{"id":55971,"date":"2022-02-10T17:57:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T09:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-amazon-satellite-operators-take-issue-with-spacex-starlink-gen-2-in-fcc-filings\/"},"modified":"2022-02-10T17:57:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T09:57:35","slug":"nasa-amazon-satellite-operators-take-issue-with-spacex-starlink-gen-2-in-fcc-filings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-amazon-satellite-operators-take-issue-with-spacex-starlink-gen-2-in-fcc-filings\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA, Amazon, Satellite Operators Take Issue with SpaceX Starlink Gen-2 in FCC Filings"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p>A number of satellite operators and <b>NASA <\/b>submitted comments to the <strong>FCC<\/strong> this week, taking issue with<strong> SpaceX<\/strong>\u2019s proposed modifications to its second generation Starlink constellation (Gen2).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>SES<\/strong>, <strong>Viasat<\/strong>, <strong>OneWeb<\/strong>, and <strong>Amazon<\/strong>&nbsp;all submitted comments on SpaceX\u2019s proposed Gen2 system of nearly 30,000 additional satellites in its Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband constellation. The FCC has not approved SpaceX\u2019s plan. The operators\u2019 and NASA\u2019s concerns followed similar lines, including spectrum sharing and interference, risk of collision, and post-mission disposal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>NASA said it anticipates its science missions and human spaceflight operations would see an increase in conjunctions with Gen2, which would increase the number of objects below 600 km over five-fold. SpaceX has said that there is zero risk of Starlink collision with large objects because each spacecraft can maneuver, but NASA said that estimate \u201clacks statistical substantiation.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the potential for multiple constellations with thousands and tens of thousands of spacecraft, it is not recommended to assume propulsion systems, ground detection systems, and software are 100% reliable, or that manual operations (if any) are 100% error-free,\u201d wrote Samantha Fonder, NASA representative to the Commercial Space Transportation Interagency Group.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>NASA expressed concerns with auto-maneuver capability and situations in which multiple constellations are auto-maneuvering without clearly defined rules. The agency recommends that SpaceX commission a risk analysis for autonomous versus autonomous constellation conjunction assessments and mitigation actions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>NASA also shared concerns about sun glint from Starlink satellites affecting Earth observation missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope, and Starlink interference in asteroid survey images for planetary defense.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>OneWeb, which has a competing constellation in LEO, said that a constellation of Gen2\u2019s proposed size proposes a unique risk to other operators for spectrum access. OneWeb argued that the FCC\u2019s spectrum sharing and orbital resource rules have not kept up with Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) developments in recent years, and NGSO operators do not agree on how to interpret the current rules and how the rules should be revised.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile it is possible for large NGSO systems to be spectrally efficient by capitalizing on satellite diversity, it is also very likely that the operator with the largest system will significantly impair other smaller NGSO FSS [fixed satellite service] systems by exploiting the lack of adequate information to apply the current band-splitting rule. At this time, every other NGSO FSS system is significantly smaller than SpaceX and is appreciably disadvantaged with regard to spectrum splitting and orbital debris mitigation as a direct result,\u201d OneWeb said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Viasat, which operates satellites in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), and has fought changes to the Starlink system, continues to ask for an environmental impact statement on the constellation. In this week\u2019s filing, Viasat asked for an orbital debris mitigation plan addressing all of the collision risks for the expanded Starlink system, and for the FCC to decline SpaceX\u2019s application until the company gives more information on the risks of the system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceX\u2019s proposed expansion would foreclose competition, preclude other valuable uses of scarce and shared spectrum and orbital resources, pose an unacceptable risk of interference, and endanger both orbital safety and the human environment,\u201d Viasat said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The operator also took issue at SpaceX\u2019s proposed expansion due to questions about the current system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceX has not yet offered mass-market service or demonstrated that it is capable of delivering the promised benefits that formed the basis for the commission\u2019s authorization,\u201d Viasat said. \u201cThere is little basis for the commission or any other party to evaluate how the Starlink system actually performs under real-world conditions\u2026 or whether the operation of the Starlink system under real-world conditions actually serves the public interest.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These comments on SpaceX\u2019s application come after the company said this week it could lose up to 40 satellites from the most recent Starlink launch due to a geomagnetic storm in space that increased atmospheric drag.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A number of satellite operators and NASA submitted comments to the FCC this week, taking issue with SpaceX\u2019s proposed modifications to its second generation Starlink constellation (Gen2).&nbsp; SES, Viasat, OneWeb, and Amazon&nbsp;all submitted comments on SpaceX\u2019s proposed Gen2 system of nearly 30,000 additional satellites in its Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband constellation. The FCC has not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51837,"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":[],"class_list":["post-55971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55971"}],"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=55971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}