety of companies and nations are ignoring it because "incentives aren't lined up with what they're doing." Asked about the booming number of space ventures being announced and planned, Desch said most will be successful with their technology, but a bigger question is their business success.