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FCC Fines Swarm $900,000 For Unauthorized Satellite Launch (reuters.com)
Swarm Technologies will pay a $900,000 fine for launching and operating four small experimental communications satellites that risked "satellite collisions" and threatened "critical commercial and government satellite operations," the FCC said on Thursday. "The California-based start-up founded by former Google and Apple engineers in 2016 also agreed to enhanced FCC oversight and a requirement of pre-launch notices to the FCC for three years," reports Reuters. From the report: Swarm launched the satellites in India last January after the FCC rejected its application to deploy and operate them, citing concerns about the company's tracking ability. It said Swarm had unlawfully transmitted signals between earth stations in the state of Georgia and the satellites for over a week. The investigation also found that Swarm performed unauthorized weather balloon-to-ground station tests and other unauthorized equipment tests prior to the satellites' launch. Swarm aims to provide low-cost space-based internet service and plans eventually to use a constellation of 100 satellites.
By the time the race of various companies to deploy swarms of satellites to provide internet is over, solar rays won't even be able to reach the Earth, much less warm it...
The globe will appear wholly a steel orb from above. Only that dude driving the Tesla Space Roadster will be able to get a tan.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
last time i checked, the fcc didn't own outer space
I'm really wondering how this startup, hoping to deploy up to 100 satellites, is going to have the infrastructure or economy of scale to offer cheaper service than Iridium Next (with 75 satellites) or SpaceX's 12,000 Starlink satellites.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
No wonder the FCC is up in arms. A new ISP that is independent from cables down here? That could cut into the profit margins of their masters!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Irresponsible heathens like Marconi and Tesla had no permits or licenses. It's amazing we're still alive without the protection of licensing agencies, permits and bureaucrats. Why, the Wright brothers didn't even have pilot licenses! We need more rules to protect us.
America isn't much of a space power anymore. The rest of the world and the corporations it has surrendered its launch capacity to should tell Uncle Sam to just fuck off.
Russia, China and India are already eating America's lunch. No doubt Kim Jung Nukem will soon be putting up satellites whenever they like, and telling the US to take a long, hard suck on his Taepodong.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Well Fuck that... :(
[($)]
Isn't this the compny launching those satellites for cali weather? Bold move there guys
"The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government created by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable."
So they don't cover yelling to my neighbor but if I use a wire/cable or any kind of radio, they do? What if someone comes up with new technology that doesn't use wire, cable, satellite, or any known form of radio frequency? Yes, science fantasy, but a big fat what if? The new tech allows large data transfers (including voice of course) with total security. Yes, its Orson Scott Card fantasy but I find the idea intriguing.
Some folks would go bonkers I'm sure.
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
Can anyone tell me the speed of "light" for Gamma rays vs the speed of light for radio waves.
They should be slightly different, if they are, I can explain where matter is on the EM spectrum.
and apparantly still less than it would cost to pay a people smuggler to get them out of the former united states.
The fine isn't for putting satellites in orbit via India after permission from the U.S. was denied. And it's not for operating said satellites after their launch per se. Those factors probably contributed to the FCC being harsh with this company, but they're not the justification for the fine.
The fine is for transmitting on certain frequencies reserved for communications with satellites. Broadcasting on those frequencies requires a license from the FCC, which this company apparently didn't obtain. According to TFA, they've now obtained that license, and are operating the satellites again.
Illegally, not giving a flying f**k about laws, rules and regulations.
This is directly from the big book of all things Trump.
LEO needs to be governed by a neutral governing body made up from agencies from all countries, not the FCC, and not part of the FCC.
Rather than the american 'oh it threatens our monopoly so fuck off' approach (possibly other countries are included there too).
I guess you've never seen a satellite dish?
It actually matters where you point it.
Btw, I'm transmitting this message to Slashdot's server, with instructions to post it (htttp verb "POST").
Perhaps you were thinking of the word "broadcast"? Broadcast means to transmit over a wide area. Broadcast and transmit are different words because they have different meanings.
Do you have a cellphone? Do you have a license for that cellphone? Of course not. The carriers and manufacturers are licensed and the phones are "type-accepted" by the FCC, meaning they meet certain specifications and are legally allowed to transmit on licensed cellular frequencies. Satellite internet service would be the same.
The idea that we will break the law, pay the fines and life will be grand is a real concern. Lawlessness in businesses is no more than a wild west shout out. By now everyone is aware of the Chinese CFO being arrested in Canada, but what they most likely don't know is that the company (I won't promote a company nor mention its name as it should be forgotten) has taken this strategy. NOT only do they continuously break the law they have actually stated that they will break the law and pay fines as they can achieve greater profits.
