(Credit: AST SpaceMobile)
Could SpaceX derail a rival's next-generation satellite project because of paperwork issues?
On Monday, the company urged the Federal Communications Commission to dismiss an application from AST SpaceMobile because of "careless errors" and "inconsistencies" in the documentation. "While AST extolls the titanic capabilities of its satellite in its application, it simultaneously seeks to hide the risks of its operations,” SpaceX says in a filing.
Texas-based AST has been trying to secure FCC experimental authorization to operate a prototype satellite called FM1, which is scheduled to launch in July. The huge satellite, which is designed to offer internet to mobile phones, spans 223 square meters, or about three times larger than the company’s first-generation BlueBird satellites.
(Credit: AST SpaceMobile)AST first filed its regulatory request for FM1 in March. But since then, it has faced an ongoing back-and-forth with the FCC over errors and incomplete data.
"Wilde is in Argentina, not Australia. Please correct this repeated error in the API,” the FCC told the company last Friday, while raising five other issues. In total, the FCC has sent AST five emails about submitting additional details and correcting the application.
On Monday, SpaceX seized on the paperwork problems, alleging that AST’s orbit safety plans for the satellites have been "hastily revised."
"Unfortunately, AST's experimental license application and supplemental submissions fail to demonstrate substantial completeness or compliance with the Commission’s rules, or that authorizing these high-risk test operations would serve the public interest,” SpaceX says.
(Credit: SpaceX)The company’s four-page letter lists the alleged flaws with AST's paperwork, concluding that its "orbital debris mitigation plan fails to demonstrate that the FM1 satellite can operate safely and sustainably." The same document also faults the application for failing to provide more details on how the company will prevent its satellite from disrupting astronomy, even though AST recently reached a deal with the US National Science Foundation.
(Credit: SpaceX)The complaints might delay AST's launch of the FM1 satellite in July through India’s space agency. In April, SpaceX also sent another letter to the FCC, claiming that AST’s proposal for the FM1 potentially threatens orbital safety.
The letter highlights the combative rivalry between the two companies, which are competing to offer satellite connectivity to smartphones. SpaceX’s cellular Starlink service is slated to launch next month through T-Mobile. Meanwhile, AST is preparing its own alternative for AT&T and Verizon, with the goal of launching the initial service early next year.
AST didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company recently hired a former EchoStar executive, Jennifer Manner, as SVP for regulatory affairs, which might help AST better navigate the FCC's procedures.
In October, AST also told the FCC that SpaceX was engaging in anticompetitive behavior by using tactics to “intimidate and bully its competitors, regulators, and cellular operators."