{"id":18447,"date":"2018-07-07T20:25:05","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T12:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/how-a-snafu-over-swarming-satellites-led-spaceflight-to-sharpen-its-launch-policy\/"},"modified":"2018-07-07T20:25:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T12:25:05","slug":"how-a-snafu-over-swarming-satellites-led-spaceflight-to-sharpen-its-launch-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/how-a-snafu-over-swarming-satellites-led-spaceflight-to-sharpen-its-launch-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"How a snafu over swarming satellites led Spaceflight to sharpen its launch policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"PSLV
India\u2019s PSLV-C40 rocket stands on its launch pad in advance of January\u2019s liftoff. (ISRO Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When India\u2019s PSLV rocket launched a host of satellites into orbit in January, one big piece was missing: the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s authorization for Swarm Technologies\u2019 super-miniaturized satellites.<\/p>\n

The FCC had nixed Swarm\u2019s application on the grounds that the wallet-sized communications satellites, known as SpaceBEEs, were too small to be tracked properly. But Seattle-based Spaceflight, which had arranged for the launch, didn\u2019t know that.<\/p>\n

January\u2019s unauthorized launch of the SpaceBEEs resulted in a regulatory slap for Swarm, and no small embarrassment for Spaceflight.<\/p>\n

Curt Blake, the launch logistics company\u2019s president, vows it won\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n

\"Curt
Spaceflight President Curt Blake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At last week\u2019s NewSpace 2018 conference, presented by the Space Frontier Foundation in Renton, Wash., Blake said the quickening pace of commercial small-satellite launches could make such snafus more common.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for the FCC or any government body to keep up,\u201d Blake said. \u201cNOAA, the FCC, the FAA \u2014 if you talk to anyone in the commercial satellite industry, you\u2019ll quickly learn that the time delays are large on getting licenses approved. \u2026 What ends up happening is that it really compresses the time frame for approval.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the FCC flap arose, Spaceflight said it was up to Swarm to let everyone know that the authorization was lacking. But at NewSpace, Blake said that the FCC has sharpened its regulatory requirements \u2014 and that Spaceflight has drawn up new guidance to let its customers know \u201cexactly at what point we will pull a satellite off if it doesn\u2019t have an FCC license.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the license is lacking when it\u2019s time to integrate a small satellite onto its deployer, generally around 30 days before launch, Blake said that will raise a warning sign \u2014 the equivalent of traffic light turning yellow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that we probably won\u2019t integrate it into the deployer without having a license,\u201d he said. \u201cBut without question, it won\u2019t be integrated on the launch vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spaceflight, the launch services subsidiary of Seattle\u2019s Spaceflight Industries, has arranged for the launch of more than 140 satellites on rockets including the PSLV, SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9, Orbital ATK\u2019s Antares and the Russian Soyuz and Dnepr launch vehicles. It also has agreements for future launches on Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron, Arianespace\u2019s Vega and Virgin Orbit\u2019s Launcher One.<\/p>\n

A milestone \u201cdedicated rideshare\u201d mission, known as SSO-A, is scheduled in October. That\u2019s when Spaceflight has arranged for a Falcon 9 to deliver dozens of small satellites to sun-synchronous orbit.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wJbWDD4uJXc<\/p>\n

Blake doesn\u2019t see a slowdown ahead for small satellite launches. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a big move to GTO now,\u201d he said, referring to geosynchronous transfer orbit. GTO launch deals now account for 20 to 25 percent of Spaceflight\u2019s business, Blake said.<\/p>\n

He said the rising satellite tide adds to the importance of the Trump administration\u2019s initiative to improve the global space traffic management system.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, a few years ago, I was like, \u2018I really don\u2019t want government or anyone to get in the way of this industry, because we\u2019re growing super-fast and I think it would be a mistake,\u2019 \u201d Blake said. \u201cAt this point, I think the growth has been so rapid that I think not having traffic management could easily lead to something bad occurring. \u2026 We just moved 180 [degrees] on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blake voiced a few concerns about the federal government\u2019s approach, which puts the Commerce Department in charge of a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for space licensing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole notion of combining a group whose responsibility is to promote space \u2014 or promote anything, for that matter \u2014 with the group that has responsibility for regulating it seems to me to be a recipe for a bad outcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Blake said the Federal Aviation Administration, which has historically regulated commercial space launches, might be a more appropriate lead agency. He called for the FCC to take on a bigger role. And he said it\u2019s \u201cprobably not a good idea for the U.S. to be the one deploying a U.S.-only framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day has long passed that the U.S. can put something forth and say, \u2018Isn\u2019t this great?\u2019 with no input from our foreign partners or other spacefaring nations,\u201d Blake said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bad idea.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India\u2019s PSLV-C40 rocket stands on its launch pad in advance of January\u2019s liftoff. (ISRO Photo) When India\u2019s PSLV rocket launched a host of satellites into orbit in January, one big piece was missing: the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s authorization for Swarm Technologies\u2019 super-miniaturized satellites. The FCC had nixed Swarm\u2019s application on the grounds that the wallet-sized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[277,4973,860,2340,4839],"class_list":["post-18447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-fcc","tag-new-space-conference","tag-pslv","tag-spaceflight","tag-swarm-technologies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}