Swarm gets green light from FCC for its 150-satellite constellation – TechCrunch

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Swarm Technologies aims to connect smart devices around the world with a low-bandwidth but ever-present network provided by satellites — and it just got approval from the FCC to do so.
Apparently the agency is no longer worried that Swarm’s sandwich-sized satellites are too small to be tracked.
Consequently, Swarm’s satellites are small — so small, in fact, that the FCC was worried that they would be difficult to track and might be a danger to other satellites.
The FCC approval is just one step in the long process of getting approved to go to space for commercial operations, but it’s a big one.
In addition to granting Swarm permission to send up its planned 150 satellites (and up to 600 if it decides to spread out a little), the FCC assigned Swarm the wireless spectrum it needs to operate.
Longtime satellite communications provider ORBCOMM had objected that Swarm would be taking over some parts of the spectrum it has been assigned — but the FCC found that wasn’t actually the case, and, in fact, the company was in a way making a sort of power play that would have extended its control over those frequencies.
SpaceX also filed a comment suggesting that Swarm had not adequately considered its orbital debris footprint, neglecting in particular to include its satellites’ antennas in various calculations.
But documents filed by Swarm addressing these questions seem to have satisfied the FCC completely — “We find that Swarm has taken the appropriate steps to address SpaceX’s concerns,” and it granted the application with the condition that the company abide by any upcoming orbital debris rules.
Swarm has clearly moved well past the black mark on its FCC record when it launched test satellites without the proper approvals.
“The FCC grant of Swarm’s spectrum and launch approvals is a big milestone for the company.

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