SpaceX asks FCC for license revision for launching nearly 30,000 Starlink satellites
SpaceX on October 11, 2024 submitted a request to the FCC to revise its Starlink satellite license to cover a revised plan for its second generation satellites that includes a request to place 29,988 Starlink satellites in orbit.
SpaceX first requests several amendments to the orbital parameters of its Gen2 system between 340 km and 365km altitude to keep pace with rapidly evolving global demand for high-quality broadband. First,SpaceX amends the inclination of its orbital shell at a nominal altitude of 345 km from 46 degrees to 48 degrees. SpaceX also amends its pending Gen2 application to seek authority to operate satellites in its Gen2 system in two additional orbital shells — at 355 km altitude in a 43-degree inclination and at 365 km altitude in a 28- or 32-degree inclination. The total number of operational satellites will remain 29,988 satellites across the amended Gen2 system.
With the exception of its polar shell at 360 km, which will remain unchanged, SpaceX also amends its application to more flexibly distribute satellites in its shells between 340 km and 365 km than requested in its pending application, specifically, in up to 72 planes per shell and up to 144 satellites per plane. While this reconfiguration will result in two additional shells and a higher maximum number of orbital planes and satellites per plane for all but one shell between 340 km and 365 km, the total number of operational satellites in the Gen2 system will remain 29,988 satellites.
In the company’s previous request for this number of satellites, the FCC had approved only 7,500, the full request still pending. We can expect objections from the other big satellite constellations to this request. The FCC’s response remains unclear. There could be legitimate reasons to limit SpaceX request, but it is also possible politics will enter the decision as well, for illegitimate reasons.
Meanwhile, astronomers are already whining about the problems these Starlink satellites will cause to their ground-based telescopes. It seems these so-called brilliant scientists can’t get it through their heads that astronomy from Earth will become increasingly difficult in the coming years — with hundreds of thousands of satellites planned from many satellite constellations, not just SpaceX — while astronomy from space has always been a better choice anyway. Rather than demand regulation or restrictions on these new satellite constellations, they should be pushing hard to developing new orbiting telescopes, now, for launch as quickly as possible.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
SpaceX on October 11, 2024 submitted a request to the FCC to revise its Starlink satellite license to cover a revised plan for its second generation satellites that includes a request to place 29,988 Starlink satellites in orbit.
SpaceX first requests several amendments to the orbital parameters of its Gen2 system between 340 km and 365km altitude to keep pace with rapidly evolving global demand for high-quality broadband. First,SpaceX amends the inclination of its orbital shell at a nominal altitude of 345 km from 46 degrees to 48 degrees. SpaceX also amends its pending Gen2 application to seek authority to operate satellites in its Gen2 system in two additional orbital shells — at 355 km altitude in a 43-degree inclination and at 365 km altitude in a 28- or 32-degree inclination. The total number of operational satellites will remain 29,988 satellites across the amended Gen2 system.
With the exception of its polar shell at 360 km, which will remain unchanged, SpaceX also amends its application to more flexibly distribute satellites in its shells between 340 km and 365 km than requested in its pending application, specifically, in up to 72 planes per shell and up to 144 satellites per plane. While this reconfiguration will result in two additional shells and a higher maximum number of orbital planes and satellites per plane for all but one shell between 340 km and 365 km, the total number of operational satellites in the Gen2 system will remain 29,988 satellites.
In the company’s previous request for this number of satellites, the FCC had approved only 7,500, the full request still pending. We can expect objections from the other big satellite constellations to this request. The FCC’s response remains unclear. There could be legitimate reasons to limit SpaceX request, but it is also possible politics will enter the decision as well, for illegitimate reasons.
Meanwhile, astronomers are already whining about the problems these Starlink satellites will cause to their ground-based telescopes. It seems these so-called brilliant scientists can’t get it through their heads that astronomy from Earth will become increasingly difficult in the coming years — with hundreds of thousands of satellites planned from many satellite constellations, not just SpaceX — while astronomy from space has always been a better choice anyway. Rather than demand regulation or restrictions on these new satellite constellations, they should be pushing hard to developing new orbiting telescopes, now, for launch as quickly as possible.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Astronomers are focused (heh) on a single bazillion-dollar space telescope to be launched sometime in the middle of the century, so they don’t have time to develop cheaper, more versatile, mass-produced telescopes that can be launched decades sooner. Besides… Starship? What’s that?
Bob,
Do you have any thoughts on the TIMING of this request from SpaceX, relative to the election?
F: It seems to me that this request is the result of SpaceX’s growing experience database from the Starlink satellites in orbit, and was put out now because now is when it needs to be submitted. To get this many satellites in orbit will require Starship, and its development suggests it will within a very short time be deploying some. Based on how long the FCC generally functions, the sooner the application is put in, the better.
Getting it in prior to the election however is wise.
Thank you, Bob!
You need Schmidt apertures for NEO detection…ground based scopes occasionally find one sats miss.
Check this stupidity out
Why Do South Texans Object To SpaceX Launches?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/why-do-south-texans-object-to-spacex-launches/ar-AA1sKHHt?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=93581a6a985d412288dbb7ed2a8c7075&ei=74
?”
Of course, only a small minority do (Headline should read “Why Do SOME South Texans Object To SpaceX Launches”) and the idea many of h are actually from South Texas is questionable
He sure likes to leave trash everywhere he goes.
Kinda OT but hopefully Bob will permit:
Does anyone remember Reagan’s Star Wars/SDI? The final solution settled on for global ballistic missile defense was called Brilliant Pebbles. The hardware for Brilliant Pebbles was extensively tested and found very feasible even 30 years ago. It also wasn’t that expensive – perhaps $10 billion in 1990s dollars, probably $40 or $50 billion today.
The crushing expense that prevented Brilliant Pebbles from ever being implemented was launch costs. The system would have required about 5000 satellites each weighing 1-2000 lbs, which at the time would have meant a launch cost of about $100 billion dollars, or half a trillion in today’s worthless dollars. Plus, the very idea of building a constellation of thousands of satellites was utterly unprecedented at the time and seen as totally unrealistic, if not impossible.
But now we have the means to put thousands of satellites into orbit at a small fraction of 1990s costs, and a demonstrated track record in doing so. Time to reconsider Brilliant Pebbles? How much is almost total protection from ballistic missiles, certainly missiles with ranges over 500km, worth? Unfortunately, we no longer have an early 90s DoD and defense industrial base, so they’d probably wreck the program and charge trillions of dollars for it, but perhaps one of the new defense start ups like Anduril could collaborate with SpaceX to provide thorough ballistic missile defense for under $100 billion, spread over 6-8 years?