How the launch of four ‘rogue’ satellites made waves in the spaceflight industry

On January 12th, 2018, an Indian PSLV rocket took off en route to space carrying a cluster of 31 satellites into orbit. It was a successful mission: every probe deployed where it needed to be. The only problem? Four of those satellites didn’t have permission to fly from the US government. These “rogue satellites” were four tiny probes from a Silicon Valley startup called Swarm Technologies. The company didn’t have a license to launch the spacecraft that went up on the flight. All US satellites need approval from the Federal Communications Commission, as the FCC allocates which radio frequencies a company can use to communicate with a spacecraft. All US satellites need approval from the Federal Communications Commission Swarm... Continue reading…