Before the

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

In the Matter of )
)
Application of ) Call Sign: S3069/S2992
Space Exploration Holdings, LLC ) ICFS File Nos. SAT-LOA-20200526-00055
For Amendment of Application for the ) SAT-AMD-20210818-00105
SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System and ) SAT-AMD-20241017-00228
For Modification of Authorization for the ) SAT-MOD-20241011-00224
SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System )
)

COMMENT OF KUIPER SYSTEMS LLC

I. INTRODUCTION

Kuiper Systems LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com Services LLC

(collectively “Amazon”), respectfully comments on the above-captioned application, amendment,

and modification filed by Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (“SpaceX”) for its next-generation

non-geostationary orbit (“NGSO”) satellite system (the “Gen2 System”).1 Amazon is committed

to increasing broadband access across the United States and believes it will take multiple low Earth

orbit satellite systems to close the digital divide for all Americans. Consistent with these goals,

Amazon encourages the Commission to seriously consider several of SpaceX’s well-grounded

requests for waiver of the Commission’s rules, including those for access to spectrum bands that

1
See Space Exploration Holdings, LLC, Application for the SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System, ICFS File No.
SAT-LOA-20200526-00055 (filed May 26, 2020) (“SpaceX Application”); Space Exploration Holdings, LLC,
Amendment to Pending Application for the SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System, ICFS File No. SAT-AMD-
20210818-00105 (filed Aug. 18, 2021) (“SpaceX First Amendment”); Application of Space Exploration Holdings,
LLC, for Amendment of Application for the SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System, ICFS File No. SAT-AMD-
20241017-00228 (filed Oct. 17, 2024) (“SpaceX Second Amendment”); Space Exploration Holdings, LLC Request for
Orbital Deployment and Operating Authority for the SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System, IBFS File Nos. SAT-LOA-
20200526-00055, SAT-AMD-20210818-00105, Call Sign S3069, Order and Authorization, 37 FCC Rcd 14882
(2022) (“SpaceX Gen2 Partial Grant”); Application of Space Exploration Holdings, LLC, for Modification of License
for the SpaceX Gen2 NGSO Satellite System, ICFS File No. SAT-MOD-20241011-00224 (filed Oct. 11, 2024)
(“SpaceX First Modification”).
will allow SpaceX to better serve customers within the United States. The Commission should

reconsider conditions previously imposed on SpaceX’s Gen2 system that have proven unnecessary

or harmful to American leadership in the New Space Age. Finally, to ensure that both systems

can coexist safely and with minimal operational impact, Amazon urges the Commission to

continue to maintain orbital separation between the nominal altitudes of SpaceX and Amazon’s

NGSO satellite systems.

First, SpaceX makes several well-grounded requests for waivers that merit the

Commission’s serious consideration. For example, SpaceX seeks a waiver to use a number of

frequencies in the Ku-, Ka-, V-, and W-bands that the Table of Frequency Allocations does not

permit to be used for fixed satellite service by NGSO operators. As SpaceX explains, in some

cases the bands are allocated for use outside of the United States but not inside it, and denying a

waiver in such circumstances would put American licensees at a distinct disadvantage to satellite

constellations licensed outside of the United States, hampering the ability of American companies

to compete with those from Europe or China.2 Further, SpaceX makes clear that it seeks to operate

in these bands only on a non-interference, non-protected basis and commits to share spectrum

efficiently with other satellite operators.3 Amazon also encourages the Commission to strongly

consider SpaceX’s requested partial waiver of the EPFD limits imposed by ITU Article 22 on

SpaceX’s U.S. operations.4 SpaceX and Amazon have both previously explained that these limits

are some of the most stringent—and least necessary—constraints on NGSO operations. Granting

a limited waiver would allow real-world testing that would show how unnecessarily restrictive the

2
SpaceX Second Amendment, Att. Waiver Requests at 3.
3
And without any expectation of protection from other operators in the United States, SpaceX is right to argue that
there is no need for a processing round to allow NGSO operations in these bands. SpaceX Second Amendment, Att.
Waiver Requests at 21-22.
4
Id. at 17-19.

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ITU limits are, demonstrate that revising those rules would not in fact endanger the operations of

GSO satellites, and provide empirical data supporting updates to these limits at the ITU.

Second, the Commission should reconsider unnecessary and burdensome conditions

previously imposed on SpaceX’s Gen2 system. This includes the “object years” method for

evaluating post-mission disposal, requiring that SpaceX halt deployment in the event that the

cumulative number of orbit years for SpaceX’s failed satellites exceeded a 100-year threshold.5

Amazon, SpaceX, and LeoLabs—the progenitor of this requirement—have previously explained

why the Commission’s ill-considered imposition of this condition contradicted both Commission

precedent6 and principles of sound space safety policy.7 Given the many unanswered questions

about this condition, Amazon has long supported removing it from SpaceX’s Gen2 System and

other systems.8 Likewise, the Commission should accept and adopt SpaceX’s request to “use any

number of co-frequency beams transmitted to or from a particular location”—in other words,

eliminate the condition that SpaceX maintain an Nco of one with its Gen2 system.9 As the

