Spectrum and tech public policy groups are pressing the FCC to adopt new power limits on low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. In a letter Monday to Chairman Brendan Carr (docket 25-157), groups including Chamber of Progress, Digital First Project and the Computer & Communications Industry Association said new power limits would boost satellite capacity, lower prices for consumers and increase satellite competition. Current ITU rules are "outdated" and "badly lagging the pace of American innovation." In April, the FCC adopted an NPRM on spectrum sharing between LEOs and non-geostationary orbit satellites (see 2504280038).

Venturi Astrolab hopes to launch its lunar rover as soon as early December for a technology demonstration mission on the moon's surface. In an application filed Friday with the FCC Space Bureau, Astrolab said the mission carrying the rover is expected to launch between Dec. 4 and March 4. The rover will attach to an Astrobotic Technology lander as part of a NASA-funded mission, it said. The company will use the S and X bands for communications and a local 2.4 GHz support link for communications with the lander, it added.

In the future, space launch sites have to function like airports, with "multiple launches a day from multiple providers," SpaceX blogged this week. It said it wants to work with federal regulators, federal launch ranges and the industry "to realize this vision." The company would make "significant investments in scientific research on blast and acoustics, physical infrastructure, and operational techniques and modern tools that foster dynamic, safe, and high-cadence spaceports in the U.S." SpaceX said its work with the FAA, NASA and Space Force have let it launch and land every two days on average from Cape Canaveral Space Force Center, "a cadence once dismissed as making it impossible for other launch providers to use the same range." Its Falcon family of rockets is on track to launch more than 100 times from Florida this year, "while other launch operators have continued their normal operations."

With the FCC contemplating an upper C-band auction, its Space Bureau on Thursday issued an updated list of fixed satellite service earth stations in the 4-4.2 GHz band in the contiguous U.S. The notice in docket 20-205 also reminded earth station operators that they must maintain an up-to-date registration with the FCC of incumbent earth stations that continue to operate in the 4-4.2 GHz band.

As SpaceX increases its Starlink data capacity, it will become directly competitive with fiber and cable on price, space finance group Mach33 wrote Wednesday. Starlink cutting its monthly fees for the first year in some states shows how prices will decline as capacity continues to outstrip demand, it added. There have been promotional price cuts for Starlink equipment, but the shift in August and September, with the introductory service price cuts, reflects growing slack in the network, Mach33 said. The promos today are localized and time-limited, "but they preview tomorrow's baselines." As the next generation of Starlinks drive capacity surpluses, "regional discounts evolve into global price cuts," it added.

Comments are due Nov. 18 in a consultation by the U.K.'s Office of Communications (Ofcom) about revising the way it licenses non-geostationary orbit satellite systems. Ofcom said Tuesday that it has issued eight NGSO network licenses since it launched its current licensing process in 2021. The goal of possible revisions is to speed up decisions and reduce the coordination and administrative burdens on NGSO satellite operators, it added.

Viasat and Space42, a space tech company based in the United Arab Emirates, will form a joint venture, Equatys, which will be an infrastructure platform for direct-to-device and mobile satellite services, the companies said Monday. Equatys should be ready for commercial rollout within three years, they said, adding that it will operate and manage the 5G open architecture platform "as a neutral 'space tower' company providing ... space and ground infrastructure that licensed operators can share."

Amazon's Kuiper is pressing the FCC to revise its five-year deorbit rule for low earth orbit satellites. The current rule, which requires LEO operators to dispose of their satellites within five years of completing their missions, "imposes an artificial and rigid timeline that does not clearly and meaningfully increase space safety for diverse technologies and mission profiles," company representatives told FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz, according to a filing posted Monday (docket 25-133). Satellite operators can be unfairly penalized for a satellite failure beyond their control, Kuiper said. It urged the agency to instead require satellite operators to design and operate their systems to achieve post-mission disposal within five years under nominal conditions. "This approach would better account for the practical realities of the space environment while incentivizing safe satellite and constellation design and operation." The agency adopted the five-year deorbit rule in September 2022 (see 2209290017).

Globalstar is planning an additional satellite constellation for mobile satellite service, it said Monday. The company plans to bring into use its ITU filing for its HIBLEO-XL-1 satellite system. Under ITU rules, spectrum associated with a particular satellite filing has to be employed within a set number of years to prevent spectrum warehousing. The France-licensed HIBLEO-XL-1 "provides Globalstar with significant optionality as the Company grows as a major provider of connectivity in the global space economy," said CEO Paul Jacobs. HIBLEO-XL-1 is atop the company's C-3 constellation, announced in November (see 2411010003).

Non-geostationary orbit satellite operators' share of the commercial in-flight connectivity marketplace is set to rocket from 1% in 2024 to 63% in 2034, Novaspace said this week. It said that this year, NGSO networks will likely start replacing at scale older geostationary orbit systems using the Ku and Ka bands or air-to-ground systems.