Monday, September 25, 2017

Kepler Communications Co-Founds US Based Small-Sat Lobby Group

          By Chuck Black

Here's another reminder that Canadian space companies must compete in the world marketplace and not just domestically.

Toronto, ON based Kepler Communications has joined with ten other small satellite companies to establish a Washington, DC based trade association tasked with addressing spectrum policies and regulations specific to the growing small-sat industry.

Now they have their own club. As outlined in the  July 13th, 2017 Euroconsult press release, "$30 Billion Market Value for Small Satellites over Coming Decade," over 6,200 small-sats are expected to be launched over the next ten years, "a substantial augmentation over that of the previous decade." The total market value could reach $30.1Bln US ($37Bln CDN) in the next ten years, up from $8.9Bln US ($11Bln CDN) over the previous decade. Infographic c/o Euroconsult.

The new organization, called the Commercial Smallsat Spectrum Management Association (CSSMA), will focus on "issues unique to small-sats" which are not addressed by the larger and more established Satellite Industry Association (SIA), according to the September 22nd, 2017 Space News post, "Smallsat companies band together in new spectrum-advocacy organization."

Founding members of the CSSMA include San Jose CA based Astro Digital, Herndon VA based HawkEye 360, San Francisco CA based Planet and Spire Global, Norwegian based Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), Redmond WA based RBC Signals,  El Segundo, CA based The Aerospace Corporation, international law firm Hogan Lovells and Kepler. Planet, Spire, The Aerospace Corp. and HawkEye 360 are also a part of the Washington DC based SIA.

As outlined in the article, CSSMA members hope that their collective voices "will gain more attention when it comes to spectrum access."

The article also quoted Spire general council Jonathan Rosenblatt as stating that:
... a notice of proposed rule making from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expected early next year about small satellites will be a “big priority” for CSSMA. 
Similarly, small-sat rule-making at the 2019 World Radiocommunications Conference — the United Nation’s once-every-four-years gathering of governments, regulators and companies to address international spectrum allocations — sits near the top of the association’s agenda...
Kepler was last profiled in the February 20th, 2017 post on "Those Pesky Kids at Kepler Communications."
eveChuck Black.
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Chuck Black is the editor of the Commercial Space blog.

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