Brutkey

AkaSci 🛰🛰️
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org

FCC opens 30-day review for SpaceX’s 15,000-Satellite VLEO Constellation, at ~325 km altitude.

For D2D service to unmodified smartphones.

Lower altitude, smaller footprint, smaller antennas, more satellites, ...

The application was submitted on Sept 19, 2025, and amended on Nov 25, 2025.

Comments/petitions are due by January 5, 2026, just around the holiday season.

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
https://news.satnews.com/2025/12/09/fcc-opens-review-for-spacexs-15000-satellite-vleo-constellation/
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-1018A1.pdf
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Graphic from paper (see link below) showing the altitude of satellites and various space telescopes. I added the orbit for the proposed Starlink VLEO constellation. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09759-5
AkaSci 🛰🛰️
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org

In March 2024, the FCC had rejected a similar application from SpaceX for a VLEO constellation below 360 km altitude. That filing was intended as a lower latency Starlink data service.

But it appears that in Nov 2024, the FCC granted permission for 7,500 satellites at 340-360 km altitude, for D2D service, subject to some conditions. Permission for an additional 22,488 satellites was deferred.
🤔🤔
https://spectrum.ieee.org/starlink-vleo-below-iss
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-222A1.pdf
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-1193A1.pdf

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

AkaSci 🛰🛰️
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org

"SpaceX's plan to launch an additional 15,000 satellites for its Starlink cellular system has sparked opposition and concern from rival companies and environmentalists."

Such as Viasat, Globalstar, DarkSky International, Blue Origin, Iridium, Ligado, and the Mobile Satellite Services Association.

"The big question is whether the pushback sways the FCC. The Commission's Republican chairman, Brendan Carr, is a supporter of SpaceX ..."

https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-faces-more-pushback-over-plans-to-launch-15k-cellular-starlink-satellites
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Screencap of the top of the article with the title and a graphic a SpaceX satellite with Earth below it.
AkaSci 🛰🛰️
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org

Meanwhile, China recently filed a flurry of applications at the ITU for LEO constellations totaling nearly 200,000 satellites.

The largest of these constellations, CTC-1 and CTC-2, will support 96,714 satellites each.

China is already constructing its national Guowang and Shanghai-backed Qianfan constellations, each with 10,000+ satellites.

Space colonization and grabbing of orbital and spectrum resources is real.

https://interestingengineering.com/space/china-largest-satellite-constellations-approval
https://spacenews.com/china-files-itu-paperwork-for-megaconstellations-totaling-nearly-200000-satellites/
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