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SpaceX seeks OK for a million earth stations

Starlink simulation
A simulation shows how a 4,425-satellite constellation could be deployed for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. (Mark Handley / University College London)

SpaceX has opened a new window into its ambitious plans for a global satellite broadband data network, thanks to an earth-station license application filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

The application, filed on behalf of a sister company called SpaceX Services, seeks blanket approval for up to a million earth stations that would be used by customers of the Starlink satellite internet service. The stations would rely on a flat-panel, phased-array system to transmit and receive signals in the Ku-band to and from the Starlink constellation.

Those satellites have already received clearance from the FCC, and SpaceX plans to launch the first elements of the initial 4,425-satellite constellation this year, using Falcon 9 rockets. The company sent up its first two experimental broadband satellites last year and has been tweaking its plans for Starlink as a result of those space-to-ground tests. Eventually, SpaceX wants to build up the network to take in as many as 12,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.

The application filed with the FCC on Feb. 1 focuses on the receiving end of the space-based service.

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Blue Origin will launch Telesat’s internet satellites

Bezos, Goldberg, Smith
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith flank Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg, who’s holding a model of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. (Blue Origin via Twitter)

Canada’s biggest satellite operator, Telesat, has signed agreements with Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and Alphabet’s Loon aerial telecommunications venture to support its future global broadband satellite constellation.

Blue Origin has agreed to provide multiple launches on its yet-to-be-built New Glenn rocket to get Telesat’s spacecraft into low Earth orbit, or LEO. Loon, meanwhile, will furnish a cloud-based data delivery platform that’s based on the system it currently uses to deliver mobile services via a fleet of high-altitude balloons.

Today’s announcements raise Telesat’s profile in a market battle that also involves California-based SpaceX and the international OneWeb consortium.

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Astranis to provide satellite internet for Alaska

Astranis satellite
An artist’s conception shows an Astranis satellite in geostationary orbit. (Astranis Illustration)

Astranis Space Technologies says it has struck a deal with Alaska’s Pacific Dataport Inc. to provide America’s northernmost state with three times as much satellite data bandwidth as it has today, via its first satellite in geostationary orbit.

“It is a firm contract in the many tens of millions of dollars,” Astranis co-founder and CEO John Gedmark told GeekWire in advance of today’s announcement. It also arguably ranks as the biggest deal of its type for a satellite company as young as Astranis, which emerged from stealth mode less than a year ago.

Astranis put a small-scale test satellite into low Earth orbit last year, and plans to follow up with the launch of a 660-pound (300-kilogram), 3-foot-wide telecommunications satellite in the second half of next year. Gedmark said the satellite would be sent up as a secondary payload by a major launch provider, but declined to say which one.

“This is going to happen fast,” he said.

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Loon strikes deal to beam internet access in Kenya

Loon balloon launch
A balloon equipped with a transceiver takes off from Loon’s test facility in Nevada. (Loon Photo)

A week after becoming an independent business under Alphabet’s wing, the venture formerly known as Google’s Project Loon has struck its first commercial deal to provide balloon-powered 4G/LTE internet service to regions of central Kenya starting next year.

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Astranis unveils big plan for small internet satellites

Astranis satellite
An artist’s conception shows an Astranis satellite in geostationary orbit. (Astranis Illustration)

Astranis Space Technologies is taking the wraps off a plan to provide internet access to billions of people, using small-sized, low-cost satellites that are lofted into high-flying orbits.

The San Francisco-based venture emerged from stealth mode today and reported a $13.5 million Series A investment round, led by Andreessen Horowitz with additional participation by Y Combinator, Fifty Years, Refactor Capital and Indicator Fund.

The new investment brings Astranis’ total funding to $18 million. That may sound like a lot — until you consider that aerospace heavyweights such as SpaceX and OneWeb are spending billions of dollars pursuing the same goal.

