[1st-mile-nm] SpaceX seeks FCC OK for 1 million satellite broadband Earth stations

[Richard Lowenberg]

SPACEX'S SATELLITE BROADBAND —

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/spacex-seeks-fcc-ok-for-1-million-satellite-broadband-earth-stations/

SpaceX seeks FCC OK for 1 million satellite broadband Earth stations
SpaceX Starlink team wants quick FCC approval to support "ambitious 
timetable."

JON BRODKIN - 2/11/2019,

SpaceX is seeking US approval to deploy up to 1 million Earth stations 
to receive transmissions from its planned satellite broadband 
constellation.

The Federal Communications Commission last year gave SpaceX permission 
to deploy 11,943 low-Earth orbit satellites for the planned Starlink 
system. A new application from SpaceX Services, a sister company, asks 
the FCC for "a blanket license authorizing operation of up to 1,000,000 
Earth stations that end-user customers will utilize to communicate with 
SpaceX's NGSO [non-geostationary orbit] constellation."

The application was published by FCC.report, a third-party site that 
tracks FCC filings. GeekWire reported the news on Friday. An FCC 
spokesperson confirmed to Ars today that SpaceX filed the application on 
February 1, 2019.

If each end-user Earth station provides Internet service to one 
building, SpaceX could eventually need authorization for more than 1 
million stations in the US. SpaceX job listings describe the user 
terminal as "a high-volume manufactured product customers will have in 
their homes."

"These user terminals employ advanced phased-array beam-forming and 
digital processing technologies to make highly efficient use of Ku-band 
spectrum resources by supporting highly directive, steered antenna beams 
that track the system's low-Earth orbit satellites," SpaceX's new 
application says. "Consistent with SpaceX's space station authorization, 
these Earth stations will transmit in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band and receive 
in the 10.7-12.7 GHz band... SpaceX Services seeks authority to deploy 
and operate these Earth stations throughout the contiguous United 
States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands."

Each user terminal "will communicate only with those SpaceX satellites 
that are visible on the horizon above a minimum elevation angle," the 
application says.

"The proposed user terminal is a flat phased array capable of steering 
its beams to track SpaceX's NGSO satellites passing within its field of 
view," the application also says. "As the terminal steers the 
transmitting beam, it also adjusts the power to maintain a constant 
level at the receiving antenna of its target satellite, compensating for 
variations in antenna gain and path loss associated with the steering 
angle."

We contacted SpaceX about the application and will update this story if 
we get a response.

“Ambitious timetable”

SpaceX asked the FCC for quick approval to support the company's 
"ambitious timetable for launching satellites and deploying broadband 
services."

"Granting this application would serve the public interest by helping to 
speed broadband deployment throughout the United States by authorizing 
the ground-based component of SpaceX's satellite system," SpaceX wrote.

In addition to user terminals, SpaceX plans a smaller number of gateway 
Earth stations to "provide the necessary communications links back from 
the SpaceX satellites to the global Internet," according to a previous 
SpaceX filing. SpaceX has estimated that it will deploy "several 
hundred" of these gateway stations across the US to be "co-located with 
or sited near major Internet peering points to provide the required 
Internet connectivity to the satellite constellation." SpaceX also plans 
two tracking telemetry and control (TT&C) stations in the US, one on the 
East Coast and another on the West Coast.

While the latest application focuses on the US, SpaceX plans to provide 
broadband service globally. SpaceX hasn't provided a specific 
availability date, but a Reuters report in October 2018 said SpaceX's 
"goal of having Internet service available in 2020 is 'pretty much on 
target' with an initial satellite launch by mid-2019."

FCC rules require the launch of 50 percent of satellites within six 
years of authorization and all of them within nine years unless a waiver 
is granted.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk fired some senior managers from the Starlink 
project in mid-2018, reportedly to maintain his aggressive deployment 
schedule. In December, SpaceX reportedly raised $500 million to help pay 
for the project. SpaceX has said its broadband satellites will provide 
gigabit speeds and latencies as low as 25ms, similar to cable or fiber 
systems.


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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
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