Rocket Lab's new Neutron rocket likely won't be ready until 2026 or 2027, rather than mid-2025, Bleecker Street Research wrote Tuesday. It said numerous aspects of the rocket's development are not on track for a launch this year. It added that Neutron's only announced launch contract is likely with satellite startup E-Space, but E-Space's own financing is questionable.

The FCC made clear in denying Intelsat reimbursement costs related to an earth station site outside the U.S. that C-band relocation expenses involving foreign facilities aren't reimbursable, the C-band relocation payment clearinghouse (RPC) said Tuesday. In a docket 21-333 reply to Anuvu, the RPC said the agency's language is clear that the Intelsat denial also covers Anuvu's German earth station. In its appeal of the RPC's initial denial of $961,000 in reimbursement claims, Anuvu said the Intelsat language addresses a specific proposal involving construction of new satellite telemetry, tracking and control facilities, and not all types of potential transition expenses.

SpaceX stressed the importance of the FCC proceeding with care in selecting a space launch frequency coordinator for the agency's space launch service (see 2501230025). “As a company that launched more than 130 rockets to orbit in 2024 and must regularly coordinate its launch operations with other spectrum users, SpaceX has a strong interest in ensuring that any third-party coordinator improves upon the existing post-licensing launch spectrum coordination processes that launch service providers and other spectrum users have refined over years of experience,” said a filing this week in docket 13-115.

SpaceX on Tuesday challenged Viasat’s standing to seek consideration of an order authorizing SpaceX and T-Mobile to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service (see 2412270017). “After decades of warehousing prime mid-band spectrum at the expense of consumers and first responders, Viasat and its front group," the Mobile Satellite Services Association, "seek to prevent an American satellite operator from delivering life-saving” coverage, said a filing in docket 23-135. Because Viasat didn’t participate in the underlying licensing docket, “it lacks standing to bring its petition for reconsideration,” SpaceX said: “Even if it had timely raised these claims, the Commission still must reject them because they fundamentally misread the Commission’s SCS licensing framework and its overarching goal to establish and maintain American leadership in the market for direct-to-cellular services both here and abroad.”

Ligado's opposition to a DOJ interlocutory appeal of a decision in the satellite operator's lawsuit against the U.S. government (see 2501310004) is fundamentally flawed, DOJ said Wednesday. In a reply filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (docket 1:23-cv-01797), it said Ligado wrongly downplays the interlocutory appeal as merely disagreeing with the court's November decision regarding a DOJ motion to dismiss. Ligado is incorrect when it argues there is no remedy at the FCC to address its claim that its L-band spectrum rights were taken without compensation, DOJ said. It said the agency could always set aside conditions on Ligado's license.

Startup Starfish Space is eyeing a January 2026 launch for its Otter 24A in-space servicing vehicle, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application filed Wednesday. Starfish said the mission would involve inspecting and docking with an Intelsat satellite in the "graveyard orbit" for retired non-geostationary orbit satellites, as well as providing life-extension services for Intelsat-17.

Northrop Grumman's Space Logistics is planning to dock its Mission Extension Vehicle 1 with an Optus D3 satellite for in-orbit mission extension services. In an FCC Space Bureau application Monday, SL said that after seven months of service with Optus, the MEV-1 would undock and then move to its next client. SL said the spacecraft has been operating with the Intelsat 901 satellite, doing mission extension services for it, and the company's contract with Intelsat ends March 30.

Sateliot wants the FCC to revisit its Space Bureau's January decision dismissing the company's U.S. market access petition. In an application for review filed Friday, Sateliot said the bureau's rejection of the application to offer IoT services in the 2 GHz mobile satellite service (MSS) band, due to unavailability of that spectrum (see 2501080037), runs contrary to the FCC's 2019 smallsat order. That order lets applicants seeking authority under the streamlined small satellite processing rules apply for MSS frequencies, it said. Sateliot argued that the bureau was wrong in saying there wasn't enough information in the record to determine if Sateliot's system would meet the spectrum-sharing requirements under the smallsat processing rules.

Globalstar has inked a $1.1 billion contact with MDA Space for the construction of more than 50 software-defined low earth orbit satellites, MDA said Monday.

Business aviation remains a growth area for Viasat, and maritime should return to growth next year, CEO Mark Dankberg said in a call with analysts Thursday. Viasat continues integrating capacity from other satellite operators, expanding its in-flight connectivity coverage and capacity. He said that in Viasat's most-recent fiscal quarter, the number of commercial in-flight connectivity aircraft in service grew about 13% year over year, while business jets jumped 18%, and Viasat's aviation backlog gained 22%. Pointing to its ViaSat-3 Flight 1 satellite providing 130 Mbps service on a test of in-flight Wi-Fi capabilities during a 737 flight, he said the next two ViaSat-3 satellites launching should provide even better performance. He said ViaSat-3 Flight 2 should be shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, this summer and be in service by year's end, adding that Flight 3 should be launched and in service sometime in 2026. With fall's launch of Viasat's NexusWave maritime service, which uses low earth orbit and geostationary orbit satellites, the company is building an order pipeline that should see its maritime business returning to growth in fiscal year 2026, Dankberg said. Asked about the utility of Viasat's L-band spectrum if it's not coordinated contiguously with Ligado's L-band spectrum, he declined to comment, citing Ligado's bankruptcy proceeding.