The FCC Space Bureau granted non-geostationary orbit applications from Space X and Kuiper, with limitations, said a pair of orders in Monday’s Daily Digest. The SpaceX order authorizes the company to conduct communications in the E-band only with the 7,500 Gen 2 Starlink satellites that the FCC already authorized. “This Order does not authorize SpaceX to construct, deploy, or operate any additional satellites beyond those authorized to date.” The order defers consideration of SpaceX proposals on emergency beacons and use of additional satellites. Meanwhile, the Kuiper order grants the company’s request for modifying its NGSO license to use frequencies allocated to the fixed-satellite service (FSS) and mobile-satellite service (MSS) in the Ka-band. The license modification will reduce the number of satellites in its constellation from 3,236 to 3,232 and authorize radiofrequency communications for launch and early-orbit phase (LEOP) operations, payload testing, and deorbit operations. The Kuiper order also rejects a SpaceX petition to deny Kuiper’s application. Granting the applications will serve the public interest by improving broadband service, the orders said.

Satellogic is eyeing an October launch for the first 16 satellites of a planned earth exploration service that will image the planet using multi-spectral and hyper-spectral optical sensors. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday, Satellogic asked for authorization to operate what ultimately would be a 120-satellite X-band constellation.

Iridium hopes it will close within weeks on its acquisition of Satellites Inc. and its satellite-based time and location augmentation services, Iridium said Monday. Iridium will focus on allowing easier adoption of satellite time and location services and their integration with autonomous systems, consumer devices and vehicles, according to the news release. The company has a 20% stake in Satellites now and is buying the remaining 80% for $115 million. The precision navigation and timing market "is growing; it's a perfect application of our network, and this solution solves a problem for critical industries better than anything else," Iridium CEO Matt Desch said.

Australia's Fleet Space is seeking to amend its pending U.S. market access petition (see 2208080019), reducing satellites and changing the focus of the constellation's mission. In an FCC Space Bureau application last week, Fleet Space said the constellation would focus on subsurface earth monitoring instead of industrial IoT connectivity, and that it would be comprised of three satellites instead of four. The company said it anticipated launching in October on a SpaceX mission.

The FCC should conduct a separate proceeding about aggregate out-of-band interference limits in supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service, SpaceX said. In a docket 23-65 filing Thursday recapping meetings with Space and Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, SpaceX said that approach would allow consideration via a more robust record and technical data than would tackling it in the SCS draft order on the agency's March agenda. The FCC "has an incomplete picture of supplemental coverage operations from multiple operators on which to base a general rule," SpaceX said, adding the proposed threshold is far too strict. It said if the agency doesn't defer consideration, it should revise the proposed limit.

An inaugural customer order for Globalstar's Xcom Ran multipoint radio system will be fulfilled largely this year and has the potential to materially scale up, Globalstar CEO Paul Jacobs said Wednesday. In a call with analysts as the company announced Q4 2023 results, Jacobs said Globalstar intends to incorporate its Band 53 spectrum into the multiband XCOM RAN service. The company didn't name the Xcom Ran user, but said it was a major U.S. retailer deploying the service for warehouse automation. Globalstar said fiscal year 2023 revenue, at $224 million, rose $149 million year over year.

Any opening of the 17 GHz band to non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operations should come with interference protections, DirecTV and EchoStar said. In a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers recapped Wednesday in docket 22-273, the geostationary orbit operators urged revised footnotes in the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations requiring that NGSO fixed satellite service operations in the 17 GHz band not claim interference protections from geostationary orbit (GSO) FSS networks. They also called for requirements that those NGSO operations not cause interference to or claim protection from GSO FSS and broadcast satellite service networks. The two pushed for the same equivalent power flux density limits applicable to NGSO FSS downlinks and inter-satellite links in the 17.8-18.6 GHz band being extended to those links in the 17 GHz band.

SpaceX's request that applications in 2 GHz band be held in abeyance during any 2 GHz rulemaking, as well as the proposed rulemaking itself (see [Re:2402230027]), should be rejected, EchoStar told the FCC Space Bureau this week. SpaceX hasn't offered any basis for stopping action on applications in the 2 GHz band, while such a hold would be "extraordinarily burdensome," EchoStar said. It added that a proceeding allowing SpaceX into the 2 GHz band would mean "annihilation of all current uses of the band through harmful interference." In addition, EchoStar said SpaceX's presence also "would imperil" EchoStar efforts in the band such as direct-to-device services.

A NASA satellite studying the atmosphere and Russia's Cosmos 2221 satellite safely passed one another without incident early Wednesday, NASA blogged. The agency warned previously that the two satellites, which lack maneuvering capabilities, could collide. A collision "could result in significant debris generation," NASA said.

The FAA accepted the 17 corrective actions SpaceX identified following the failed Starship super heavy rocket test launch in November, the agency said Monday. It said seven corrective actions were identified for the booster, including hardware redesigns, while 10 others were identified for the Starship vehicle, such as installing additional fire protection. The FAA said closing the mishap investigation doesn't signal an immediate authorization of the next Starship launch. SpaceX first must make the changes and get agency approval for its pending license modification request. During the test flight, the booster exploded after separation from the second stage, and the second stage minutes later caught fire.