A SpaceX plan to achieve entry to new satellite tv for pc spectrum territory could be backfiring.
Elon Musk’s reportedly “erratic behavior” and alleged unlawful drug use calls into query whether or not SpaceX Starlink satellites needs to be allowed to proceed working—a lot much less develop their footprint, in accordance with scathing feedback from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA).
The group made the submitting Wednesday in a Federal Communications Fee continuing, which SpaceX had requested in February, in search of to open a satellite tv for pc spectrum band to new customers. Quite the opposite, UCCA argued, the FCC ought to probe SpaceX’s health to carry satellite tv for pc licenses in any respect.
“At the heart of the matter is the Commission’s responsibility to ensure that any company which is granted the privilege of operating on public airwaves meets certain qualifications and serves the public interest,” Arthur Belendiuk, UCCA’s lead regulatory legal professional, stated in an announcement.
One top-of-mind concern? The SpaceX founder and majority shareholder’s reported use of ketamine, LSD, cocaine, mushrooms, and ecstasy, detailed in a Wall Road Journal report. (Musk has denied the allegations, although he has acknowledged prescription ketamine use.)
(Beneath company guidelines, licensees should act within the public curiosity and meet baseline “character qualifications.” The submitting notes that within the Nineteen Seventies, the FCC denied a license renewal utility when the holder was “unable or unwilling to stop drug use.”)
The group additionally cited information studies that Musk denied a Ukrainian request to make use of the Starlink system to guard itself from the Russian invasion, and that the corporate doesn’t stop the Russian navy’s use of the satellite tv for pc terminals.
“Offering military aid to Russia is just the tip of the iceberg in a pattern of repeated abuse of the Starlink system—behavior which demands an immediate FCC investigation,” Belendiuk added within the assertion.
UCCA requested the FCC to carry a listening to on whether or not Musk is match to stay a licensee and to revoke or limit his direct entry to the airwaves.
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr known as UCCA’s feedback “procedurally improper and substantively meritless.” In a Wednesday assertion, he stated the submitting “repeatedly invokes laws and rules that have no application here” and it “should have never left the drafts folder.”
Starlink managed 5,504 lively satellites as of final month, and plans to launch as much as 42,000 extra, Space.com reported. SpaceX didn’t reply to Tech Brew’s request for remark by publication.
This report was initially published by Tech Brew.
