The way ITU rules work, the country responsible for a satellite is the country from where it comes. Not from which it launches. (Launch providers are supposed to verify registration with a satellite's country, oversight Indian authorities failed to provide.)
Swarm's satellite was made in America by American engineers working for an American company. If it rams into a Chinese bird, the U.S. is responsible. Hence why the FCC is pissed.
[0] https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/25981/might-isros-...
This is a discussion of another offence against a different document and assumes the first offence against FCC regulations is valid. Be careful not to conflate the two, one causes the other.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)"is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN)" that "coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promotes international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world, and assists in the development and coordination of worldwide technical standards" [1].
If a single agency is to interface with the ITU, it makes sense for it to be the FCC.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telecommunicatio...
I don't see any reason for it to be a single agency. Not knowing anything about the details, I wouldn't think the FCC would be able to support the space-fairing expertise to properly regulate space debris given the dramatic increase in satellite density expected in the coming decades. New agencies get created all the time to deal with new regulatory fields that outgrow their initial home.
Needless to say, the UN is not a good lead to follow with respect to nimble regulatory structure.
I'm sure the world is waiting agog for your proposals for an alternative international body able to coordinate communication satellite frequencies and orbits across all nations.
I can't imagine that being an improvement on any axis ...
Because forestry is agriculture with trees as the crop. While USFS lands are often used by the public recreationally in the same way as parks, they have a fundamentally different purpose that aligns exactly with the different government departments they are part of.
Different agencies results in different responses to the same problems, for example, white nose syndrome affecting bats in caves.
The FAA does planes.
It's like - I'm guessing - the FCC got it because the first non-gov satellites were for comms. It's not likely the Luddites in Washington DC would have anticipated the situations we have today.
They also oversee the launch and reentry of space vehicles, amongst numerous other roles.
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/as...
They're a US company not following US law.
> they launched from an INDIAN launcher
And? If it's illegal to, say, hack into your competitors servers and steal all their intellectual property, you don't get to mail a server to somewhere with weak IP laws, and then do all the theft.
> Seriously -- what power does the FCC hope to exert at this point?
Well, they can fine the hell out of Swarm (as the article explicitly states, so I'm not sure why you seem confused on this point)! That's what US regulators do when US companies violate US regulations, as (apparently) happened here.
> We live in a world where launchers exist in other countries
That doesn't do you much good if you aren't in the other country. If they wanted to not follow US laws, they probably should have moved somewhere else first.
Wait, why not?
This is just a company doing what any good company would do, shopping around for the best venue/set of rules for it's business. That's why companies physically located in Illinois or California incorporate in Maryland. Since India was willing to take responsibility for the launch, the USA (and FCC) is just out of the picture.
If India freely made an agreement with the US to only launch FCC approved US satellites by US operators, that's India's choice. As it happens India didn't actually grant them a license to launch either, they just lied about having a US license, so technically they're probably in violation of Indian law as well or at least in breach of contract.
Delaware?
B. FCC will try to go overbounds--there's no law stopping them too.
Quid Pro Quo is all I have to say aside from it's exciting there's a DIY spacecraft community!
Do all employees of Swarm live in international waters?
Seriously -- what power does the FCC hope to exert at this point? We live in a world where launchers exist in other countries ...