Author Topic: Ridesharing to get tougher? (SpaceBee 1/2/3/4 unlicensed rideshare launch)  (Read 2018 times)

Offline Asteroza

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https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/fcc-accuses-stealthy-startup-of-launching-rogue-satellites.amp.html

So the recently revealed incident of Swarm Technologies ultimately launching their demo satellites SpaceBee 1-4 on the Indian PSLV C40 launch, as a somewhat undisclosed rideshare for satellites without a valid FCC license, has gotten the FCC and some others all twisted up.

Will this impact payload processing flows for other rideshare brokers or direct launch services companies, in that there may be similar cases where a rideshare risks late authorization (or not!) and may need to pulled from the launch vehicle at a late stage in processing? What kinds of licensing and transparency issues for launch services providers will change due to expected increased regulatory scrutiny?

Commercial spaceflight is gradually approaching the stage of parcel delivery, an example being fixed common interfaces/sizes such as cubesats. Ideally, the launch provider shouldn't care too much, other than a brief lookover of the characterization of contents for compatibility with rocket operations, but that leaves open unexpected payloads (worst case being smuggling of things). How deep and refined is the inspection of flight model satellites prior to mating operations to confirm they are what they say they are (or is some of that left to border customs inspection)?

For more details on the Swarm incident see also:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45191
« Last Edit: 03/14/2018 12:11 am by Lar »

Offline Lar

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Seems a good fit here. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY


Offline joncz

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Quote
One customer was not deployed, as expected, because we sealed them inside their dispenser when they could not demonstrate adequate licensing.

https://www.spaceflightindustries.com/2018/12/20/sso-a-smallsat-express-wrap-up/


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