FCC Guidance On Radio For Commercial Space Operations Falls Short

RocketAcademy writes "The Federal Communications Commission has issued a Public Notice to help commercial space companies obtain use of communications frequencies for launch, operations, and reentry. Commercial space companies can obtain the use of government frequencies on a temporary, non-interference basis through the FCC's Experimental Authorization process. Experimental Authorizations are valid for a six-month period from the date of grant and are renewable, but applicants must obtain a new authorization for each launch and must apply 90 days in advance. Unfortunately, this requirement does not meet the needs of suborbital launch providers who expect to fly several times per day and schedule launches as needed, on very short notice."

Comments

FCC is here to screw you

[fyngyrz]

The FCC has never helped anyone in licensing the airwaves other than deep pocket (usually commercial) interests. They literally stole the entire spectrum for nothing, and then sold it off at prices no ordinary citizen could ever afford. Some bones, carefully neutered to be of little use in mass communication, were thrown: citizens band and amateur radio. Both forbid broadcast use, meaning one-to-many-unspecified listeners, both forbid transmission of music (even if it's your own, which is bizarre to say the least.)

The FCC is an object lesson in the perils of out of control government. Current-policy (no pun intended) FCC apologists are object lessons in people who don't understand liberty or broadcast technology.

What would be fair? Perhaps half of the broadcast bands given to the people, half to commercial interests.

Preemptive strike: Apologists argue that letting the public broadcast when and where they want would be chaos. I simply point you to the AM bands at night; propagation being what it is, only strong local stations or "clear channel" stations can be reliably received, while sections of the band without these fade from one signal to the next in an unending (and frankly, entertaining) medley of opinions, music, news, and so forth. Both the AM broadcast industry and the public have, somehow, survived this admittedly chaotic nightly onslaught. I expect the same would be true if you drove around town and heard different stations as you traveled in the day.