The State Department laid out a space diplomacy framework Tuesday that it said would help guide the agency as it pursues such space goals as increased resilience, space safety and security cooperation, promotion and encouragement of responsible behaviors. It said the framework involves bilateral and multilateral engagement, plus using U.S. space activities for wider diplomatic goals. The framework also has State pursuing more international cooperation in the use of satellite applications such as remote sensing and space-derived data for use for climate change, arms control and economic competitiveness. State said it will provide staff with skills and tools for space-related policy to allow, for example, broader use of space-related data. Applauding the framework, the Satellite Industry Association pointed to "the report’s appreciation for the need for both traditional diplomacy as well as engagement with the U.S. and worldwide commercial space stakeholders."

AT&T objections about SpaceX/T-Mobile plans for mobile supplemental coverage from space (SCS) (see 2305190057) are likely to prompt the FCC to require more information about the duo's direct-to-handset plans, which would slow those plans but not stop them, New Street Research said in a note to investors Friday. With the SCS service many months from commercial rollout, that delay shouldn't be material, New Street said.

Viasat's $7.3 billion purchase of Inmarsat announced in late 2021 (see 2111080038) should close within the next handful of days, Viasat said Thursday as it announced the European Commission signed off without conditions. The EC approval follows those earlier this month by the FCC (see 2305220003) and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (see 2305180003). In a docket 22-153 filing Thursday, Viasat requested a time extension to come into compliance with the FCC's cap on multiple non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems in the same frequency bands. It said contractual restrictions on sharing competitive sense information before closing on Inmarsat means the two companies are "very limited" in their ability to address post-acquisition integration, including integration of business plans for their pending applications to operate V-band NGSO systems.

The ITU lacks any process for assessing the joint effect of multiple ITU filings or deadline for doing such an assessment, and that timing uncertainty is why the FCC should let Amazon operate its Kuiper constellation before getting an equivalent power flux density finding from the ITU that explicitly considers the joint effect of Amazon's multiple Kuiper filings, the company told the Space Bureau Tuesday. Requiring that finding before Kuiper commences operations "would delay -- perhaps significantly -- Amazon’s deployment timeline," it said. If there are any concerns about splitting big constellations among multiple ITU filings, the modification request addresses them by letting Kuiper start operating on a noninterference basis while ultimately requiring a finding that shows the entire system complies with ITU limits, it said. In a petition to deny the modification application and partial rules waiver, Hughes said it "would plainly undermine the rule’s purpose to ensure interference protection of primary [geostationary orbit] services prior to any commencement of secondary [non-geostationary orbit] operations." With Kuiper yet to launch any satellites and not to launch production satellites until the first half of 2024, a waiver request is without basis, it said.

Foreign-flagged satellites providing service to the U.S. should be subject to the same orbital debris mitigation rules as U.S. licensed operators, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington said on a Hudson Institute panel Monday. Market access and license equilibration is the "most significant card" the agency can play in debris mitigation, he said. That would incentivize other nations to harmonize their debris rules with the U.S., he said. Simington also urged passage of the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338). He said creating the Space Bureau was important, but it needs to be paired with formal congressional expansion of bureau resources. He said it needs at least 100 full-time employees, mostly engineers. Absent those bodies, he said, the FCC runs the risk of more operators heading to other nations to get regulatory approvals. Future approvals should be conditioned on retrospective assessments of operators' failures or successes in meeting orbital debris mitigation benchmarks, he said. Noting the FCC has asserted its regulatory oversight over debris for years, Simington said it clearly has authority to oversee debris. Rather than waiting for international consensus on debris, he said, "We may as well wait on Godot." Since the U.S. will either harmonize other nations to its debris rules or inevitably be harmonized by others, "I choose the former," he said. Debris is inherently an international issue, and needs to be addressed that way, said Darren McKnight, LeoLabs senior technical fellow. Much of the debris problem is from large derelict rocket bodies that have been left in space, and there should be a balance of mitigation efforts with remediation, he said. The behavior of satellite operators is more important than the numbers of satellites any one of them puts up, he said.

With the European Commission's competition review being the last major regulatory hurdles, Viasat said Friday it expects its $7.3 billion Inmarsat acquisition (see 2111080038) to close by month's end. The FCC Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs, in an order issued Friday signing off on the transaction, said existing and new entrant competitors said a combined Viasat/Inmarsat won't significantly hurt competition in the satellite-supplied government services sector and said competition is growing in the aviation and maritime sectors. The agency approval includes conditions on foreign-ownership monitoring.

Iridium and OneWeb had a successful launch Saturday of additions to their constellations, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Iridium said the five spare satellites launched bring the number of satellites deployed in its next-generation constellation to 80. OneWeb said its 16-satellite launch includes a JoeySat that will test beam-hopping capabilities. It said with 634 satellites now in orbit, it's on track to deliver global coverage this year.

SpaceX's application for providing direct-to-handset service in the G block lacks enough information for the FCC to review it, Dish Network said Monday in docket 23-135 petition to dismiss or deny. It lacks explanation of how it will avoid out-of-band emissions in the adjacent H block and AWS-4 spectrum, it said. SpaceX labels the application a modification of its second-generation Starlink system, but it's a modification for authority SpaceX doesn't have, Dish said. "It is a cardinal prerequisite to a modification request that there is an existing and valid authorization to be modified," it said. "Because SpaceX’s 'modification' application is really for a new system, it should not have even been accepted for filing." SpaceX didn't comment. The SpaceX/T-Mobile plans got pushback from wireless and satellite interests (see 2305190057).

While in negotiations to buy R2 Space's XR-1 remote sensing satellite, Iceye is asking the FCC Space Bureau for reassignment for the satellite's license, it said in an application Friday.

The FCC's five-year deorbit rule for satellites in low earth orbit adopted in September (see 2209290017) will have little to no effect on large commercial LEO constellations since they all plan deorbits of less than five years anyway, and instead will primarily affect U.S. smallsat and cubesat missions lacking propulsion, said Aerospace Corp. In a docket 18-133 filing Friday on a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers, Aerospace said its analysis of 855 satellites launched since 2016 found 45 -- about 5% of commercial satellites -- likely wouldn't have complied with the five-year rule if that rule existed then. The political and policy impact "may be larger than practical impact," it said.