Ongoing delays in delivery of EchoStar's Jupiter 3 satellite by Maxar Space has the satellite maker providing EchoStar with nearly $59 million in discounts and agreeing to pay more damages in the event of further delays, EchoStar said in an SEC filing Tuesday. It said it and Maxar also agreed EchoStar has a right to terminate the order starting Jan. 1, 2024, if the satellite hasn't been delivered. EchoStar said it still expects to launch in the first half of 2023.

The FCC's proposal to sunset interference protections for non-geostationary orbit systems is getting pushback from numerous geostationary and NGSO satellite operators. A sunset would jeopardize service quality and continuity by changing the interference environment that is part of existing authorizations and contractual commitments, the satellite operators said in a docket 21-456 posting Tuesday. They said it also would incentivize coordination delays by systems approved in later processing rounds until the earlier-round system's priority expires, and reverse longstanding FCC policies that give an expectation of ongoing interference protection. Signing the filing were SES/O3b, Iridium, Globalstar, EchoStar/Hughes, Inmarsat, Telesat, Viasat and OneWeb. The sunsetting provision in the NGSO spectrum sharing NPRM adopted in December has been an area of contention (see 2203280029).

Noting it finished the second phase of its C-band clearing obligations next summer, SES representatives told FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks the Wireless Bureau should open a filing window for eligible satellite operators to account for final updates to their transition plans. Per a filing Tuesday in docket 18-122, SES said it also said the bureau should release the procedures for eligible operators to file their second-phase certifications of accelerated relocation. It said both actions could be done at the end of May, saying the filing window for updated transition plans should be open until Dec. 5. SES also said the relocation payment clearinghouse's slow pace for processing its outstanding claims is a concern.

National competition going on now to dominate in-space manufacturing and for asteroid and lunar resources will determine what nation is likely to dominate the balance of power there for the next century, said American Foreign Policy Council Senior Fellow Peter Garretson at a Hudson Institute event Tuesday. "This is not some piece of policy to be left for later," Garretson said. He said, along with dominating space commodity production and space infrastructure, the U.S. needs to ensure as many partners as possible are using that infrastructure system. The U.S. and China will likely be the main rivals for space dominance, with India being a later arrival, Garretson said. He said Russia, France and Germany will likely follow the norms established by those space powers. The U.S.' lack of a national plan to develop space-based solar energy generation is "negligent and irresponsible," especially given how numerous other nations, including China and various U.S. allies, have their own space solar programs. Other Congressional space priorities also should include making commercial development of space a national policy, Garretson said. He said the national cislunar strategy put out last week by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy references economic development multiple times; commercial development isn't part of the national space policy or in NASA's charter; and it's unclear whether Commerce or NASA would be the lead in those commercial development efforts. Congress also needs to accelerate development of space infrastructure perhaps through designating a public corporation to finance and build that infrastructure, and create space infrastructure bonds, Garretson said. There also should be a space commodities exchange and space commodities futures exchange, he said. The estimated value of mineral resources in the solar system "is truly vast" and easily dwarfs projections of the space economy being anywhere from $1 trillion to $3 trillion by 2040, Garretson said.

Three SpaceX Starlink satellites lost maneuverability between Oct. 10 and Nov. 7, SpaceX said in an FCC International Bureau status report last week. Sensitive components believed responsible for the seeming flight computer failures on Oct. 10 and Nov. 7 have been identified and won't be used in future designs, it said. A software fix is being made for the suspected hardware vulnerability apparently responsible for the Oct. 31 failure, it said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology should get public input as its guidelines for human exposure to RF electromagnetism are under review to ensure the agency guidance doesn't unduly hinder antenna tech advances, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, per a filing Friday in docket 21-456 filing. OET in the meantime should allow operators to demonstrate compliance "through better-tailored methodologies supported by sound engineering practice," it said.

Operators of some incumbent fixed satellite service C-band earth station antennas have until Feb. 16 to provide notice of their operational status in the 3.7 GHz band or else lose their incumbent status, said an International Bureau public notice Friday. They also could have their authorizations for those frequencies terminated, it said. In question are C-band antennas listed in the FCC's International Bureau filing system as active but reported to the C-band relocation coordinator as not currently receiving C-band satellite service, it said. Along with the PN, the bureau released a list of several dozen antennas falling into that category.

Iridium claims about National Academies of Sciences report findings ignore that the report explicitly doesn't reach a conclusion about whether Iridium would experience harmful interference as defined by the FCC rules, Ligado said in docket 11-109 Thursday. Iridium also glosses over how the NAS report has a different definition of harmful interference from the FCC's, it said. That's a critical distinction because the FCC's rules and licensing regime are the only tools the commission can use, Ligado said, urging the agency to reject the Iridium-sought stay of the Ligado order (see 2211150043).

SES/O3b recapped discussions with aides to the four FCC commissioners on its non-geostationary orbit spectrum sharing proposal, in a docket 21-456 posting Thursday. It held similar talks last month with agency staffers (see 2210270033).

Satellite communications revenue should hit $141 billion annually by 2030, with the growth driven by low earth orbit constellations and satellite work extending terrestrial network coverage, ABI Research said Wednesday. It said there will be a big fight over rural and remote consumer data service market share, with that market being one of the key drivers of growth over the next decade. It said consumer and enterprise customers should top 53 million by 2030.