Commission itself observed at the time, SpaceX was already required to comply with the ITU

5
SpaceX Gen2 Partial Grant, 37 FCC Rcd at 14952, para. 135z.
6
Indeed, the Commission rejected arguments to incorporate a 100 object-years requirement into its orbital debris rules.
See Mitigation of Orbital Debris in the New Space Age, IB Docket No. 18-313, Order on Reconsideration, FCC 24-6,
paras. 19-20 (Jan. 26, 2024) (rejecting an argument to replace certain disclosures with a requirement that would limit
low-Earth orbital debris to 100 object years per spacecraft).
7
SpaceX has called the policy “new,” “untested,” “arbitrary,” “counterproductive[],” “needless[],” “poorly
calibrated,” “preliminary,” and “fatally flawed.” Letter from Jameson Dempsey, Principal, Satellite Policy, SpaceX,
to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, ICFS File Nos. SAT-LOA-20200526-00055 and SAT-AMD-20210818-00105,
at 1-3 (filed July 13, 2022). LeoLabs petitioned for the Commission to reconsider it, explaining that the requirement
took an “inappropriate and unvalidated” value included “solely for illustrative purposes and computational ease” and
converted it into a hard-and-fast requirement. Petition for Reconsideration of LeoLabs, Inc., ICFS File Nos. SAT-
LOA-20200526-00055 and SAT-AMD-20210818-00105, at 1 (filed Dec. 30, 2022).
8
See Letter from Michael J. Carlson, Senior Corporate Counsel, Kuiper Systems LLC, to Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary, FCC, ICFS File Nos. SAT-MOD-20230228-00043; SAT-AMD-20230613-00140, at 2-3 (filed Feb. 9,
2024).
9
See SpaceX Gen2 Partial Grant, 37 FCC Rcd at 14912, para. 46 (“We therefore condition this authorization,
consistent with SpaceX’s commitment on the record of this proceeding, such that SpaceX must operate its Gen2
Starlink constellation with an NCo of 1, in the 12.2-12.7 GHz (space-to-Earth) frequency band.”).

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Article 22 EPFD limits and “a system operating within the EPFD limits is deemed not to cause

harmful interference to GSO systems.”10 A separate limit on SpaceX’s Nco is therefore

unnecessary to protect existing DBS (or other GSO) operations; instead, this limitation functions

only as a burdensome and unnecessary restriction on how SpaceX protects such operations.

Third, the Commission should adopt a condition requiring the nominal orbit of SpaceX’s

satellites remain below 580 km. As Amazon has previously explained, the likelihood of

conjunction and collision increases substantially when satellites from different constellations are

operating at close altitudes.11 The Commission has therefore wisely and consistently preserved

orbital separation between SpaceX’s satellites and Amazon’s planned constellation.12

The American people are served best when regulators exercise restraint and allow operators

to deploy and compete. Here, the Commission has an opportunity to further America’s leadership

in the New Space Age by promoting competition and limiting conditions on NGSO operations to

those that are critical and necessary.

10
Id.
11
See Comments of Kuiper Systems LLC, IBFS File Nos. SAT-LOA-20200526-00055 and SAT-AMD-20210818-
00105, at 8-9 (filed Feb. 8, 2022); Reply of Kuiper Systems LLC, IBFS File Nos. SAT- LOA-20200526-00055 and
SAT-AMD-20210818-00105, at 5 (filed Mar. 3, 2022). Amazon and SpaceX continue to have productive
coordination discussions regarding operations at similar altitudes. In light of those discussions, Amazon now supports
relaxing the existing condition so that the SpaceX Gen2 system could conduct operations above 580 km so long as the
nominal altitude of all of SpaceX’s Gen2 satellites remain at or below 580 km.
12
In the Mod3 Grant, the Commission required SpaceX to “stay below 580 km at all times,” and applied that condition
to “SpaceX’s constellation going forward.” Mod3 Grant, 36 FCC Rcd at 8033, para. 66. The Commission did so
building on a condition in the ten-satellite modification authorization given to SpaceX on January 8, 2021. See Ten-
Satellite Grant, 36 FCC at 127, para. 12. In the SpaceX Gen2 Partial Grant, the Commission similarly conditioned
its approval on SpaceX restricting its Gen2 Starlink operations to below 580 km, given the “risks posed by the overlap
of two systems operating at the scale of Kuiper’s and SpaceX’s proposed operations.” SpaceX Gen2 Partial Grant,
37 FCC Rcd at 14924, para. 81. The Commission noted that such a condition was “without prejudice to any
determination we may make with respect to requirements such as orbital separation or coordination for large
constellations as is currently under consideration in a separate rule making proceeding.” Id. at para. 82.

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 Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Michael John Carlson

525 14th Street S

March 10, 2025

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 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, Michael John Carlson, hereby certify that on March 11, 2025, I caused to be served a
true copy of the foregoing Comment of Kuiper Systems LLC by first-class mail upon the
following:

Jameson Dempsey
Director, Satellite Policy
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
1155 F Street, NW, Suite 475
Washington, DC 20004
[email protected]

/s/ Michael John Carlson