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The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a
legal challenge from DISH Network and an environmental group
composed of amateur astronomers and dark-sky enthusiasts. DISH
had argued the FCC did not adequately consider the risk of
signal interference with other satellites, while the astronomer
group said the FCC had not followed an environmental law in its
approval. The court in 2022 rejected a separate challenge to
SpaceX's plan to deploy satellites at a lower Earth orbit than
planned.
In late 2022, the FCC approved SpaceX's request to deploy up to
7,500 satellites after the commission in 2018 approved SpaceX
plans to deploy up to 4,425 first-generation satellites.
SpaceX has sought approval to operate a network of 29,988
satellites, to be known as its “second-generation” or Gen2
Starlink constellation to beam internet to areas with little or
no internet access.
The three-judge panel said the FCC "decision to license SpaceX’s
Gen2 Starlink satellites was lawful and reasonable." DISH did
not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2022, the FCC turned down applications from billionaire Elon
Musk's SpaceX and LTD Broadband for funds that had been
tentatively awarded in 2020 under the commission's Rural Digital
Opportunity Fund, a multibillion dollar program in which SpaceX
was poised to receive $885.5 million to beam satellite internet
to U.S. regions with little to no internet connections.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel defended the decision at a U.S.
House hearing this week. The FCC in December said the decision
was based on the Starlink failure to meet basic program
requirements and that Starlink could not demonstrate it could
deliver promised service.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and
Diane Craft)
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