The FCC today granted Sirius Satellite Radio a special temporary authority to setup 4 terrestrial repeaters in Alaska and Hawaii with power levels below 2,000 watts.

UPDATED: Satellite Radio TechWorld points out that Sirius has actually not been granted authority to operate the repeaters in Alaska and Hawaii. Rather the application is now in now in a comment period.

This is actually bad news in that it will be a while before the FCC can make a ruling. (And you can thank the NAB for that.) 

The application has been given the "permit-but-disclose" designation for the purposes of "ex parte communications." If you'd like to find out more about what exact this means, go check out Satellite Radio TechWorld for a detailed explanation.

Back in November, Sirius applied for the rights to broadcast in the two states.

Below are the proposed repeater location:

• Anchorage, AK
• Fairbanks, AK
• Juneau, AK
• Honolulu, HI
  

Sirius Satellite Radio has patented an antenna that improves both satellite and terrestrial signal reception. This "modular patch antenna" involves three parts:

• The first section uses a "metal plated radiating layer" optimized for satellite reception;
• The second part is a dielectric layer for optimized for terrestrial reception;
• And the third layer is a metal plated ground layer.

The first layer and third layers could be made of any number of metals including Silver, Gold, Copper, Nickel and Aluminum. The second layer would be made out of Teflon, polytetrafluoroethylene (say that 3-times fast), glass, ceramic, aluminum, a polymer, silica, and quartz.

In short, the antenna would be more gooder, and Sirius patented it.

[Download Patent (PDF) via Satellite Radio TechWorld] 

XM Satellite Radio has filed for a patent that specs out a system for geosynchronous satellites that follow in an elliptical orbit, creating a "figure-eight" ground track.

Some Sirius folks may notice that this orbit pattern looks familiar.

Now before we go getting all up in arms about that this is a possible shift in XM's plans for their satellite configuration. I just want to point out this line from the patent application:

"This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. 10/171,619, filed Jun. 13, 2002, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/433,849, filed Nov. 4, 1999, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,385."

So this isn't necessarily anything new, just a patent that XM has been working on for a while and this is simply the continuation of it.

Either way, it's "interesting" to say the least.

[via Satellite Radio Techworld] 

For over half a century since we've been launching ourselves into space, we've been leaving behind space junk (or "orbital debris"). Now the federal list of detectable objects - comprised of dead satellites, spent rocket stages, or whatever else that measures four inches or larger - has reached over 10,000 objects.

What doesn't help is China's test last month using an anti-satellite rocket that destroyed an old satellite into nearly 1,000 detectable pieces at over 18,000 miles an hour. This is chalked up as the worst debris causing event (since 1996 when an abandoned American rocket engine exploded in 713 bits and pieces).

The problem, scientists agree, is that the amount of debris in Earth's orbit has surpassed a critical mass, or "critical spacial density." This is building to a point that it'll kick off a cascade, a chain reaction, where colliding debris smashes into larger objects, creating more debris, reeking havoc in the heavens.

So who cares? Anyone who's business involves launching satellites into space does. While XM's or Sirius' satellites aren't in immediate danger, there's an underlying issue. The theory (know as the Kessler Syndrome) is that as the debris becomes so dense that launching satellites would become harder and harder - and more expensive. The good news? This worst-case scenario is probably centuries away.

[NY Times]