FCC Issues First-Ever Space Debris Fine Over Low-Flying Satellite

pcmag.com:

The FCC has issued its first-ever fine geared toward preventing space debris. 

The agency is requiring Dish Network to pay $150,000 for failing to properly deorbit a broadcast satellite last year. Dish was supposed to have flown its retired EchoStar-7 into a “disposal orbit.” But the satellite ended up traveling “below the elevation required by the terms of its license,” which could have posed “orbit debris concerns,” the FCC says. 

“In February 2022, Dish determined that the satellite had very little propellant left, which meant it could not follow the original orbital debris mitigation plan in its license,” the FCC says. “Dish ultimately retired the satellite at a disposal orbit approximately 122 km above the geostationary arc, well short of the disposal orbit of 300 km specified in its orbital debris mitigation plan.”

For perspective, EchoStar-7 originally traveled at a geostationary orbit, putting it about 36,000 kilometers above the planet — far higher than a low-Earth orbiting Starlink satellite. Hence, the EchoStar-7 was supposed to have flown further away from the planet, but it failed to reach a so-called “graveyard orbit.” As a result, EchoStar-7 ended up closer to the operational orbits of other geostationary satellites than the FCC would have liked. 

Although the fine was only directed at Dish Network, the US regulator is signaling it’s ready to clamp down on other satellite constellations when necessary. “As satellite operations become more prevalent and the space economy accelerates, we must be certain that operators comply with their commitments,” says FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal.

That should bring more regulatory scrutiny to SpaceX’s Starlink, a satellite constellation capable of beaming