FCC votes to adopt new licensing process for satellites
The Federal Communications Commission today voted unanimously to overhaul its satellite licensing process, despite a request to postpone the vote by U.S. House space policy leaders.
FCC on July 1 published the Space Modernization Order outlining the changes, which include establishing “a licensing assembly line” to process applications for satellite licenses, potentially in batches as opposed to separate approvals for each satellite in a large constellation. The order is among several planned overhauls to U.S. space licensing that were prompted by various 2025 White House executive orders.
An FCC license is required for any satellite that will transmit or receive radio signals to communicate with operators on the surface for telemetry, tracking and command. However, the current licensing regulations contain “unnecessary and outdated rules,” the order reads, and the new framework would be easier to understand, especially for new entrants.
“We’re scrapping our old rules in their entirety and replacing them with better new ones,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said before the vote, which was held during an open meeting at the commission’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. “This kind of ambition shouldn’t be taken for granted. Regulators tend to tinker around the edges; they don’t throw away the rulebook and rewrite it from scratch.”
At the meeting, the commissioners also approved a further notice of proposed rulemaking seeking additional public comment on various topics, including experimental applications and intersatellite links between spacecraft licensed in the U.S. and those licensed in other nations.
The Space Modernization Order replaces the longstanding Part 25 regulations with a new Part 100, permitting companies to seek “base” certifications for standard satellite parts and reserve detailed certifications for complex or unique parts, among other changes. It also creates a new “Variable Trajectory” license for spacecraft with changing paths or multi-orbit licenses.
Carr said in a letter accompanying the order that it provides “spectrum abundance” to support “our builders in space.”
The leadership of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has expressed disapproval about the scope of the order, a draft of which was first released in October. In February, U.S. Reps. Brian Babin (R-Tex.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) — the chairman and ranking member of the committee, respectively — sent a letter to Carr stating the order goes beyond FCC’s statutory purview of regulating “spectrum management or the prevention of harmful radiofrequency interference.”
Among their objections was that the order would require operators to “take all possible steps” to assess and mitigate collision risks, the letter reads. However, Congress has charged other agencies with launch and reentry licensing and “has never granted comparable authority for space operations, space safety, or orbital debris mitigation to the FCC.”
“When Congress has chosen to regulate private space activities, it has done so explicitly and unambiguously, assigning launch and reentry licensing authority to the Department of Transportation and remote sensing licensing authority to the Department of Commerce,” the letter states. “Congress has never granted comparable authority for space operations, space safety, or orbital debris mitigation to the FCC.”
Babin and Lofgren sent another letter Tuesday, saying they had received no response. They also requested FCC postpone today’s vote, a request that neither Carr nor the other two commissioners mentioned during the meeting.
“The Commission’s failure to respond is not only disappointing — it is unacceptable,” Babin and Lofgren wrote. “In the absence of responsive action, constructive dialogue, and a meaningful exchange of information on this matter, we must consider all appropriate legislative and oversight tools available to us.”
