SES' O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit constellation should start commercial service in Q2, with the launch of the fifth and sixth satellites in the constellation expected to be this month, SES said Tuesday as it announced Q3 financial results. It said it's taking steps to mitigate power module problems that have affected already-launched mPOWERs, but operational life and available capacity on the initial mPOWERs, while "significantly lower" than had been expected, shouldn't hinder the constellations' ability to serve current or future mPOWER customers. SES also said it plans to upgrade satellites 7-11 and add two more to the constellation. The company said it received its $3 billion C-band second-phase accelerated relocation payment in October.

Momentus Space wants to amend plans for its Vigoride-7 mission to include a rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) demonstration mission. In an FCC Space Bureau application Monday, Momentus said the VR-7 launch that had been scheduled for October was postponed and is expected to be in March. It said in the amendment to its pending application that the RPO would involve an Orbit Fab satellite -- flying separately on the same rideshare mission as VR-7 -- repeatedly conducting a close approach to VR-7. Momentus said it's also seeking authority to test an IoT receiver during the March mission.

Telesat is seeking additional time to meet the milestones set for its Lightspeed low earth orbit constellation. In an FCC Space Bureau application last week, it requested an extension of its Nov. 3 milestone, by which it is to launch and put into operation 50% of its 117 first-round satellites, to March 19, 2028. It also asked for an extension of its 2026 deadline for putting into operation the remainder of the 117 to June 10, 2028. It said COVID-19 supply chain issues resulted in contractor Thales saying costs and delivery lead times would be significantly increased "beyond anything that Telesat had anticipated or budgeted for the project." It said that resulted in Telesat's decision to instead sign a contact in August with MDA for construction of the constellation. Absent those milestone extensions, Telesat asked that its first processing round grant be terminated and its second processing round application -- which seeks a modification of the first-round grant -- be converted to a second processing round application. It also said the total size of the Lightspeed constellation would be 300 satellites, instead of 1,671.

In light of China's Digital Silk Road program, which has it investing in developing nations' telecom networks and other tech areas, the U.S. should use satellite broadband as a strategy for promoting internet freedom and global economic development, the Foundation for American Innovation said Thursday in a report. It recommended the government use low earth orbit (LEO) broadband service in U.S. diplomatic facilities where that service is available and permitted. Congress and the White House should incorporate satellite broadband in foreign assistance programs such as the Digital Transformation with Africa initiative and in Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment projects, it said. The U.S. should promote LEO broadband in foreign countries and promote its benefits in countries where it's not yet approved, it said.

Given the huge growth the satellite industry is seeing and the spectrum needs coming from that growth, the FCC should expand satellite use of the 12.7-13.25 GHz band rather than reallocate it for terrestrial wireless use, Intelsat, SES, Hispasat, Eutelsat and Ovzon representatives told Space Bureau staffers, per a docket 22-352 filing Thursday. They said they can make use of the spectrum almost immediately while it would be "many years before terrestrial operators will even be ready to take up this spectrum at auction and to deploy actual service to the public." Terrestrial mobile use at scale in the 12.7 GHz band would create aggregate in-band interference to satellite operations exceeding levels that would allow co-primary service sharing of the band, they said. Terrestrial mobile would also disrupt adjacent-band direct broadcast satellite and non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite services, they said.

Rather than focusing space security discussions on capabilities, increasingly those talks are focusing on space behaviors, or how those capabilities are used, space governance experts said Thursday in a Secure World Foundation panel talk about the state of space security diplomacy. U.N. member states haven't had success in addressing space security concerns because there still is a lack of consensus on what the Outer Space Treaty bans, and as some nations have struggled to define what a space weapon is, said Almudena Azcarate Ortega, U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research space security researcher. But that shift toward a focus on behavior "could be a good recipe for success in the future," she said. That the U.N. Open-Ended Working Group on Reducing Space Threats ended its work last month without reaching any consensus shows "a profound deficit of trust" among the major space nations, said Claudio Medeiros Leopoldino, Brazil Ministry of Foreign Affairs head-disarmament and Sensitive Technologies Division. "We are still trapped in a circular debate" about what aspects of space security should be foremost, he said. He said there's a particularly big schism over the issue of pursuing nonbinding norms versus legally binding instruments. He said there also is disagreement over what kind of space threats need to be addressed, with some states prioritizing the prevention of weapons in space while others want to focus on anti-satellite weaponry.

The number of aircraft with in-flight connectivity hit 10,000 as of the end of 2022 and should reach 22,000 by 2032, Valour Consultancy said Wednesday. It said the capacity available to airlines will ramp up in coming years with low earth orbit and medium earth orbit constellations becoming operational.

SpaceX hasn't given any compelling reason why the FCC should act now on a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) allocation in the 17 GHz band, rather than waiting for completion of the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference and for a more-robust record concerning protections for geostationary orbit networks in the band, Viasat said Tuesday in docket 22-273. It urged the agency to defer action in the proceeding until after WRC-23 and development of that robust record. Earlier this month, SpaceX urged an allocation to help alleviate a shortage of Ka band. SpaceX said there is no need to wait for WRC-23, given that ITU Region 1 already supports NGSO FSS co-existence in the band, "undermining any reason to delay harmonization."

The FCC Space Bureau on Monday issued guidance on satellite license processes, terms and costs as part of its transparency initiative approved by commissioners in September (see 2309210055). It said it would host an online and in-person open house Nov. 1 at 10:30 a.m. that includes guidance documents and plans for the initiative.

SpaceX's planned use of the 1990-1995 MHz band for downlinks will mean more interference by "orders of magnitude" for Omnispace and other mobile satellite system operators than what SpaceX is claiming, Omnispace CEO Ram Viswanathan told FCC Space and Wireless Bureau staffers, per a filing Monday in docket 23-135. Viswanathan said the cumulative level of SpaceX interference would mean neither Omnispace nor other S-band MSS operators would be able to use the 1990-1995 MHz spectrum in large portions of the globe. SpaceX didn't comment.