SpaceX To Blow Past Competitors By Regularly Launching 120 Starlink Satellites Per Month

[Elderberry]

Wccftech by Ramish Zafar 9/6/2020

In a fresh filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), astronautic launch services provider Space Exploration Technologie Corp (SpaceX) has revealed fresh details about its Starlink internet satellite constellation. The details come courtesy of a presentation company officials made to the FCC on Wednesday, and they build upon information the company had shared with the agency at the start of last month, in order to convince the FCC to not strip its access to the 12GHz frequency spectrum for Starlink satellites.

SpaceX Plans To Produce Thousands of Starlink User Terminals Per Month As Internet Constellation Builds Out In Space

The information has been revealed through a Comment that SpaceX's head of satellite policy Mr. David Goldman filed in the FCC's Docket numbered RM-11768 on Friday. This docket deals with the tussle between Non-geostationary Fixed Satellite Service (NGSO FSS) providers and Multichannel Video and Data Distribution (MVDDS) providers over the 12GHz spectrum which under the current rules require both parties to share access to.

This tussle between the parties intensified as SpaceX filed a modification request with the FCC in April for lowering its Starlink satellite orbits. Following this request, MVDDS providers argued that were the Starlink satellites allowed to do this, the resulting communication between user terminals and the satellites would interfere with MVDDS operations.

In its spectrum allocation plan for Starlink communications, SpaceX has reserved the 12GHz band for communication between user terminals and satellites, and in response to the MVDDS claims, the company stated that the arguments are based on hollow grounds since the providers are yet to set up any equipment for using this band.

More: https://wccftech.com/spacex-competitors-starlink-120-satellites/

[Elderberry]

MVDDS

Dish-led MVDDS Coalition urges FCC to act on 12.2-12.7 GHz band for 5G asap

https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/dish-led-mvdds-coalition-urges-fcc-to-act-12-2-12-7-ghz-band-for-5g-asap

The MVDDS 5G Coalition, which includes Dish Network, is asking the FCC to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking as soon as possible for the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. The coalition is pushing the rulemaking so that Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS) spectrum can be used for a two-way mobile broadband 5G service.

The group petitioned the FCC for a rulemaking earlier this year and said the 12.2-12.7 GHz band offers 500 MHz of contiguous, underutilized MVDDS spectrum that is ideally suited for 5G. By initiating a rulemaking, the group said, the public will have a chance to participate and enable the commission to unleash the MVDDS band for 5G mobile uses while protecting direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operations and leaving ample spectrum available for future non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) fixed-satellite service (FSS).

AT&T, T-Mobile US, Intelsat and OneWeb are among those that want the petition dismissed or denied. AT&T has argued that the petitioners have not presented any technical justification for revisiting the rules or provided an explanation of how DBS services might be protected from interference if MVDDS service were mobile and 2-way.

https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/broadband-division/multichannel-video-distribution-and-data-service

Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS) provides consumers with TV programming and Internet connectivity from terrestrial transmitters, under exacting technical arrangements that permit it to share the spectrum with satellites (Direct Broadcast Satellites Service). MVDDS is licensed for market areas on the basis of MVDs. See PN DA 04-1717 (pdf).

Each licensee receives one spectrum block of 500 megahertz per geographic area that the licensee can use in any size channels.  MVDDS licenses can be partitioned along county borders. Disaggregation of spectrum is not allowed.  “Partitioning” is the assignment of geographic portions of a license along geopolitical or other boundaries. “Disaggregation” is the assignment of discrete portions or “blocks” of spectrum licensed to a geographic licensee or qualifying entity.

MVDDS licensees may use spectrum in the 12.2 – 12.7 GHz band for any digital fixed non-broadcast service including one-way direct-to-home/office wireless service. Mobile and aeronautical services are not authorized. Two-way services may be provided by using other spectrum or media for the return or upstream path.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX request to the FCC reveals updated plans for the Starlink constellation

TESMANIAN by Evelyn Arevalo September 05, 2020

https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/spacex-fcc-speed

SpaceX will offer broadband internet worldwide. The aerospace company is actively deploying internet-beaming Starlink satellites that will beam signals to customer’s user terminals around Earth. SpaceX is primarily focused on providing service to rural areas where the internet is unreliable and unavailable. To date, there's 708 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit out of thousands that will make-up the network. Company officials stated that once 800 satellites are in orbit, they will roll out service in portions of the northern United States and Canada before this year comes to an end.

SpaceX already initiated a private beta testing phase of the Starlink network that has offered ‘good’ results. – “They show super-low latency and download speeds greater than 100 [megabits] per second [Mbps],” SpaceX Senior Engineer Kate Tice shared during the latest deployment broadcast, “That means our latency is low enough to play the fastest online video games and our download speeds are fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once.” The network is “very much a work in progress,” she added, stating that as more satellites are deployed it will “unlock the full capability.” The company plans to launch 120 satellites per month in order to speed up service initiation.

On September 4, SpaceX submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), asking to speed up the approval of a request submitted in April, to modify Starlink’s operational altitude to 540 - 570 kilometers (km). “SpaceX urged the Commission to act expeditiously on its proposed modification,” the document reads.  If the altitude modification is approved, the document reveals SpaceX plans to decrease the number of satellites it plans to initially deploy to 4,409 satellites in low Earth orbit. A slide in the document details the satellites proposed modification, including latitude and amount of satellites per orbital planes in which they would operate, pictured below.

More at link.