The commercial space priorities of the White House's recent American space superiority executive order (see 2508140006) will help unleash American innovation in space, the National Space Society said last week. Those commercial priorities include attracting large investments in space, increasing launch and reentry cadence, and promoting spectrum leadership. The group said a strong commercial space sector "is the backbone of long‑term space development," and the order "recognizes the power of public‑private partnership to drive progress." NSS Policy Committee Chairman Grant Henriksen added that it "provides a bold, actionable roadmap for the U.S. to lead the next era of space development."

As SES continues to lobby the FCC against letting non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites operate under less restrictive power limits, SpaceX is pushing back, according to dueling filings posted Tuesday in docket 25-157.

Starlink's first-generation direct-to-device (D2D) service supports texting data, and voice service through apps, IoT and cellular broadcast alerts, but mobile broadband, native telecom voice and video on phones are coming soon, SpaceX said in a docket 25-340 filing posted Tuesday. Recapping a meeting with Space and Wireless Bureau staff, SpaceX said its satellite cellular broadband, using the 2 GHz mobile satellite service spectrum and legacy support of LTE bands, will have global coverage, including northern latitudes. A 2027 transfer of EchoStar spectrum would be "ideal" for device ecosystem readiness, it said.

The White House's recent American space superiority executive order (see 2508140006) sets goals such as a greater launch and reentry cadence, signaling "a shift from aspirational policy to execution -- tying capital formation, operational scale, and national security together," Sheppard Mullin space lawyer Drew Svor wrote Monday on social media. While the order doesn't explicitly name the FCC, "the push to unlock investment and accelerate launch activity inevitably lands on satellite and spectrum licensing, with greater emphasis on speed, coordination, and national-security-aware authorizations," he said. It "represents an important shift in how the United States approaches space policy, investment, and security. For operators and investors, orbital security is now inseparable from licensing velocity, regulatory strategy, and U.S. competitiveness in space."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to lay out the goal of having a space policy "that will extend the reach of human discovery, secure the Nation’s vital economic and security interests, unleash commercial development, and lay the foundation for a new space age." The order, titled Ensuring American Space Authority, didn't specifically mention the FCC or space regulation. It listed multiple space policy priorities, including a demonstration of "spectrum leadership across space applications to promote United States technology competitiveness, spectrum management efficiency, and global market access." It also committed to returning Americans to the moon by 2028 and establishing the foundations of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030.

Comments are due Jan. 21, replies Feb. 5, on allowing additional frequency bands for use in non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service satellites communicating with earth stations in motion (ESIMs), said an FCC notice for Monday's Federal Register. The Space Bureau said it's seeking to refresh the record in its 2020 further NPRM about ESIM communications in the 28.35-28.6 GHz band (see 2005130057). The docket is 17-95.

If SpaceX makes an initial public offering in 2026 or 2027, as expected, there will also likely be benefits for other space companies that are readying for a world where SpaceX's Starship rocket dominates the market, Quilty Space's Caleb Henry wrote last week. A SpaceX IPO would let it raise billions to use toward buying EchoStar spectrum rights and Starship, as well as toward a venture in orbiting data centers, Henry said. It would also help drive greater market interest in orbiting data centers, with private markets and foreign governments cultivating new players, he said.

Expect Amazon Leo to speed up the price war in the business-to-business satellite broadband market in 2026, Analysys Mason wrote Friday. It said that while Starlink focused on consumers to build market dominance, Leo will focus on a strategy that uses Amazon's strengths of cloud integration and existing enterprise relationships. Starlink will keep its near-monopoly in consumer business in 2026, Analysys Mason predicted, but its enterprise market share advantage will shrink as Leo uses Amazon's existing customer base. The consulting firm added that India is now a possible market for Starlink, but the SpaceX service's comparatively high price will make it unappealing to much of the public.

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.