FCC vows to fast-track satellite licensing in Space Race 2.0 • The Register

The US Federal Communications Commission has launched “Space Month,” with Chairman Brendan Carr saying that “we’ll replace a default to no at the agency to a default to yes” for satellite licensing requests.

The FCC’s processes are set for an overhaul, with bespoke licensing being ditched in favor of what Carr called “a licensing assembly line” and a review of sitting rules for Earth stations to facilitate more intensive use of the upper microwave spectrum.

It’s good news for companies such as SpaceX, which launched another batch of 28 Starlink satellites from Florida earlier today. Streamlining regulations will make life easier for many operators.

According to Carr, the US is “at the dawn of a new golden age of space innovation” and “we’re now in the midst of what I refer to as the Space Race 2.0.”

This time, it is China that the US is worried about. “They have their eyes set on dominating in Low Earth Orbit,” the FCC chairman said, “and frankly, up and down every orbit.”

China has indeed been launching satellites for its own Starlink-like Low Earth Orbit satellite networks, but is still some ways behind both the scale and pace of Elon Musk’s constellation, even considering the one or two that deorbit and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere every day.

Carr also took the opportunity to criticize what he called “heavy-handed regulations” in Europe compared to the US. “The US won the race to 4G and has been leading the world in 5G too,” he said.

Competition in the 5G world is fierce, and while the US might have been early in terms of deploying the technology, rivalry over 5G infrastructure between the US and China has intensified over the years.

Carr said that “We’re going to take the best of the FCC’s regulatory approaches from the wireless sector, and we’re going to apply them for the first time to the space and satellite sectors.”

However, he offered little detail on the proposals and how they would be achieved, particularly considering that the US is amid a federal government shutdown triggered by a budget impasse.

Carr was speaking in California. His invocation of the Space Race came as the Planetary Society led a gathering on Capitol Hill to protest planned cuts to NASA’s science budget.

“The Space Race 2.0 is different,” said Carr. “America’s aerospace industry looks a lot different this time around to how it did during the first Space Race. Today, we’re not relying on the country’s largest government contractors alone. Today, we’re not just putting up just a handful of innovative and key satellites.

“We are, and we must do even more to win this Space Race 2.0.” ®