Russia looks to have its own version of SpaceX's Starlink constellation with Rassvet, Eurospace economist Pierre Lionnet wrote Wednesday. Six of the planned 900 Rassvet satellites are in orbit, with startup Byuro 1440 having apparently secured 20 Soyuz launches to deploy an additional 300 or so, he said. Lionnet said B1440 is claiming comparable performance to Starlink for fixed and mobile service, with up to 1 Gbps speed and low latency.

Satellite builder Maxar Space Systems has rebranded as Lanteris, it said Wednesday. Its satellite imagery business, Maxar Intelligence, also rebranded as Vantor.

AST SpaceMobile, which currently has five satellites in orbit, wrote Tuesday on X that its sixth BlueBird satellite is assembled and being shipped to India for launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation. BlueBird 7 is also expected to ship to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch site in Florida later this month, it said, and BlueBirds 8-16 "are in various stages of production, with launches planned every 1-2 months on average during 2025 and 2026."

SpaceX's planned purchase of 50 MHz of EchoStar spectrum will change the way SES has been managing spectrum, CEO Adel Al-Saleh told us Wednesday night during a company event in Washington. SES now needs to figure out "how do we solve our spectrum requirements differently?" he said. That entails more partnerships and more discussions with governments about getting landing rights, Al-Saleh said, adding that landing rights are as important as the amount of L- and S-band spectrum a satellite operator has available to it.

AST SpaceMobile's ability to meet its goals for deployment and start its direct-to-device service relies largely on the availability of New Glenn rockets, space finance group Mach33 wrote Wednesday. AST has said it hopes to have 45-60 of its Block-2 satellites operational by the end of 2026 and offer intermittent U.S. service in late 2025, Mach33 said, adding that each of Blue Origin's New Glenn rockets would carry six to eight Block-2 satellites. It said that in a worst-case scenario, AST would have to rely on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket for launches, but Falcon 9 is already in heavy demand, with flight slots booked years out.

In light of the streamlined earth station licensing requirements that the FCC adopted in August (see 2508070037), its Space Bureau gave guidance Monday on adding a point of communication for an earth station license. In a public notice in docket 22-411, the bureau explained how licensees should identify that they're filing to add a point of communication, how pending applications can use the new procedures, and the form of content of the notices to add a point of communication.

Spectrum and tech public policy groups are pressing the FCC to adopt new power limits on low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. In a letter Monday to Chairman Brendan Carr (docket 25-157), groups including Chamber of Progress, Digital First Project and the Computer & Communications Industry Association said new power limits would boost satellite capacity, lower prices for consumers and increase satellite competition. Current ITU rules are "outdated" and "badly lagging the pace of American innovation." In April, the FCC adopted an NPRM on spectrum sharing between LEOs and non-geostationary orbit satellites (see 2504280038).

Venturi Astrolab hopes to launch its lunar rover as soon as early December for a technology demonstration mission on the moon's surface. In an application filed Friday with the FCC Space Bureau, Astrolab said the mission carrying the rover is expected to launch between Dec. 4 and March 4. The rover will attach to an Astrobotic Technology lander as part of a NASA-funded mission, it said. The company will use the S and X bands for communications and a local 2.4 GHz support link for communications with the lander, it added.

In the future, space launch sites have to function like airports, with "multiple launches a day from multiple providers," SpaceX blogged this week. It said it wants to work with federal regulators, federal launch ranges and the industry "to realize this vision." The company would make "significant investments in scientific research on blast and acoustics, physical infrastructure, and operational techniques and modern tools that foster dynamic, safe, and high-cadence spaceports in the U.S." SpaceX said its work with the FAA, NASA and Space Force have let it launch and land every two days on average from Cape Canaveral Space Force Center, "a cadence once dismissed as making it impossible for other launch providers to use the same range." Its Falcon family of rockets is on track to launch more than 100 times from Florida this year, "while other launch operators have continued their normal operations."

With the FCC contemplating an upper C-band auction, its Space Bureau on Thursday issued an updated list of fixed satellite service earth stations in the 4-4.2 GHz band in the contiguous U.S. The notice in docket 20-205 also reminded earth station operators that they must maintain an up-to-date registration with the FCC of incumbent earth stations that continue to operate in the 4-4.2 GHz band.