As it waits for the Starship rocket to become operational to start launching Starlink Gen2 satellites regularly, SpaceX is requesting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant its application to upgrade the firm's oldest satellite batches. SpaceX has launched thousands of satellites throughout the past couple of years, and in the process, it has created the world's largest small satellite constellation. During this period, the FCC has also granted the firm's application to launch nearly twice as many second-generation Starlink satellites, and SpaceX's latest application seeks the Commission's permission to introduce upgrades part of the second generation to the first-generation spacecraft after their useful life is over.
SpaceX Rejects DISH's Claim That Gen1 Starlink Satellites Will Change Interference Environment
SpaceX filed its application for the Starlink Gen1 upgrade in February 2023, before it had conducted the first STarship test flight. Starship is crucial to the Starlink satellite constellation, as it will significantly upgrade SpaceX's ability to launch its larger and more powerful second-generation satellites. These satellites are crucial for SpaceX to gain market share before its rivals start launching their satellite networks, and the firm launched the latest batch of customized second-generation spacecraft with its Falcon 9 rocket from California earlier today.
However, weather constraints forced SpaceX to stand down from an earlier Falcon 9 launch from the East Coast as operators scrubbed the mission less than thirty seconds before liftoff as the Falcon 9 was in startup mode. SpaceX's medium-lift rocket autonomously starts checking its systems and launch constraints a minute before the planned liftoff time as it works through a list of items that must be favorable for successful engine ignition.
However, and as with most of SpaceX's FCC filings, the quest to allow upgrades to the Starlink satellites that reach the end of their life met with staunch resistance from DISH. DISH and SpaceX have been in a long battle over interference rules that govern the Starlink network, and their fight climaxed when SpaceX agreed to restrict its satellites to an NC0 of one.
SpaceX and DISH were at odds over the Starlink network's NC0, which is the number of beams per satellite used for each frequency when communicating with the user terminals. SpaceX agreed to DISH's demand that it modify the Starlink network to explicitly state that it would use only one beam per satellite per frequency as part of a broader set of competitor demands that also saw it address Amazon's concerns as well.
Now, SpaceX plans to upgrade the Starlink Gen1 satellites, as it outlined in its application narrative that the changes will:
. . feature narrower beams that will enable an even higher degree of frequency reuse. These narrow beams also maintain SpaceX's agility in coordinating spectrum use with other licensed satellite and terrestrial operators.
The company argues that these changes will rely on "advanced beam-forming and digital processing techniques" to efficiently use spectrum resources to improve user network performance.
SpaceX's latest letter to the FCC came two months after it made the latest submissions in the filing that had responded to some of DISH's concerns. As part of their argument, SpaceX updated an error in the technical filings of its application, which saw SpaceX submit incorrect parameters for the upgrade. The change was made after SpaceX's vice president of satellite policy, Mr. David Goldman, traded barbs with the satellite television service provider.
Mr. Goldman argued before the FCC that DISH should be penalized for wasting FCC resources as it has a "strange fixation" with the Starlink network and seems determined to oppose it at all costs. DISH, on the other hand, has accused SpaceX of violating ITU rules.
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