The Radio Regulations treaty is legally binding on ITU member states to ensure harmonious satellite operation and prevent harmful interference across international borders.

The ITU-R (Radiocommunication Sector) manages three primary pillars to ensure the orderly use of outer space.

Industry reports link the timing of SpaceX’s FCC filing with a potential merger between SpaceX and xAI.

A combined SpaceX–xAI entity would integrate Starlink’s laser-mesh networking with xAI’s Grok models to provide a vertically integrated space-cloud service.

The application describes a system of satellites acting as distributed processing nodes specifically optimized for large-scale AI inference.

The FCC has historically granted mega-constellation licenses in smaller tranches, including a 7,500-satellite authorization granted to SpaceX earlier this month.

SpaceX intends to move compute-heavy AI workloads to orbit to bypass rising electricity costs and grid limitations affecting terrestrial data centers.

SpaceX recently reached its 11,000th Starlink satellite launch.

SpaceX submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission on January 30 to deploy a constellation of up to one million satellites dedicated to space-based data processing.

SpaceX is expected to begin pilot testing of on-orbit compute nodes on standard Starlink V3 hardware later this year.

The proposed Orbital Data Center network is designed to mitigate power and cooling constraints facing terrestrial AI infrastructure by leveraging near-continuous solar energy in Low Earth Orbit.

The Federal Communications Commission is led by Chairman Brendan Carr.

Blue Origin unveiled an orbital data center initiative in late 2025 focused on radiation-hardened edge compute for government clients.

Pending FCC approval, SpaceX intends to use its Starship launch vehicle to deploy the initial shells of the data center constellation.

No specific start date for the million-satellite phase of SpaceX’s Orbital Data Center proposal has been disclosed.

Tim Farrar argues the filing targets the capital needs of xAI rather than broadband expansion and contends that SpaceX’s modular Starlink V3 bus has a technical advantage over massive platforms proposed by rivals.

Tim Farrar, President of TMF Associates, considers SpaceX’s FCC filing to be rushed and likely a narrative tool related to SpaceX’s upcoming initial public offering.

SpaceX’s modular orbital architecture is intended to minimize interference with existing LEO operators while maximizing solar exposure for hundreds of gigawatts of potential compute capacity.

The filing proposes narrow orbital shells approximately 50 km thick at altitudes between 500 km and 2,000 km for the constellation.

SpaceX’s million-satellite proposal places the company in direct competition with Blue Origin’s orbital data center initiative.

The research resolved a discrepancy in the ESA Gaia DR3 catalog where the initial Gaia orbital solution for the object indicated a much shorter period and lower eccentricity.

Gaia-6 B is a brown dwarf with a mass of about 20 times that of Jupiter.

Gaia-6 B’s relatively high metallicity could indicate a formation mechanism similar to planets involving gas accretion onto a heavy-element core.

Gaia-6 B orbits HD 128717 with an orbital period of approximately 9.37 years.

Intensive high-cadence monitoring with the HARPS-N spectrograph on the INAF Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) at La Palma enabled precise measurement of Gaia-6 B’s non-circular orbital shape.

A degeneracy in the Gaia DR3 astrometric solution caused the orbital signal of Gaia-6 B to be misinterpreted because the period exceeded the DR3 observation span.

Direct imaging observations using SHARK-NIR and LMIRCam at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) did not detect massive external companions to HD 128717.

An INAF-led research team confirmed and precisely characterized a new substellar companion orbiting the star HD 128717 named Gaia-6 B.

Gaia-6 B moves on an extremely eccentric orbit, among the most eccentric measured for an object of its mass.

Radial velocity searches of HD 128717 found no evidence of inner planetary companions.

The study resolving Gaia-6 B’s orbit is available online in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The traditional mass threshold between giant planets and brown dwarfs is 13 Jupiter masses, above which deuterium fusion can occur.

Gaia DR3 observations spanned about 34 months, a duration much shorter than Gaia-6 B’s true orbital period.

The study demonstrates the scientific synergy between Gaia space-based astrometry and ground-based HARPS-N spectroscopy.

Matteo Pinamonti is an INAF researcher and the first author of the Gaia-6 B study.

Gaia-6 B resides in the transition regime between giant gas planets and brown dwarfs.

Future Gaia data releases such as DR4 will provide longer temporal coverage that can confirm and refine the orbital solution for Gaia-6 B.

Objects of approximately 5,000 kilograms that were expected to disintegrate during reentry have been observed to reach the ground and require reclassification and stricter follow-up.

Of the thousands of objects orbiting Earth, roughly half are estimated to be already obsolete.

The Spanish Mando del Espacio aligns its strategic vision with NATO doctrine and the 2025 Aerospace Security Strategy emphasizing sustainable deterrence through technical capabilities, political will, and adversary visibility.

The Mando del Espacio assesses that space has become militarized and considers satellites capable of being maneuvered to collide with others as weapons, contributing to space becoming a battlefield by 2025.

Reentry prediction margins for tracked objects can be on the order of 30 seconds in time, producing large geographic dispersion at orbital velocities.

The Mando del Espacio waited two to three days to confirm the SpainSat NG II anomaly after observers noted the satellite had stopped maneuvering.

The Mando del Espacio currently has about 30 personnel, supplemented by staff from the Centro de Sistemas Aeroespaciales de Observación (CESAEROB) and the Centro de Operaciones de Vigilancia Espacial (COVE) based at Torrejón de Ardoz air base in Madrid.

The SpainSat NG II impact occurred at approximately 50,000 kilometers from the center of the Earth.

The object that struck SpainSat NG II is assessed to have been a micrometeoroid or meteoroid consisting of a millimetric particle weighing only a few grams and smaller than a fingernail.

The Mando del Espacio plans to add 26 personnel this year, leading to an estimated total of around 100 people working in the command.

The SpainSat NG II incident is expected to create a recovery horizon or operational delay of about three years for the program.

The Spanish space domain is characterized by the Mando del Espacio as increasingly congested, contested, and operationally unpredictable.

Spain is developing a national network of approximately seven optical telescopes for precise space tracking, with site selection under study and acquisition processes potentially starting this year.