Every Cosmic Herald story on FCC — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
On Sept. 30 the FCC is set to vote on an order finding that launching, deploying and operating space stations are not major federal actions, which would take satellite licensing outside NEPA environmental review.
Read the story →The Office of Space Commerce is moving its Space Commerce Certification program from proposal to practice, offering a voluntary 120-day "presumption of approval" for satellite servicing, commercial stations and debris removal — the missions Congress has never assigned to any regulator.
A House subcommittee grilled the Office of Space Commerce on its plan for a single opt-in "Space Commerce Certification" to fast-track approval of orbital manufacturing, satellite servicing, and lunar ventures that fall outside FAA and FCC authority.
United Launch Alliance closed out the Atlas V 551's 20-year career hauling 29 more Amazon Leo satellites to orbit, just weeks before Amazon's FCC deadline to deploy half its broadband constellation.
Rival satellite operators just formed their own industry trade group — and they made a point of leaving SpaceX out. The exclusion reveals a structural fault line over spectrum policy and orbital rights.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation in history — and the most disruptive to ground-based astronomy. SpaceX has made mitigation efforts, but the fundamental tension between dense LEO constellations and telescope surveys remains unresolved as competitors plan their own systems.
Starlink, OneWeb, and their competitors have fundamentally changed the night sky. The question is no longer whether to stop the constellations — it's whether engineering fixes and international regulation can preserve professional astronomy before Vera Rubin comes online.
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