The FCC Space Bureau approved Lynk Global's requested extension of its surety bond posting deadline (see 2401050062), according to a notation last week. The company had said damages involving its Tower 5 and Tower 6 satellites delayed their launch, and thus the need for an extension.

SpaceX has sent and received the first text messages through its supplemental coverage from space (SCS) satellites, it posted on X Wednesday. It said it plans to "rapidly launch a constellation of hundreds of satellites to enable text service in 2024" followed by voice, data and IoT services in 2025. SpaceX launched its first batch of SCS Starlinks last week (see 2401030032).

One of the more common earth station special temporary authority snafus the FCC Space Bureau encounters in applications is the questionable use of the STA category, Earth Station Licensing Division Chief Franco Hinojosa said at the bureau's earth station licensing open house Wednesday. When an STA application is for a time period of close to 180 days or when it needs extensions, it raises the question whether an STA is the proper route. STAs are by definition supposed to be for a limited duration, he said. Wednesday's event follows a Space Bureau open house held in November as part of the bureau’s transparency initiative (see 2311010033). Bureau Chief Julie Kearney said another open house, covering orbital debris, would be held in late February. Wednesday's open house saw Space Bureau staff discussing issues ranging from whether the international communications filing system allows more than three attachments to an application (it does), to the state of the 2018 freeze on accepting new upper C-band earth station registrations (still in place, for now). Hinojosa said among the errors the bureau sees in STA and modification applications, another that frequently appears is missing or incomplete information. An STA application that refers to information found in past authorizations instead of repeating it slows the process, he said. The bureau processed a record 2,804 satellite and earth station applications in 2023, with increased earth station in motion applications helping drive that volume, Kearney said.

Iridium on Wednesday unveiled its supplemental coverage from space service, Project Stardust, offering it from its existing satellite constellation. Its initial narrowband IoT offering will support 5G non-terrestrial messaging and SOS capabilities for smartphones, tablets, cars and related consumer applications, it said. Iridium added that it plans to begin testing next year, with service starting in 2026. The company said it's working with multiple direct-to-device and IoT-related companies to incorporate their use cases and requirements into the service.

SpaceX so dominated in successful orbital launches, satellite deployments and total mass to orbit per launch vehicle in 2023 that the space activities of other companies, nations and organizations "were just background noise," analyst John Holst blogged for space consultancy Astralytical. "It was SpaceX’s world in 2023. 2024 looks to be more so," he said Monday. U.S. companies successfully launched 110 rockets in 2023, up from 85 in 2022, and SpaceX accounted for 96 of those 110, Holst said. Its 2023 launch total was an increase from 2022's 61. China conducted 66 launches in 2023, up from 62 the year before, he said. Holst said second in the U.S. behind SpaceX was Rocket Lab, which conducted eight launches in 2023, down from nine the year before. United Launch Alliance conducted three launches in 2023, he said. Holst said that while China's launch services use a variety of rockets, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology’s CZ-2D was its most active, with 13 launches. He said of the 2,850 total satellites deployed in 2023, SpaceX was responsible for nearly 70%. More than 99% of those 1,986 satellites SpaceX deployed were its own Starlink line. Of an estimated 1.5 million kg of spacecraft mass deployed last year, SpaceX launched about 87%, or nearly 1.3 million kg. That's about double what it delivered into space last year, he said. Even subtracting Starlink deployments, SpaceX lifted an estimated 186,000 kg into orbit, he said.

Airbus and commercial space station startup Voyager Space finalized a joint venture agreement that would see them collaborate on design, construction and operation of the Starlab commercial space station, Voyager said Tuesday.

The Peregrine lunar lander leaked too much propellant to be able to land softly on the moon, Astrobotic posted Tuesday on X. The robotic lander was launched Monday but developed a propellant leak (see 2401080072). The company said it continues to receive data from Peregrine and is "proving spaceflight operations for components and software" for its next lunar lander mission.

United Launch Alliance successfully launched its first Vulcan rocket Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. However, one of the two payloads on the flight, Astrobotic's first Peregrine Lunar Lander, suffered a propulsion system failure, the company said in a series of postings on X. As a result, ULA said it was prioritizing capturing as much science and data as possible. ULA said it has sold more than 70 Vulcan launches, including 38 for placing Amazon's Kuiper broadband satellites into space (see 2204050003).

Satellite operator Skylo and IoT services firm FocusPoint will partner on a satellite-delivered IoT monitoring and alerting service targeting such industries as agriculture, energy, transportation and utilities, Skylo said Friday.

Lynk's Tower 5 and Tower 6 satellites were supposed to launch in November, but damage during transit delayed that launch, the satellite operator told the FCC Space Bureau last week as it requested an extension in the deadline for posting its surety bond. Lynk said the satellites are now set for launch on a March 1 SpaceX mission, with the remaining 5 satellites in the constellation launching by April. In 2022, the International Bureau granted Lynk a 10-satellite license for a direct-to-standard-mobile-phone service (see 2209160067). Lynk said Towers 1, 3 and 4 are in orbit and operational.