Along with its pending request for a planned 258-satellite radionavigation satellite service (see 2307120002), Xona Space Systems is requesting that the FCC approve launch and operation of one of those satellites. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Monday, Xona said the satellite would be the first of the 258 providing commercial RNSS capabilities. It is intended to validate the company's first production-class satellite and evaluate its Pulsar radionavigaiton service's performance.
The European Commission (EC) and European Space Agency (ESA) have contracted with the SpaceRISE consortium of Eutelsat, SES and Hispasat for creation and operation of a 290-satellite low and medium earth orbit broadband constellation, SpaceRISE said Monday. The constellation "will be the preferred and trusted network for Europe in delivering secure and reliable high-performance communication solutions to the EU and its Member States as well as high-speed broadband connectivity for European citizens, governmental authorities and businesses, playing a transformative role in reinforcing Europe’s digital sovereignty, and low-latency connectivity." SpaceRISE added that the EC, ESA and EU member states will cover roughly $6.8 billion of the costs, or nearly 60%. Satmarin Exoflux's Michael De Coninck wrote Monday that the constelation's targeted 2030 delivery date "is the aerospace equivalent of arriving fashionably late to a party."
Air Canada -- with a large portion of its fleet getting Intelsat 2Ku service -- will begin offering free Wi-Fi on flights. It said last week that starting in May complementary Wi-Fi would be available to Aeroplan members on Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft for flights within North American markets. The airline said its plans call for expanding free Wi-Fi to long-haul international routes in 2026.
It's likely the incoming administration will look more favorably on satellite mega constellations, which could mean full approval of SpaceX's second-generation Starlink network of 30,456 satellites instead of the partial approval it has now, ABI Research's Andrew Cavalier wrote Friday. SpaceX is expected to lead global orbital launches in 2024 with 297 missions -- 42% of all launches. SpaceX's Starship rocket could further reduce launch costs, he added.
Partnering with mobile operator One New Zealand, SpaceX said in a docket 23-135 filing Thursday that it has the authorizations to start supplemental coverage from space service in that country.
The non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service interference protection order that the FCC adopted in November becomes effective Jan. 13, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register. The order, approved on circulation, relaxes the protection criteria for NGSO FSS systems approved in different processing rounds (see 2411150007).
NASA is conducting the first aircraft accident investigation on another planet, its Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote Wednesday. It said JPL engineers, along with unmanned aerial vehicle defense contractor AeroVironment, are assessing the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's Jan. 18 flight. The lab said a NASA technical report with results will be published in coming weeks. The investigation points to the inability of Ingenuity's navigation system to provide accurate data during the flight, likely leading to the crash.
The U.S.' decades old non-geostationary/geostationary orbit satellite spectrum-sharing framework "drastically" limits the level of satellite broadband service, SpaceX told FCC officials as the company urged action on its petition to initiate a rulemaking updating that framework (see 2408120018). In a filing posted Wednesday recapping company meetings with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office and with Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs staff, SpaceX said the agency shouldn't wait for the "unnecessarily slow" ITU to update its NGSO-GSO sharing rules. ITU's 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference called for studying potentially higher NGSO-GSO equivalent power flux density limits ahead of WRC-27.
Partnering quickly with SpaceX's Starlink to jointly provide maritime connectivity, Speedcast may have inadvertently shot itself in the foot as it helped normalize an increasing shift to Starlink, Satmarin Exoflux's Michael de Coninck wrote Tuesday on LinkedIn. An industry-wide adoption of Starlink's maritime service has eroded Speedcast's early mover advantage. "The very market Speedcast sought to dominate quickly became saturated, leaving the company to compete on razor-thin margins against providers offering similar Starlink-based solutions," he said. And in its embrace of Starlink, Speedcast might have accelerated a migration from its higher-margin very small aperture terminal solutions to Starlink's lower-margin offering, he added.
Lynk Global wants its non-geostationary orbit license to include authority for supplemental coverage from space (SCS) operations in the 845.1-845.3 MHz and 890.1-890.3 MHz frequencies throughout Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday, Lynk said it has SCS regulatory approvals in more than 30 countries and is deployed commercially via more than 40 mobile network operator commercial service contracts covering approximately 50 countries. The company said it is "well prepared to provide commercial service in the U.S." and that it has a lease agreement with Docomo, a terrestrial wireless licensee that holds all co-channel licenses throughout the Guam/Northern Mariana Islands region. Moreover, Lynk said its SCS operations are compatible with those in the leased frequencies. It said Docomo holds all the Channel Block A licensed frequencies in that region and is the only party that can operate in this spectrum and geographic location.