FCC Clears Orbital Mirror Satellite Despite Widespread Objections

The Federal Communications Commission has approved frequency use for a controversial satellite designed to reflect sunlight down onto the night side of the Earth.

Startup company Reflect Orbital has been granted the right to use S-, X- and UHF band frequencies to launch and communicate with its low Earth orbit satellite, Eärendil-1, which is scheduled to fly later this year.

The spacecraft carries a 60-foot reflector and will operate from an orbit of 600 to 650 kilometres. Its beam would be around 5 kilometres wide at ground level, and the company suggests it could be used to keep solar farms generating after sunset, or to light disaster zones where rescue teams are working through the night. Eärendil-1 is intended as the first of a constellation that could eventually number up to 50,000 orbiting mirrors.

Approval was granted on the 9th of July in the face of substantial opposition. The American Astronomical Society raised concerns about light pollution, while environmental groups pointed to the disruption that artificial light at night causes to nocturnal species. Media reports indicate that objections dominated the more than 1,800 public comments the FCC received.

Reflect Orbital has also stated on LinkedIn that it received a $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Department of Defense via the Air Force, which sees potential military applications in on-demand sunlight.

FCC Relaxes Amazon's Satellite Internet Deadline

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted Amazon an extension on its Leo satellite internet deployment, according to a ruling released on June 5. Amazon was supposed to launch over 1,600 Leo satellites, half of its planned constellation, by July 30th. However, the company requested an extension in January due to rocket capacity issues and changes to its satellite design. 

“[The] waiver serves the public interest by promoting a second large satellite broadband constellation” (along with SpaceX) .... “In this case, strict adherence to the rules would curtail Amazon Leo’s deployment of its Gen1 constellation by limiting the service it can provide to American consumers. Such would be contrary to the Commission’s mandate under the Communications Act.””

— FCC

Amazon's request for an extension was opposed by SpaceX, which complained that the FCC would be giving its rival special treatment. "Amazon failed to mention that over the past six years, it launched barely six per cent of the satellites that it pressured the Commission to approve ahead of its competitors," Elon Musk's company said in a protest letter to the FCC.

However, Amazon said that its slow pace wasn't due to a lack of satellites but problems getting them into orbit. "No operator could have predicted that all three core heavy-lift launch programs — Ariane 6, New Glenn, and ULA's Vulcan Centaur — would experience repeated, concurrent scheduling slips severe enough to exhaust the buffers Amazon Leo had built in," the company said. Both Vulcan and New Glenn are grounded following recent anomalies, most recently the dramatic launchpad explosion of New Glenn on May 29. 

The reprieve came with a condition, though: Amazon will lose its "priority status" for any launches after 31st July 2026. That means it will be required to demonstrate that Leo "will not interfere with other operators," particularly SpaceX. That clause addresses SpaceX's primary concern about conflicts with its Starlink constellation. 

Though Leo's midway milestone was waived, the FCC is still holding to its primary deadline requiring Leo to have its full constellation of 3,232 satellites in orbit by July 2029. That will still pose a large challenge, considering Origin's New Glenn rocket will be delayed by months. Future launches, including with other providers like SpaceX, will also need to go without a hitch. Despite all the issues, Amazon still plans to launch commercial Leo internet service later this year.

CW Ops Needed to Copy Data from Tokyo-Built Cubesat

Researchers are reaching out to the amateur radio community to listen for CW signals from a CubeSat built in Tokyo.

The Sakamoto Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan, is asking for the continued support of the amateur radio community for its ARICA-2 CubeSat. The 2U CubeSat, launched from New Zealand in late April, has been transmitting CW signals to the laboratory and is relying on the amateur community as well to send reports. The CW data is sent at 20 wpm on 436.830 MHz.

At some point, GMSK transmissions will also commence and will be announced by the satellite team on the social media platform "X" and through the AMSAT bulletin board. The satellite will use 4,800 GMSK in AX25 format.

ARICA-2 also has a mission unrelated to amateur radio: Its function is to collect images of the Earth and aurora using machine learning, and to demonstrate real-time alerts of gamma-ray bursts and other astronomical events using commercial satellite services.

CW reception reports can be submitted using the link that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

More Information - https://sakamotolab.phys.aoyama.ac.jp/research/future_space/ARICA-2_en/cw_beacon