Page 54 - SAMENA Trends - November 2020

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Spacex Wants to Test its Starlink Satellite Internet Network Inflight with

Gulfstream Jet

SpaceX would like to further expand to early beta testers of the service. While a public beta test of Starlink, with service
testing of its Starlink satellite internet by the FCC request describes the aircraft- priced at $99 a month. To date, SpaceX
connecting the network to aircraft, the mounted terminals as “electrically has launched nearly 900 Starlink satellites
company revealed in a recent request to identical,” the Starlink user terminal for jets — a fraction of the total needed for global
the Federal Communications Commission. would assumedly have a different physical coverage but enough to begin providing
Elon Musk’s space company on Nov. 6 design than the consumer terminals in use service in some areas, including in the
asked the FCC if SpaceX could add Starlink on the ground – which Musk has described northwest United States. The company
user terminals “on a Gulfstream jet for a as built like a “UFO on a stick.” Two months has begun to work with a handful of
period of up to two years.” “SpaceX seeks ago SpaceX made a similar request to the organizations in rural regions that Starlink
experimental authority for operation of one FCC to test Starlink with the ships the satellites in orbit currently cover, such
user terminal aboard each of up to five company uses to land its rocket boosters. as Washington state. The network is an
private jets while they are (1) on the ground SpaceX, which operates several ships, ambitious endeavor, which SpaceX has
at an airport, and (2) in flight over the requested to add 10 Starlink user terminals said will cost about $10 billion or more
United States (including its territories and to its vessels. That request is still marked to build. But the company’s leadership
territorial waters),” the company wrote in as pending. Starlink is SpaceX’s plan to estimates that Starlink could bring in as
the FCC filing. User terminals are the small build an interconnected internet network much as $30 billion a year, or more than
devices on the ground that connect to with thousands of satellites, designed to 10 times the annual revenue of its rocket
the company’s satellite internet network. deliver high-speed internet to anywhere on business.
SpaceX has begun sending user terminals the planet. In October the company began

FCC Votes to Streamline Satellite Licensing Regulations

The FCC voted to establish a unified licensing framework for Earth
stations and space stations that the commission said will increase
flexibility for satellite operators. The new, optional licensing
framework is available to systems operating above 10 GHz and
allows blanket-licensed space stations and blanket-licensed earth
stations in a satellite system — both Geostationary Orbit (GEO)
or Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) — to be authorized under a
single license. In the past, separate licenses were issued based
on different application requirements to ensure interference-free
operation of the ground and space components of a satellite
system. The order also aligns the build out requirements for Earth
stations with the buildup periods for their space stations to reduce
some filing requirements for satellite operators. “These changes
will end the need to make unnecessary or duplicative filings with
the commission and will reduce burdens placed on applicants,
which will expedite our processing of applications and get rid of
some of the regulatory red tape standing in the way of deployments
of satellite based services,” Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement
during the FCC meeting. In addition, the FCC also adopted a notice GHz band and the routine processing of applications for licenses.
of proposed rulemaking called Facilitating Next Generation Fixed- The satellite industry is expected to continue growing at a record-
Satellite Services in the 17 GHz Band. This process is working to setting pace, and the commission’s proposed changes would
permit space stations in GEO in the Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) to help operators to hit the ground running with greater spectrum
use the 17.3–17.7 GHz band on a co-primary basis for downlink flexibility and a streamlined licensing process that is focused on
communications, as well as the neighboring 17.7–17.8 GHz band getting Americans connected at greater speeds and lower costs,”
for FSS downlink communications on a non-protected basis. Pai said in a statement about the notice.
“Consumers stand to benefit from expanded use of the 17.3–17.8

54 NOVEMBER 2020