In light of China's Digital Silk Road program, which has it investing in developing nations' telecom networks and other tech areas, the U.S. should use satellite broadband as a strategy for promoting internet freedom and global economic development, the Foundation for American Innovation said Thursday in a report. It recommended the government use low earth orbit (LEO) broadband service in U.S. diplomatic facilities where that service is available and permitted. Congress and the White House should incorporate satellite broadband in foreign assistance programs such as the Digital Transformation with Africa initiative and in Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment projects, it said. The U.S. should promote LEO broadband in foreign countries and promote its benefits in countries where it's not yet approved, it said.

The number of aircraft with in-flight connectivity hit 10,000 as of the end of 2022 and should reach 22,000 by 2032, Valour Consultancy said Wednesday. It said the capacity available to airlines will ramp up in coming years with low earth orbit and medium earth orbit constellations becoming operational.

SpaceX hasn't given any compelling reason why the FCC should act now on a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) allocation in the 17 GHz band, rather than waiting for completion of the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference and for a more-robust record concerning protections for geostationary orbit networks in the band, Viasat said Tuesday in docket 22-273. It urged the agency to defer action in the proceeding until after WRC-23 and development of that robust record. Earlier this month, SpaceX urged an allocation to help alleviate a shortage of Ka band. SpaceX said there is no need to wait for WRC-23, given that ITU Region 1 already supports NGSO FSS co-existence in the band, "undermining any reason to delay harmonization."

The FCC Space Bureau on Monday issued guidance on satellite license processes, terms and costs as part of its transparency initiative approved by commissioners in September (see 2309210055). It said it would host an online and in-person open house Nov. 1 at 10:30 a.m. that includes guidance documents and plans for the initiative.

SpaceX's planned use of the 1990-1995 MHz band for downlinks will mean more interference by "orders of magnitude" for Omnispace and other mobile satellite system operators than what SpaceX is claiming, Omnispace CEO Ram Viswanathan told FCC Space and Wireless Bureau staffers, per a filing Monday in docket 23-135. Viswanathan said the cumulative level of SpaceX interference would mean neither Omnispace nor other S-band MSS operators would be able to use the 1990-1995 MHz spectrum in large portions of the globe. SpaceX didn't comment.

BIU’s request for judicial review of an FCC Enforcement Bureau dismissal of satellite company Spectrum Five’s complaint against Intelsat (see 2306280034) is "incurably premature" because the petitioner first needs to ask the FCC to review that order, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel ordered last week (docket 23-1163) in a one-page decision. Deciding were Judges Karen Henderson, Cornelia Pillard and Florence Pan.

Xona Space Systems' proposed 258-satellite positioning, navigation and timing services constellation (see 2307120002) raises technical and policy issues that need addressing, such as criteria for approving satellite networks that use spectrum allocated for radionavigation satellite services (RNSS), given the precedent that would be established in this proceeding, GPS Innovation Alliance told the FCC Space Bureau last week. It was replying to Xona's opposition to GPSIA's petition to deny. In its opposition to the petition earlier this month, Xona said its system won't degrade or reduce spectrum availability for existing GPS operations or other U.S.-authorized RNSS operations, or foreclose future RNSS operations in the U.S. It said GPSIA's push for aggregate interference protection isn't backed by U.S. rules, precedent or policies. GPSIA in its reply said Xona should do testing with actual global navigation satellite system receivers. "This would provide assurance that unanticipated effects will not manifest themselves," it said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel listed a variety of space policy and regulatory activities the agency has taken in recent months, per prepared remarks in Wednesday's Daily Digest. Those include streamlining the processing of satellite and earth station applications, identifying frequencies in the 2 GHz band for use for commercial space launches and exploring ways of fostering in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing, she said during an address at Silicon Valley Space Week.

Citing a growing bottleneck of launch services, Myriota wants to amend its pending U.S. market access petition to provide non-voice, non-geostationary mobile-satellite service in the 137-138 MHz and 148-150.05 MHz bands. In an FCC Space Bureau application Tuesday, it said the proposed changes would adjust the positioning of the 26 satellites to ensure deployment "despite the inflexible launch market."

Clashes among nations in the future "will include galactic arenas," and there should be a networked approach when there's a cyberattack on a commercial space operator, said Anjana Rajan, White House assistant national cyber director, Tuesday at a Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center conference. She said there's a need to understand space systems are secured by design and to operationalize best practices for defense against cyberattacks, and, to those ends, her office, the National Security Council and National Space Council are working on an interagency policy. Multiple speakers said space should be declared a critical infrastructure sector. “It should have been done yesterday,” said Samuel Visner, Aerospace Corp. fellow. As space and cybersystems become more interdependent, space will be increasingly sensitive to cyber concerns, he said, and there should be a national R&D initiative for space cybersecurity. Adding functional requirements on operations for security comes at a cost, and that R&D initiative could make cybersecurity more affordable and practical, he said. Being able to anticipate adverse cyber conditions in space means having more space-based sensors and contextual telemetry, said Kassandra Vogel, Blue Origin principal space systems security architect. Withstanding a cyber event is going to require incident response exercises and solutions that inform playbooks that then allow rapid decisions, she said.