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Comment by bpodgursky | Hacker News Reader

How long is an appropriate window for Amazon to lock down orbital slots without a solid plan to use it?

I can understand a year or two, especially if they have orbital capacity ready. But six years?

The space could provisionally be granted to SpaceX with a 15 year renewal period or something. Locking down options for a decade on wishful thinking does not seem particularly competitive for me.

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In 2017 SpaceX was granted a window to "lock down" its proposed slots for 9 years to prevent others from taking those slots, and that was years before they even had a single satellite flying. I don't see why Amazon shouldn't be given the same treatment.

SpaceX was launching large batches of satellites by 2019, two years later! And even in 2017, they had proven mass launch capacity.

Yes, sure, give Amazon the same treatment. Start orbiting large numbers of satellites in 2022 or you lose it.

It's six years to deploy half of the planned satellites, which would assuredly imply the first satellites go significantly before that.

Also, it's not like the FCC should be allowed to take it back, even if 6 years is unreasonable.

Six years is not that long. You need to have the frequency to finalize the design of your payload, if not your satellite. And for big constellations you need the frequency to talk seriously with your investors. So 6 years to design a platform, a ground segment and launch half your constellation is not an easy task.

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