In early February, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the telecommunications regulatory agency in the United States, approved the launch and operation of more than 3,230 satellites for Project Kuiper, by Amazon. For this, the company had to meet some requirements related to space debris and measures to avoid collisions in low Earth orbit.
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In 2020, Amazon received regulatory approval from the FCC for the Kuiper project satellite constellation, under the condition that it secure regulatory approval for an updated orbital debris mitigation plan. Now, the agency has concluded that the plan is sufficiently developed to allow for the deployment of the satellites.
In a statement, the FCC noted that complying with Amazon’s request, subject to specified requirements and conditions, would be in the public interest. “Our action will allow the [projeto] Kuiper begins to deploy its constellation to bring high-speed connectivity to customers around the world,” they said.
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To meet the conditions presented by the FCC, Amazon must send semi-annual reports with details of the maneuvers of its satellites to avoid collisions in orbit, must describe if any of them lost the ability to move away from other objects, among other risk indicators.
In addition, the FCC also required Amazon to remove its satellites from Earth orbit after the seven-year mission, as a way to protect space stations. Also, the project will have to provide regular updates on efforts to avoid interference with astronomical observations and the impact on launches and reentries of space missions.
It is worth remembering that, in addition to approval by the FCC, Amazon still had to face objections from competing companies, such as SpaceX and Viasat. Last year, Amazon signed contracts for more than 80 launches with Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch the majority of satellites in the constellation. Prototypes KuiperSat-1 and 2, the constellation’s first satellites, are expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2023.
Read the article on Canaltech.
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