The LightSquared debate raised awareness over the battle for radiofrequency spectrum to meet seemingly insatiable consumer demand for phone and Internet access over a mushrooming array of mobile devices.  LightSquared pitted its plan to respond to that demand against another consumer favorite and public safety essential — GPS.   While that fight continues, another is brewing as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) considers requiring spectrum to be shared between weather satellites and commercial cellular carriers.

Tony Dejak of the Associated Press (AP) reports at NextGov.com that the FCC wants to require weather satellites to share spectrum in the 1695-1710 megahertz (MHz) band with commercial cellular carriers, a proposal backed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).   NTIA, part of the Department of Commerce, regulates use of spectrum by the government, while the FCC plays that role for the private sector.  According to Dejak, the two agencies endorsed the proposal at an August 2012 spectrum planning meeting.

Experts cited by Dejak point out that NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and Europe’s Metop satellites transmit certain data in that band, and data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s national network of more than 3,000 stream gauges is transmitted back to Earth at 1694.5 MHz, just below it — “too close for comfort, as poorly designed receivers could interfere with the signals.”

Poor receiver design is the crux of LightSquared’s argument that it designed its hybrid satellite-terrestrial mobile broadband system in accordance with every FCC requirement, but that GPS receiver manufacturers failed to design their receivers to ignore signals in adjacent bands.  LightSquared is down but not out in that battle, as it continues to try to find a way to operate its system without harming the GPS system on which consumers, air traffic control, the military and so many others rely.   After more than a year of hostile congressional hearings in 2011 and early 2012, the company finally found some friends at a September 2012 House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing at which FCC officials testified.  But the future is cloudy at best for the company, which already has its satellite, SkyTerra, in orbit.  The argument is over the 40,000 cell towers it wants to build to augment the system.

Weather satellites are every bit as crucial as GPS for public safety, as Hurricane Sandy demonstrated just last week.  Companies trying to get access to weather satellite frequencies may find themselves up against many of the same opponents as LightSquared.   Congress has been dealing with spectrum policy issues for many years, and it looks as though it will continue to have to weave its way through competing demands for new services and protecting existing ones.

While the East Coast was dealing with Superstorm Sandy, the B612 Foundation and Ball Aerospace were signing a contract for the development of prototype sensors for B612’s asteroid-hunting spacecraft, Sentinel.

The B612 Foundation, led by former astronaut Ed Lu, announced formation of a Sentinel Special Review Team earlier this month.  The contract signing with Ball is the next step.

The contract is only for prototype infrared sensors needed for Sentinel’s mission to find and catalog asteroids that could threaten Earth.  B612 is trying to raise funding from philanthropists for the mission in the same way that wealthy donors have funded ground-based telescopes historically.

Sentinel’s launch is currently anticipated in 2017 using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.  B-612 has a Space Act Agreement with NASA through which NASA will provide technical advice and access to its Deep Space Network to track and communicate with Sentinel.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean this afternoon at 3:22 pm ET, returning scientific experiments and other cargo from the International Space Station (ISS).

That ends the first operational flight for Dragon as part of NASA’s commercial cargo program.   Designated Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)-1, it is the first of 12 flights NASA has purchased from SpaceX.   The mission included a freezer that was needed to return research samples to Earth, and since it was aboard Dragon, it also was used to deliver ice cream to the ISS crew.

SpaceX is still looking into why one of the nine Falcon 9 engines failed during launch on October 7.  Although the Dragon mission proceeded successfully, the engine failure doomed another payload the rocket was carrying — an experimental communications satellite for Orbcomm.

Through the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, NASA provided funding to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to develop their own systems to take cargo to the ISS. The companies also provide some of the funding, which is why it is called a commercial program even though it involves considerable taxpayer money. 

SpaceX completed its portion of the COTS program in May with the successful test flight of an earlier Dragon mission that garnered significant press attention.  The news value of this mission was somewhat overshadowed by a focus on the upcoming elections and a massive storm about to hit the eastern United States dubbed Frankenstorm. 

NASA hopes that Orbital Sciences’s Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft will be operational in 2013, though neither has flown yet.  Orbital did not become part of the COTS program until much later than SpaceX, replacing a company that failed to meet its milestones.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is getting ready to return to Earth tomorrow, Sunday, October 28.   It will signal the end of the first operational commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Dragon was launched on its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)-1 mission on October 7, 2012.  The launch experienced an anomaly that led to the loss of an Orbcomm test satellite, but the Dragon portion of the mission proceeded unimpeded.  It was berthed to ISS on October 10, delivering 882 pounds of supplies to the ISS crew (other reports rounded that off to “about 1,000 pounds” but NASA now is using this more precise number).

Tomorrow it will return 734 pounds of results from scientific experiments and 504 pounds of ISS hardware NASA wants back on the ground.  Dragon is expected to be released from the ISS tomorrow at 6:25 am PT (9:25 am ET) and splash down in the Pacific at 12:20 pm PT (3:20 pm ET).

The unberthing and splashdown will be carried live on NASA TV.