Astroscale said Tuesday it received a U.S. patent for a method that lets its in-orbit services approach and synchronize with client satellites more safely and precisely and with less fuel, even if they're tumbling. The technology "lays the foundation for a future in which satellites transform from limited, single-use systems into fully serviceable assets." The company said its patented method lets a service match a client satellite's tumble rate before capture without relying on fuel or propulsion by instead using countermasses to shift the servicer's center of mass.

Comments are due Jan. 20, replies Feb. 18, on the FCC's proposal to let upper microwave flexible-use service and fixed-satellite service operators craft voluntary agreements to promote more intensive use of the UMFUS bands, the Space Bureau said Tuesday in docket 25-305. The UMFUS NPRM adopted at the FCC's October meeting (see 2510280024) also asked about revising UMFUS protection criteria.

Muon Space hopes to launch its FireSat1, FireSat2 and FireSat3 satellites for wildfire monitoring and detection into low earth orbit as soon as June. In an FCC Space Bureau application Friday, Muon said the satellites are planned in partnership with the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance. They would operate at a nominal altitude of 600 kilometers and use an X-band downlink for payload data, the company said.

The subsidized buildout of fiber and fixed wireless access to rural America will start eating into the potential market for SpaceX and Amazon Leo, CCG Consulting's Doug Dawson wrote Thursday. SpaceX's Starlink is notably more expensive than the cost associated with most ISPs building grant-funded networks, and even if it offers a cheaper service it still can't match the speeds of those terrestrial offerings, Dawson said. It remains to be seen whether Starlink and Amazon Leo are fierce competitors, or whether they collude on pricing, he said. Outside the U.S., both will see big competition from China's Guowang and Quinfan constellations, he said. Dawson said it's likely the Chinese offerings will undercut Starlink's and Leo's prices to try to corner the markets in Asia, Africa and South America,

Pointing out that it operates its global maritime distress and safety service in the U.S. on a waiver, Iridium pressed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office for an update of the agency's Part 80 rules before the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference, according to a filing Thursday. The Part 80 rules cover maritime services. The WRC-19 NPRM issued this week (see 2512100054) seeks comment on Part 80 rules updates, and Iridium said it supports a maritime mobile satellite service downlink allocation in the 1621.35-1626.5 MHz band and other changes.

If the FCC opts to depart from the existing power limits protecting geostationary orbit satellite operations from non-geostationary orbit satellite interference, it should adopt short- and long-term protection criteria for non-adaptive coding and modulation satellite networks, DirecTV said. In a docket 25-157 filing posted Thursday recapping company meetings this week with the offices of the three FCC commissioners, DirecTV also urged that any equivalent power flux density (EPFD) changes account for the unique circumstances of non-ACM satellite broadcast networks. It said short-term criteria should be based on a relative increase in unavailability and include mechanisms for showing compliance with protection criteria.

The Amazon-backed Connect Everyone Coalition is pressing agencies including the FCC, DOD and Commerce and Transportation departments to do away with some of the duplicative regulatory approvals needed for space launch activity. In a letter to the agencies Tuesday, the coalition said the separate approvals necessary for launch authorization often involve "uncoordinated timelines and conflicting requirements." Space approvals also often require submitting nearly identical environmental assessments to multiple agencies, when there should be a shared environmental review, it argued. In addition, the group complained about safety reviews done by multiple agencies for launch range safety determinations and "a persistent lack of transparency around launch scheduling and delay decisions." Changes such as a transparent launch coordination mechanism and shared standards and full reciprocity for range safety determinations across federal agencies "will let operators build, lead, innovate and create value for the American people."

Ligado is seeking FCC Space Bureau approval to operate an L-band payload that would be placed on AST SpaceMobile's low earth orbit constellation. In a bureau application Monday, Ligado said the SkyTerra Next payload would provide 5G service to consumers in conjunction with the space-based mobile broadband to be provided by AST. AST would provide telemetry, tracking and control functions for SkyTerra Next, while Ligado would retain operational control of the payload itself, the filing said.

In order to take advantage of a January launch opportunity, AST SpaceMobile is asking the FCC Space Bureau for permission to put one of its BlueBird satellites in a slightly lower orbit than its 520-kilometer authorization. In an application posted Friday, AST said that to meet the launch requirements with a quick turnaround, it was limited in the available orbital parameters. AST's next direct-to-device satellite launch is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Comments and petitions about SpaceX's proposed direct-to-device satellite constellation are due Jan. 5, said a public notice from the FCC Space and Wireless bureaus in Monday's Daily Digest. SpaceX submitted an application in September to operate as many as 15,000 satellites to provide D2D service globally, with the constellation using spectrum that the company is buying from EchoStar (see 2509220006). Responses to comments and oppositions to petitions in docket 25-340 are due Jan. 15, and replies to responses and oppositions are due Jan. 22, according to the notice.