SpaceX Wins FCC Approval to Deploy 7,518 Satellites for Broadband Communications

Home / News

SpaceX Wins FCC Approval to Deploy 7,518 Satellites for Broadband Communications

By CircleID Reporter
November 15, 2018, 7:27 pm PST Views: 8,923 Add Comment

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is granted permission from U.S. regulators to deploy over 7,000 satellites. The company has two test satellites already in space and was also granted a separate permission for 4,425 satellites. All satellites are designed to provide broadband communications. Todd Shields reporting in Bloomberg today writes: “Space companies riding innovations that include smaller and cheaper satellites—with some just 4 inches long and weighing only 3 pounds—are planning fleets that will fly fast and low, offering communications now commonly handled by larger, more expensive satellites. Right now there are fewer than 2,000 operating satellites… The agency [FCC] on a 4-0 vote advanced rules to require more calculations to demonstrate a planned spacecraft poses a minimal risk of collisions, and to minimize new orbiting debris—for instance, from devices that remain aloft after releasing a satellite.”

By CircleID Reporter

CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.

Visit Page

Filed Under

Comments

The Weekly Wrap

More and more professionals are choosing to publish critical posts on CircleID from all corners of the Internet industry. If you find it hard to keep up daily, consider subscribing to our weekly digest. We will provide you a convenient summary report once a week sent directly to your inbox. It's a quick and easy read.

I make a point of reading CircleID. There is no getting around the utility of knowing what thoughtful people are thinking and saying about our industry.

VINTON CERF
Co-designer of the TCP/IP Protocols & the Architecture of the Internet