from the strange-new-worlds dept
For years we’ve been firing no shortage of low-Earth orbit satellites into space without the federal government showing much concern about the the impact of these new technologies at scale. Like, the navigational hazards of unchecked space junk, or the way scientists warned that Starlink causes significant light pollution that seriously harms scientific research and can’t be fully mitigated.
Much of the last decade has involved the FCC being so bedazzled by the potential innovation in the space, they didn’t do their, well, job. Overseas policymakers have complained the US has spent too much time kissing Elon Musk’s and Jeff Bezos’ asses, and not enough time getting ahead of potential issues that could impact navigation, safety, competitiveness, and efficiency.
While FCC boss Jessica Rosenworcel may not have a fully functioning agency (thanks to a telecom and media smear campaign against nominee Gigi Sohn), she, at least, has indicated that the agency’s space policies are going to change.
Until recently, a legally non-binding NASA advisory recommended that satellite operators either remove their satellites from orbit immediately post-mission, or leave them in an orbit that will slowly decay and have the satellite entering Earth’s atmosphere sometime in a 25 year period. Only last September did Rosenworcel push new rules imposing a 5 year limit on leaving defunct satellites in space.
Rosenworcel this week also announced that the agency would be creating a new space bureau to help coordinate and organize the mad dash rush toward low orbit satellite deployment. The agency will be tasked with better coordinating with other agencies, expediting license applications, and generally just attempting to reduce the probability of space mayhem:
“The satellite industry is growing at a record pace, but here on the ground our regulatory frameworks for licensing them have not kept up. Over the past two years the agency has received applications for 64,000 new satellites. In addition, we are seeing new commercial models, new players, and new technologies coming together to pioneer a wide-range of new satellite services and space-based activities that need access to wireless airwaves.”
Granted the Rosenworcel FCC still lacks a voting majority, so the creation of this bureau rests on whether details of it offend the sensibilities of industry, and/or the agency’s right wing commissioners, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, whose attention the last few years has been largely fixated on worrying about a social media company they don’t actually regulate.
Either way it’s promising to see the agency get its act together in space, even though it still lacks the ambition, authority, interest, or political motivation to seriously tackle more direct problems here on Earth: like widespread telecom monopolization and all the problems that result.
Filed Under: fcc, leo, low earth orbit satellite, nasa, regulatory oversight, satellite broadband, space
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November 09, 2022 at 06:43AM
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The FCC Ponders The Creation Of A Space Division - Techdirt
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