This concept of breaking the law with minimal financial consequences is how China is run. Steal IP, pay a small fine, build up their industries. It is time that fines are increased to fit the crime. These people should have been fined the amount that would have been the cost if things had gone wrong. If they had taken out another company or countries satellites the cost to replace them as well as financial damage should have been the fine. Then people like Boy Musk will put down the crack pipe, spend some time in jail, get his fill of sex, and the world may become a safer place to live. Also, The U.S. and other countries need to use the corporate death penalty to put businesses that abuse the law and shut them down.
This is great news! Another company I can sue when Mir/SkyLab/ISS/whatever falls outta the sky! Bring it on!
Out? To where? No other first world country lets in so many people and provides for them, lets them work, become citizens and so on, legally or otherwise. I dont know what planet you live on but I live on the one where ignorant eurofags post stupid shit on American sites in a failed attempt to insult their superiors and restore their lost glory.
Hint: a united EU with no borders will not bring back your once global power. It will only hasten your trip to full slavery.
Nicely done.
last time i checked, the fcc didn't own outer space
According to the consent decree any entity launching satellites wishing to serve a U.S. market must adhere to all commission rules. Swarm's satellites becomes subject to US jurisdiction the moment one of their satellites transmits or receives a signal to or from a US destination or source.
Also, as a US company, Swarm is automatically subject to US jurisdiction, and they must adhere to FCC rules and licensing requirements prior to operation of any radio equipment on a ground station or on a satellite in orbit.
The message the FCC sends with this fine is "Don't base your business in the U.S." No harm was done by the launch and yet the FCC is pissed because the startup didn't ask their permission to operate.
Since you're all serious Mr Frowny Mc FrownFace, did you factor in:
1) Self replicating satellites that construct new satellites out of sun-beams and cosmic particles or bits of the moon.
2) What about satellites with unfolding panels that spread super wide, eh?
3) Absolutely no-where on your envelope did I see calculations involving volume of existing space junk filling gaps! For shame.
Between all those factors, my new estimates are that in fact there are TWO layers of satellites completely covering the earth.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Samefag obviously samefagging.
So what they're telling us is that if you want to launch a bunch of satellites anywhere you like, the permit-cost is $900K. Sounds like a great deal to me.
Bold capitalists with no care how many people may die when their unauthorized launch blows up and rains waste on an elementary school. Sounds like a SHITHOLE COUNTRY to me.
Don't build your ground station in USA.
I mean enforcing the nations border laws is considered racist. Why is keeping LEO free of debris not racist. That space debris just like undocumented illegal invaders have every right to migrate wherever they want.
If the illegal invaders out-compete and outfight the native blacks and whites, it just means the white and black people were not strong enough. If my untrackable cubesat damages CNN's 100 million dollar satellite, or if it steps on some freqs, it just means my satellite outcompeted them. CNN should be more inclusive and welcoming of my poor disadvantaged satellites that did not have the benefit of white parents and billions of dollars of lobbying effort.
End Space Racism. End The FCC. The electromagnetic spectrum is not the exclusive domain of CNN and Fox Media.
So your even your car size satellite will eventually end up as billion of particles after a few good high speed collisions.
The surface area of a cube 1m^3 is 6m^2. But if that is smashed into 10^9 mm sized cubes, the area becomes 6000m^2. Smash it into micron sized bits and you might well have an effect on global warming.
So no need to cut back on coal. Just launch lots of satellites. Makes about as much sense as any other argument in that space.
Why do you think the FCC can fine anybody over a launch?
Obviously the fine is for the spectrum it uses in the US after being denied a license...because that spectrum is reserved for satellites that already exist.
Launched from India, where the FCC has no jurisdiction, into space, where the FCC has no jurisdiction. Are they actually going to pay this?
Transmitting to/from the USA, where the FCC has jurisdiction. Being /. I don't expect you to read the article, but c'mon, it was in the summary.
So... disruption turns out to just be breaking the law and ignoring regulation.
Great.
No... They will continue to thrive in freedom, while we become more and more slaves. American freedom has become an oxymoron. All the checks our system to keep the balance have been compromised. Europe will surpass the United States collapse under its own weight because they keep it small and managable
Am I the only one to be happily surprised to see this law being applied to a corporate entity and not be one of those stupid stories where a high school science team with a balloon and a camera is at the receiving end?
These are LEO satellites. They won't clog things up for long because there's tiny amount of atmospheric drag where they'll be sitting. A compact satellite can deal with it, but as small particles their drag to mass ratio is enormous in comparison, and they have no means of actively maintaining their orbit.