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posted by mrpg on Friday December 21 2018, @08:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the lunch dept.

FCC fines Swarm Technologies $900K over unauthorized satellite launch

Back in March came the surprising news that a satellite communications company still more or less in stealth mode had launched several tiny craft into orbit — against the explicit instructions of the FCC. The company, Swarm Technologies, now faces a $900,000 penalty from the agency, as well as extra oversight of its continuing operations.

[...] Unfortunately, the units are so small — about a quarter the size of a standard cubesat, which is already quite tiny — that the FCC felt they would be too difficult to track, and did not approve the launch.

Swarm, perhaps thinking it better to ask forgiveness than file the paperwork for permission, launched anyway in January aboard India's PSLV-C40, which carried more than a dozen other passengers to space as well. (I asked Swarm and the launch provider, Spaceflight, at the time for comment but never heard back.) The FCC obviously didn't like this, and began an investigation shortly afterwards.

Slap on the wrist?

Also at Engadget and Quartz.

Previously: India Launches 31 Satellites, Puts Cartosat-2 Into Orbit
FCC Accuses Startup of Unauthorized Launch of Commercial Satellites


Original Submission

Related Stories

India Launches 31 Satellites, Puts Cartosat-2 Into Orbit 5 comments

India on Friday deployed a remote sensing Cartosat and 30 other satellites, including 28 from six nations into the earth's orbit after a copybook launch from its spaceport here. The 44.4-metre tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) roared into a clear sky after a perfect lift-off at 9.29 a.m. following a 28-hour countdown. The 320-tonne rocket would eject the satellites one-by-one and deploy them into the earth's lower orbit 17 minutes and 18 seconds after the lift-off.

Of the 31 satellites, three are Indian and the rest are from Canada, Finland, France, South Korea, UK and the US.

INDIA LAUNCHES 31 SATELLITES, PUTS CARTOSAT-2 INTO ORBIT

[Also Covered By]:
ISRO's 42nd PSLV successfully puts 31 satellites in orbit
PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite Mission

[YouTube Video]: The Launch of PSLV-C40 / Cartosat-2 Series Satellite

Related: PicSat Mission to Observe Beta Pictoris for Exoplanet Transit


Original Submission

FCC Accuses Startup of Unauthorized Launch of Commercial Satellites 31 comments

A startup called Swarm Technologies has had its authorization for an upcoming satellite launch revoked by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after it flew four satellites on an Indian rocket without receiving authorization from the FCC:

On 12 January, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket blasted off from India's eastern coast. While its primary cargo was a large Indian mapping satellite, dozens of secondary CubeSats from other countries travelled along with it. Seattle-based Planetary Resources supplied a spacecraft that will test prospecting tools for future asteroid miners, Canadian company Telesat launched a broadband communications satellite, and a British Earth-observation mission called Carbonite will capture high-definition video of the planet's surface.

Also on board were four small satellites that probably should not have been there. SpaceBee-1, 2, 3, and 4 were briefly described by the Indian space agency ISRO as "two-way satellite communications and data relay" devices from the United States. No operator was specified, and only ISRO publicly noted that they successfully reached orbit the same day.

[...] The only problem is, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had dismissed Swarm's application for its experimental satellites a month earlier, on safety grounds. The FCC is responsible for regulating commercial satellites, including minimizing the chance of accidents in space. It feared that the four SpaceBees now orbiting the Earth would pose an unacceptable collision risk for other spacecraft. If confirmed, this would be the first ever unauthorized launch of commercial satellites.

On Wednesday, the FCC sent Swarm a letter revoking its authorization for a follow-up mission with four more satellites, due to launch next month. A pending application for a large market trial of Swarm's system with two Fortune 100 companies could also be in jeopardy.

The concept uses satellites to send Internet of Things (IoT) device data to the Internet. Solar-powered gateways would collect data from nearby IoT devices, and beam it to a SpaceBEE satellite using VHF radio. The data would then be beamed down to Internet-connected ground stations.

The company was denied approval to launch 10 cm × 10 cm × 2.8 cm sized SpaceBEEs due to the craft being too small to reliably track using the United States Space Surveillance Network.

Previously: India Launches 31 Satellites, Puts Cartosat-2 Into Orbit


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Entropy on Friday December 21 2018, @08:59AM (3 children)

    by Entropy (4228) on Friday December 21 2018, @08:59AM (#777138)

    I have to wonder: How much more expensive would going through all the "proper" process that would be necessary to launch things in line with FCC guidelines be? Probably a bit more than 900k.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @01:18PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @01:18PM (#777180)

      Kinda off topic but I knew someone that was the victim of mistaken identity. As a result he lost his house, wound up in jail, lost his drivers license, etc... Eventually he got his license back and got released from jail but he ended up having to continue working to get everything back, took him about a year (I guess to qualify for another mortgage?). When I asked him why he didn't sue for those damages he said that by the time he went through the court system and all and got the damages he would have been able to pay for everything just working. Sometimes it's easier to just suffer the consequences of someone else's mistakes than it is to try and go through our insanely expensive legal system to get damages.

      The point is our legal system is expensive. Very expensive. Which is why companies often compare the cost of going through our legal system with the cost of doing something illegally and just paying the fine.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @03:51PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @03:51PM (#777222)

        He got a job that paid above working poor level after having been in jail?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @06:39PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @06:39PM (#777611)

          He didn't commit any crimes. The guilty party had his exact same name with his exact same birth date. He even had his wages garnished but he eventually got his garnished wages back once the mistaken identity crises was solved. But that doesn't compensate for the fact that he was out of work while dealing with the problem.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday December 21 2018, @09:19AM (2 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Friday December 21 2018, @09:19AM (#777145)

    the FCC felt they would be too difficult to track

    I understand the FCC getting involved when unauthorized radio transmisions take place. But what the hell do they have to do with tracking satellites in orbit or granting launch permissions?

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aiwarrior on Friday December 21 2018, @10:46AM (1 child)

      by aiwarrior (1812) on Friday December 21 2018, @10:46AM (#777159) Journal

      I think the bigger question is why is FCC fining something that was launched through another jurisdiction. Could it be that if they set up a shell company the US uncle will still be the world police?
      Not that i disagree with FCC, space debris is a problem, but perhaps getting a world comittee a-la ICAO would end this jurisdiction problem as well as incompatibilities.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday December 21 2018, @01:41PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 21 2018, @01:41PM (#777186) Journal
        It's the Outer Space Treaty. Everything launched by a US company has to be approved by US government regulators in compliance with the treaty. The obligations don't go away if you launch outside of US territory. The real approach there would be to get a new sponsor, like say the countries that flag most ocean shipping. Then you could launch per their supervision rather than the US's.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @04:06PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @04:06PM (#777228)

    They only exist to protect the transmissions of our murderous military.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @04:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @04:09PM (#777229)

    As for forgiveness rather than permission.

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