SpaceX asks the FCC to replace third-party launch-spectrum coordinating committees with an automated scheduling system

FCC ECFS · ET Docket 13-115 · Reply comments · 2026-09-25
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SpaceX's reply comments in FCC docket 13-115 take aim at AFTRCC. Only that "advocacy group" and its legacy members, SpaceX says, oppose "more efficient and secure access to spectrum for space launch." SpaceX says AFTRCC and its legacy members show "a continued interest in using their position as “frequency coordinating committee” to suppress more advanced competitors," and that AFTRCC "has begun to deny launch spectrum coordination requests for launches that present no conflict with flight-test operations and no risk of harmful interference."

The fix SpaceX backs is operator-to-operator coordination through an automated scheduling system like the one NSMA describes. Flight-test and launch operations in the 2360-2395 MHz band, it argues, are pre-scheduled at a discrete number of sites, so launches can plan around them. SpaceX adds that the Federal Aviation Administration and federal range launch schedulers coordinate launch windows on the order of seven to ten days. SpaceX separately says AFTRCC's manual processes "can take weeks or more." Orbit Sentinel counts 219 filings in 13-115 from 81 distinct parties.

"The question now is whether the decades-old coordination mechanism—an intermediary committee of legacy primes with veto rights over their competitors’ commercial launch operations—best achieves national policy. It does not."

— Anton Yanchilin, Manager, Satellite Policy, SpaceX, FCC docket 13-115

Sources: SpaceX Reply Comments → · Orbit Sentinel (docket 13-115)

Filed underDocket 13-115SpaceXLaunch SpectrumAFTRCCFrequency CoordinationFCC

Questions & answers

What does SpaceX want the FCC to do in docket 13-115?
Grant the Commercial Space Federation (CSF) petition and replace the current rules requiring third-party coordinating committees for launch spectrum with an automated scheduling system like the one the National Spectrum Management Association (NSMA) describes.
Why does SpaceX say launches can work around flight-test operations?
Its filing says flight test and launch operations in the 2360-2395 MHz band are pre-scheduled and occur at a discrete number of sites, and that AMT operators typically schedule months ahead of an operation.
How busy is docket 13-115?
Orbit Sentinel counts 219 filings in the docket from 81 distinct parties, including 125 comments.