Increased crowding of low earth orbit and greater competition for lunar resources could drive multinational agreements on approaching space and assets there -- but not imminently -- according to a China space program expert. Kevin Pollpeter, the China Aerospace Studies Institute's research director, told the American Bar Association's space law symposium in Washington Thursday that such space resource agreements are a long way off. Space law experts said international harmonization of space regulations faces growing hurdles.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told members of the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee (CJS) on Thursday that NTIA will likely issue a promised notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for its $42.5 billion BEAD program on Friday. It will require all states to resubmit their applications. Meanwhile, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who chairs the Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee, told us she remains on the fence about President Donald Trump’s proposal to claw back $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding as part of a rescission package that congressional GOP leaders want expedited (see 2506030065).
Blue Origin is now aiming for an August launch for its Moon Lander MK1 Pathfinder mission, it told the FCC Space Bureau in a filing posted Wednesday. The proposed mission was originally expected in Q1 2025 (see 2408020001). The company told the bureau this week that once the lander touches down on the moon's surface, its mission there should take about 24 hours. Blue Origin anticipates using the S band for mission uplinks and downlinks, with the X band as a backup, it said.
The Commerce Department should take its time to ensure it gets BEAD rules right, WISPA President David Zumwalt said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Moving too quickly “only serves to perpetuate the flaws in BEAD’s original design,” said the letter, released Wednesday. It also urged Lutnick not to ignore the service offered by wireless ISPs.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is expected in a matter of weeks in the Consumers' Research case challenging the USF contribution factor and the USF generally, even as SCOTUS wades through numerous emergency petitions from the Trump administration, industry experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. USF likely needs an overhaul, they added, but that could be difficult if the FCC loses at SCOTUS, which typically issues several high-profile decisions in June.
Federal budget-cutting could mean degraded quality and timeliness of emergency alerts during major storms and disasters, emergency response and weather experts tell us. A number of advocacy groups, from the Urban Institute to the Natural Resources Defense Council, have raised concerns about budget cuts for the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response. Others say budgetary issues won't harm emergency alerting, and the system remains robust.
Rate regulation would harm competition in the broadband marketplace and undermine efforts to close the digital divide, said ACA Connects in a new study released Thursday. The study, conducted in partnership with Cartesian, found four "cascading" effects of rate regulation: less investment, less competition, a slowdown in pricing declines and harm spillover.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The Wireless Microphone Spectrum Alliance (WMSA) met with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff about several regulatory changes the group is seeking, including in a filing in the “Delete” proceeding. Among the topics discussed was the group’s request “to remove the arbitrary and unnecessarily restrictive” 50 low-power auxiliary station device eligibility threshold for a Part 74 license, said a filing posted Friday in docket 25-133. The requirement “originated in 2012 and was based on a forecast of TV whitespace device deployment which has proved overly optimistic, rendering the rule entirely unnecessary and restrictive.”