The FCC Space Bureau "got the Commission’s policy and precedent right" when it denied U.S. market access to Sateliot, "and Sateliot continues to get it wrong" in challenging the decision, EchoStar said. In an opposition filed with the Space Bureau this week to Sateliot's petition for review (see 2502100033), EchoStar said the FCC's findings about the infeasibility of operators sharing the 2 GHz band "remain true today." It said Sateliot hasn't argued that the Space Bureau got anything wrong in its denial.

The FCC is seeking feedback on charging regulatory fees for all authorized satellites and earth stations, not just ones that are operational. That is among the regulatory fee proposals in a Further NPRM issued Tuesday. The FNPRM asks for input by March 27, replies April 11, in docket 24-85 on a variety of ideas brought up during the FY 2024 space regulatory fee proceeding. The FNPRM tentatively promotes an alternate methodology for assessing satellite regulatory fees, with earth station fees and satellite fees being allocated proportionally to the FCC Space Bureau resources involved in licensing and regulation of each segment, and with different fee categories for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) versus geostationary orbit satellites. It also asks about other options beyond that alternate methodology, such as dividing the existing NGSO fee category into two tiers: constellations of up to 1,000 satellites and constellations of more than 1,000. It also asks about the idea of creating tiers of "small" and "large" NGSO constellations in the existing "less complex" NGSO fee category and creating subcategories of earth station regulatory fee payers. Chairman Brendan Carr said it is "important that the FCC put the right regulatory framework in place -- one that will further fuel the space industry’s growth."

Rocket Lab's new Neutron rocket likely won't be ready until 2026 or 2027, rather than mid-2025, Bleecker Street Research wrote Tuesday. It said numerous aspects of the rocket's development are not on track for a launch this year. It added that Neutron's only announced launch contract is likely with satellite startup E-Space, but E-Space's own financing is questionable.

The FCC made clear in denying Intelsat reimbursement costs related to an earth station site outside the U.S. that C-band relocation expenses involving foreign facilities aren't reimbursable, the C-band relocation payment clearinghouse (RPC) said Tuesday. In a docket 21-333 reply to Anuvu, the RPC said the agency's language is clear that the Intelsat denial also covers Anuvu's German earth station. In its appeal of the RPC's initial denial of $961,000 in reimbursement claims, Anuvu said the Intelsat language addresses a specific proposal involving construction of new satellite telemetry, tracking and control facilities, and not all types of potential transition expenses.

SpaceX stressed the importance of the FCC proceeding with care in selecting a space launch frequency coordinator for the agency's space launch service (see 2501230025). “As a company that launched more than 130 rockets to orbit in 2024 and must regularly coordinate its launch operations with other spectrum users, SpaceX has a strong interest in ensuring that any third-party coordinator improves upon the existing post-licensing launch spectrum coordination processes that launch service providers and other spectrum users have refined over years of experience,” said a filing this week in docket 13-115.

SpaceX on Tuesday challenged Viasat’s standing to seek consideration of an order authorizing SpaceX and T-Mobile to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service (see 2412270017). “After decades of warehousing prime mid-band spectrum at the expense of consumers and first responders, Viasat and its front group," the Mobile Satellite Services Association, "seek to prevent an American satellite operator from delivering life-saving” coverage, said a filing in docket 23-135. Because Viasat didn’t participate in the underlying licensing docket, “it lacks standing to bring its petition for reconsideration,” SpaceX said: “Even if it had timely raised these claims, the Commission still must reject them because they fundamentally misread the Commission’s SCS licensing framework and its overarching goal to establish and maintain American leadership in the market for direct-to-cellular services both here and abroad.”

Ligado's opposition to a DOJ interlocutory appeal of a decision in the satellite operator's lawsuit against the U.S. government (see 2501310004) is fundamentally flawed, DOJ said Wednesday. In a reply filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (docket 1:23-cv-01797), it said Ligado wrongly downplays the interlocutory appeal as merely disagreeing with the court's November decision regarding a DOJ motion to dismiss. Ligado is incorrect when it argues there is no remedy at the FCC to address its claim that its L-band spectrum rights were taken without compensation, DOJ said. It said the agency could always set aside conditions on Ligado's license.

Startup Starfish Space is eyeing a January 2026 launch for its Otter 24A in-space servicing vehicle, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application filed Wednesday. Starfish said the mission would involve inspecting and docking with an Intelsat satellite in the "graveyard orbit" for retired non-geostationary orbit satellites, as well as providing life-extension services for Intelsat-17.

Northrop Grumman's Space Logistics is planning to dock its Mission Extension Vehicle 1 with an Optus D3 satellite for in-orbit mission extension services. In an FCC Space Bureau application Monday, SL said that after seven months of service with Optus, the MEV-1 would undock and then move to its next client. SL said the spacecraft has been operating with the Intelsat 901 satellite, doing mission extension services for it, and the company's contract with Intelsat ends March 30.

Sateliot wants the FCC to revisit its Space Bureau's January decision dismissing the company's U.S. market access petition. In an application for review filed Friday, Sateliot said the bureau's rejection of the application to offer IoT services in the 2 GHz mobile satellite service (MSS) band, due to unavailability of that spectrum (see 2501080037), runs contrary to the FCC's 2019 smallsat order. That order lets applicants seeking authority under the streamlined small satellite processing rules apply for MSS frequencies, it said. Sateliot argued that the bureau was wrong in saying there wasn't enough information in the record to determine if Sateliot's system would meet the spectrum-sharing requirements under the smallsat processing rules.