The competition doesn’t faze Astranis CEO and co-founder John Gedmark, an aerospace engineer who previously served as executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

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Flap over Russian troll factory hits home

Katarina Aistova and Agata Burdonova
A photo that Russian linguist Agata Burdonova posted to her VKontakte account shows her at right, getting a hug from Katarina Aistova at left. Aistova has been linked to the Internet Research Agency, Russia’s “troll factory.” (Agata Burdonova via VK.com)

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Agata Burdonova may marvel on LiveJournal over the fact that she lives just a couple of miles from Bill Gates’ house, but I’m marveling more over the fact that I live just a couple of miles from her apartment.

The proximity is notable because Burdonova has been drawn into an international controversy over her connections to Russia’s Internet Research Agency, or IRA. That’s the infamous troll factory whose activities sparked 13 federal indictments this month, stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.

According to a report from Russia’s TV Rain, Burdonova was an aide to the head of the IRA’s media and public forums department, Katarina Aistova, who figured in a New York Times story about the operation in 2015.

Burdonova’s voluminous social-media postings paint a much softer picture,

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FCC chief endorses SpaceX’s satellite plan

Ajit Pai
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is on board with SpaceX’s satellite plan. (Flickr Photo / FCCDotGov)

SpaceX’s plan to beam broadband services to America and the world via its Starlink satellite constellation got a big thumbs-up today from Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Pai’s endorsement isn’t exactly a surprise: The FCC already has given its approval to rival companies with similar plans, including OneWeb, Space Norway and Telesat.

Nevertheless, Pai’s praise probably made Valentine’s Day nicer for SpaceX, just days after the high-profile maiden launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket and days before the scheduled launch of the first prototype Starlink satellites.

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Net neutrality’s peril raises stakes for satellites

Image: Satellite web
An artist’s conception shows a constellation of satellites in orbit. (Credit: OneWeb)

The Federal Communication Commission’s plan to start rolling back regulations on net neutrality comes as bad news for streaming video providers like Amazon and Netflix, and potentially for consumers as well, but it could also bring more attention to an emerging avenue for broadband: satellite constellations in low Earth orbit.

Put extra emphasis on “could”: Even though net neutrality has been debated for years, the effects of removing the equal-access requirements for the broadband marketplace are by no means clear. And legal challenges could tie up any policy shift for a long time to come.

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Boeing to build broadband satellites for O3b

Boeing-built O3B mPower satellits
The O3b mPOWER satellites will be built using electronics from Boeing’s flight-proven 702 satellite platform. (Boeing Illustration)

Boeing Satellite Systems International has signed up to build a fleet of seven satellites that will provide broadband internet connectivity from medium Earth orbit for SES’ O3b network.

O3b was set up a decade ago to provide internet access to the “Other 3 Billion” in the world who have been left out because they’re too remote or too poor to get connected. Last year, SES took over majority ownership of O3b Networks, which currently has 12 first-generation satellites in a 5,000-mile-high orbit.

Eight more of the first-generation satellites, also built by Boeing, are to be launched in 2018 and 2019 on Russian-built Soyuz rockets by the European Arianespace consortium. Boeing’s next-generation O3b mPower satellites are due to go into orbit starting in 2021.

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SpaceX’s satellite plan runs into opposition

Satellite constellation
A SpaceX satellite coverage scheme described in a patent application envisions two sets of satellites orbiting in different inclinations at different altitudes. (PatentYogi via YouTube)

SpaceX’s plan to provide global broadband internet access using thousands of satellites in low-earth orbit has come under fire from competitors, including Boeing and OneWeb, according to Space Intel Report.

The argument is playing out in a series of filings with the Federal Communications Commission, focusing on SpaceX’s request for a temporary waiver from the FCC’s time limits for putting the satellite system into full operation.

The FCC would typically require the system to provide full coverage of U.S. territory within six years of a license being issued, but SpaceX says that’s not enough time to deploy the full 4,425-satellite constellation.

Instead, the company proposes launching the first 1,600 satellites in six years, which would leave the northernmost part of Alaska without coverage when the deadline hits. Full U.S. coverage would be provided after the six-year deadline, SpaceX says.

In their own filings, competitors including OneWeb, SES/O3b and Intelsat are urging the FCC not to waive the six-year requirement, Space Intel Report said.

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