AST SpaceMobile's first tranche of commercial BlueBird satellites is "now ready to become operational" and FCC approval of commercial direct-to-device service is "imminent," CEO Abel Avellan said in a call with analysts Thursday evening. That tranche of five BlueBirds launched in September (see 2409120004) will provide "close to 100%" nationwide coverage in the U.S., he added. AST has agreements with SpaceX and Blue Origin for the launch of 60 next-generation BlueBird satellites in 2025 and 2026 to bring service to other key markets. Chief Strategy Officer Scott Wisniewski said that once AST has 45 to 60 BlueBirds in orbit, it could offer cellular broadband coverage to the top wireless markets and have network capacity for "hundreds of millions of potential subscribers."

Having handled a record number of licensed commercial space operations in FY 2024, the FAA said Thursday it's assembling a rulemaking committee that will examine updating the agency's Part 450 launch and reentry licensing rules, which were adopted in 2020. It said the committee will include members of the commercial space industry and academia and is expected to report recommended changes by summer 2025. The FAA said it handled 148 licensed commercial space operations in FY 2024, up more than 30% versus FY 2023. It said it anticipates handling as many as twice the FY 2024 number by FY 2028.

The FCC should continue applying orbital debris rules to all space operators until Congress creates a framework that addresses mission authorization for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) missions, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In a docket 22-271 filing posted Tuesday, it said Congress also could preclude FCC debris oversight by further clarifying rules and responsibilities for orbital debris oversight. The Chamber urged the FCC to schedule a future rulemaking to look at long-term spectrum needs for ISAM operations. It argued that the FCC should license ISAM missions under an "activity based" licensing framework, with a single license covering ISAM activities within the scope of the license and within the same orbital regime, instead of a "case by case" licensing framework.

Eutelsat Group CEO Eva Berneke argued against the proposed absolute increase in unavailability limit for non-geostationary orbit systems in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez. In a docket 21-456 filing posted Friday recapping the meeting, Eutelsat representatives said the unavailability limit in the draft NGSO fixed satellite service spectrum sharing rules on circulation (see 2410040025) would end the ability of NGSO FSS operators to meet high-availability requirements that come with public safety, government and enterprise applications. It said too-lax protection metrics could undermine the desire to invest in the U.S. and make foreign systems avoid coordination with U.S. systems.

SpaceX will not reach its 144-launches goal in 2024, but it still expects to conduct 30 more launches before year's end, Vice President-Launch Kiko Dontchev posted on X Tuesday. He said 2025's goal will exceed 144. Its Oct. 23 launch was its 100th Falcon launch in 2024, the company said.

Preparing for the next generation of human activity on the moon will require new spectrum propagation models to avoid conflicting communications spectrum uses there, NTIA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Sarah Morris said Wednesday during an agency panel discussion on lunar spectrum. William Kozma, supervisor of the propagation modeling group at NTIA's institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), said the lack of atmosphere, as well as the moon's unique mineral composition and its irregular surface, mean the traditional modeling approach doesn't apply. The moon's distance is a big challenge to getting data for the creation of propagation models, speakers said. Michael Zemba, lunar communications engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center, said Intuitive Machines' lunar lander mission early this year provided data that the company and agency are analyzing. He said a second Intuitive Machines mission will have a 4G LTE system on a lunar rover to help collect more. Rather than coalescing around one propagation model for the moon, it might make more sense to have a family of models, with different ones employed in different situations, said Chris Anderson, NTIA ITS theory division chief.

The Navy and Air Force don't want 1435-1525 MHz used for non-federal space launches. In an NTIA letter posted Wednesday in docket 13-115, relaying those branches' input, the Air Force also urged against allowing space-to-space operations in 18.1–18.6 GHz and 18.8–20.2 GHz bands. The Air Force said 2025-2110 MHz is already shared with non-federal users and used by DOD for satellite uplinks and cross-links, and allowing nonemergency, nonfederal communications in the band poses a risk to those incumbent uses. The Navy and Air Force said allocating 1435-1525 MHz for nonfederal space launches "would create an untenable situation" for DOD ranges' use of the band.

SpaceX wants to add Swarm VHF-band mobile satellite service payloads onto its first-generation Starlink satellites. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday, SpaceX said the payloads would let Starlinks offer services that Swarm's authorization permits. SpaceX said the payloads also would let the company track and maintain contact with first-gen Starlinks during rare space weather events and orbit raising. SpaceX said it is operating similar payloads on its second-gen Starlinks as safety beacons for more than 18 months without interference complaints from commercial or federal users.

Gogo's Galileo satellite connectivity service and its 5G air-to-ground connectivity service are on the verge of hitting the market, CEO Oakleigh Thorne told analysts Tuesday as it announced Q3 results. He said recent FAA certification means Gogo could potentially ship its HDX low earth orbit satellite terminal commercially to customers by year's end, targeting smaller and mid-size aircraft. It said the 5G chip for receivers should ship in Q2 2025. The HDX and faster FDX "are critical" to Gogo competing with SpaceX, William Blair's Louie DiPalma noted Tuesday. Galileo service "is critical to preserving the competitive positioning and capturing a portion of the untapped 14,000 business jets registered outside the U.S. that do not have broadband connectivity," DiPalma said. Thorne said Gogo expects it will close on Satcom Direct (see 2409300065) by year's end. Gogo is collaborating with OneWeb on satellite connectivity.

The EPA, not the FCC, is the proper federal agency to coordinate or conduct space environmental protection, National Space Society space regulation and oversight policy lead Grant Henriksen blogged last week. Noting a call by space academic researchers for the FCC to conduct environmental reviews for large constellations of satellites, Henriksen said the commission lacks the expertise for address space activities' environmental impacts and should abstain from regulating non-communications-related undertakings. FCC steps toward environmental regulation would be open to legal attack in a post-Chevron world, creating greater regulatory uncertainty when the U.S. commercial space sector "already faces numerous challenges on that front." He said the EPA can address risks to the atmosphere from increased rocket launches and reentries.