The lack of an international mechanism for monitoring space debris and facilitating its removal is a big challenge, particularly for smaller nations just getting into space or with space aspirations, said U.N. Undersecretary-General-Policy Guy Ryder Tuesday at a Secure World Foundation space sustainability symposium. He said there's also the potential for tension and conflict about the lack of international norms and principles for debris removal and satellite refueling. He said consensus is needed on the use of space resources and on protecting landing sites, to ensure industry can fairly access resources. The next 15 months are a window of opportunity for more aggressive work on space norms and diplomacy, with upcoming meetings by the OECD Space Forum and U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in that time frame, capped by the U.N.'s sustainability focused Summit of the Future in September 2024, Ryder said. Venture capital funding in space has rocketed since 2018, with a peak in 2021, said Maureen Haverty, vice president at Seraphim Space venture capital fund. Driving that interest was the market disruption of new players, including SpaceX, the U.S. government increasingly buying services from commercial providers, and big reductions in the cost of accessing space, she said. Space now is seen as a market that can drive large enough returns to interest the VC community, she said. While 2022 and early 2023 were "very challenging" for space startups in search of funds, European investment has provided some rebound. European investing now eclipses U.S. investing for the first time, she said.

Dish Network's array of challenges to SpaceX "dramatically understates the lengths to which [it is] willing to go to deny American consumers connectivity," SpaceX said Wednesday in docket 23-135. It said the FCC "should consider admonishing DISH for its waste of Commission time and caution it against continuing to abuse Commission processes." In a filing earlier this week, Dish recapped its pending requests for denials or dismissal of six separate SpaceX applications. Dish didn't comment Wednesday. Dish Executive Vice President-External & Legislative Affairs Jeff Blum emailed that the SpaceX filing "is yet another odd attack on DISH and the FCC's regulatory process. DISH’s advocacy has consistently raised serious interference and other concerns about various SpaceX applications pending at the FCC. Rather than respond to the substance of DISH’s concerns, SpaceX has once again chosen to attack the regulatory process."

Before the FCC sets a degraded throughput threshold for protecting satellite systems authorized in different processing rounds, there should be more technical analysis to avoid limiting efficient use of spectrum, Kepler said Tuesday in docket 21-456. It said defining a maximum number of non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite systems in a particular frequency band "may induce a first-come, first-served approach" that might exclude the potential for subsequent rounds. Commissioners voted 4-0 at their April meeting to adopt an order and Further NPRM on spectrum sharing procedures for systems approved in different processing rounds (see 22304200039).

SpaceX/T-Mobile plans for supplemental coverage from space (SCS) using the PCS G Block (see 2302080001) are facing multiple interference criticisms. SpaceX and T-Mobile claim deployments in the PCS G Block won't interfere with adjacent channel terrestrial mobile service but don't substantiate that, AT&T said Tuesday in docket 23-135, urging the FCC not to authorize the SCS deployment until non-interference is proven. Dish Network said SpaceX is trying "to prematurely shoehorn" a SCS service into rules not designed for that, raising interference risks for G Block and adjacent band services. It said SpaceX still hasn't addressed such fundamental questions as how SpaceX transmissions won't compound T-Mobile terrestrial transmissions, raising the potential that they overwhelm adjacent band filters, and what's the timeline for launch of SpaceX Starlinks with a new antenna. Omnispace said T-Mobile's arguments about interference overlook the fact SpaceX satellites use higher power and antenna gain than T-Mobile terrestrial base stations. It said approval must await the companies addressing interference risks from SpaceX's SCS G Block downlinks into existing S-band mobile satellite service operators' uplinks.

SpaceX was by far the busiest space launch provider in Q1, with 21 launches putting up 763 spacecraft, per BryceTech Tuesday. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. did 12 launches in the quarter, putting up 31 spacecraft, it said, and the Indian Space Research Organisation did two launches but put up 39 spacecraft. By country, U.S. launch providers did 27 launches in the quarter, while Chinese launchers did 14, it said. Of the 869 spacecraft launched in Q1 worldwide, 81% were communications satellites -- mostly SpaceX Starlink satellites, it said.

Low earth orbit (LEO) should fall under the National Environmental Policy Act's scope, said Michael Runnels, California State University business law assistant professor, in a Journal of Air Law and Commerce article last week. He urged changes to federal law to include the orbital environment under NEPA's scope, which in turn would give the FCC clear Congressional authorization to regulate orbital debris. He said the FCC not substantively enforcing NEPA in LEO creates a "regulatory void" that could lead to more orbital debris. Needing changes are Title 42, regarding public health, and Title 47, on the structure and duties of the FCC, he said.

Any FCC waiver letting Amazon's Kuiper start operations before a needed ITU finding (see 2303300001) should be predicated on the company sharing equivalent power flux density (EPFD) output files produced by the ITUs compliance software, SES/O3b told the Space Bureau Monday. Kuiper committed to making available input data for ITU evaluation of EPFD compliance, but both input and output files are needed to confirm EPFD compliance, they said. Amazon is trying "to cherry pick conditions for itself" by arguing it should be subject to only some of the conditions the FCC placed on SpaceX's second-generation Starlink constellation, SpaceX said .

With the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector having received answers to questions it had about Eutelsat's proposed takeover of OneWeb, the Committee resumed its review of the deal, it told the FCC Space Bureau Monday. It said the 120-day review period is scheduled to end Aug. 14. Eutelsat/OneWeb was announced in July (see 2207250041).

As part of its efforts to streamline the space application review process (see 2212210054), the FCC could allow operators to make minor modifications without needing prior FCC review, which would reduce the number of applications the staff needs to review, SpaceX said Tuesday in docket 22-411. Meeting with Space Bureau Chief Julie Kearney, the company also urged standardized information collection, use of self-certifications and checkboxes instead of legal narratives, letting operators submit a single modification application for a common change across multiple earth station licenses, and automatic renewals of special temporary authorities while an underlying application is being processed. SpaceX also backed use of shot clocks when processing earth station and satellite applications.

Amazon's Kuiper and Iridium reached a coordination agreement for use of the 19.3-19.7 GHz and 29.1-29.5 GHz bands, which was a condition on deployment of the Kuiper constellation, the companies told the FCC Space Bureau this week.