Amazon also told the FCC it would \u201cfurther mitigate the risk of collision\u201d by \u201ccoordinat[ing] during operations, in real-time, with systems through whose orbital altitudes Kuiper Satellites will transit.\u201d The FCC subsequently approved Amazon\u2019s orbital debris mitigation plan with license conditions requiring coordination and information-sharing with other space operators using similar orbits, SpaceX said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite its repeated representations and related license conditions, Amazon launched eight times into orbits with insertion altitudes above 450 km without submitting any amended orbital debris mitigation plan or seeking Commission approval for such a change,\u201d SpaceX alleged. \u201cMost recently, even with input from SpaceX, Amazon\u2019s February 12, 2026, launch on Ariane 6 inserted its satellites at an altitude sufficiently high that it led to unmitigable collision risks with dozens of operational spacecraft.\u201d<\/p>\n
SpaceX alleged that \u201cAmazon did not update its orbital debris mitigation plan\u201d and \u201cdid not provide sufficiently accurate\u201d information to other operators about the February launch. This \u201csignificantly increased the risks to all satellite operations near the 480 km insertion altitude as well as to inhabited spacecraft,\u201d SpaceX said.<\/p>\n
Amazon filed a letter with the FCC<\/a> today to respond to the allegations. \u201cThe facts demonstrate that Amazon Leo launches to altitudes permitted under its license, has been transparent about its insertion altitudes with both the Commission and with SpaceX, and operates squarely within established industry safety standards,\u201d Amazon said.<\/p>\n No safety violation, Amazon says<\/p>\n Amazon said its launch altitudes comply with the \u201cat or near 400 km\u201d license requirement, which provides \u201csome flexibility in adjusting parameters.\u201d Amazon said it went ahead with the 450 km insertion altitude because \u201cchanging near-term Ariane launch parameters would cause multi-month delays,\u201d but has responded to SpaceX\u2019s concerns by committing to using lower initial altitudes starting with its fourth Ariane mission. The February 12 mission was the first of 18<\/a> booked launches.<\/p>\n \u201cLaunch vehicle providers generally require at least months\u2014and typically one year\u2014to retarget insertion altitude due to the complexity of final mission analysis, which encompasses trajectory analysis, coupled loads analysis, and integrated thermal analysis,\u201d Amazon told the FCC. \u201cArianespace, for example, requires three to six months for final mission analysis when changing target orbit parameters. Amazon Leo began this process immediately upon learning of SpaceX\u2019s concerns and has worked diligently with its launch providers to implement changes as quickly as operationally feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amazon also told the FCC it would \u201cfurther mitigate the risk of collision\u201d by \u201ccoordinat[ing] during operations, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-371899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}