Born_Employment405 t1_iybfhic wrote on November 30, 2022 at 3:35 AM

Reply to comment by KonigVonMurmeltiere in Astronomers Worldwide Troubled by New 'Cell Phone Towers in Space' by IslandChillin

AST owns no spectrum. It has to have a local partner in country like Tmobile or Claro to operate. They use the partner's spectrum. If they transit without spectrum rights they'll be fined. If they receive without an MNO partner it's unlawful surveillance. They're only going to operate in places where their partner is currently permitted to operate. If there's a prohibition on transmission because of radioastronomy AST will need to observe that prohibition too. Also, GPS space segment clocks are hyperstable over long periods, they only need to be calibrated once every 10 years.

KonigVonMurmeltiere t1_iybihpj wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:01 AM

Correct, they'll only be broadcasting in certain areas where the partners are permitted to operate, using their spectrum. At the moment there are few regulations on mobile providers in most places, as stated in the article. In the past that wasn't a big deal because most radio observatories are remote and many are typically situated in valleys or bowls so the terrain helps block the interference, but that may not be enough anymore.

The clocks may be stable but the Earth is changing all the time so it still has to be updated frequently, not just time offsets but position offsets to account for tectonic activity, changes in the Earth's rotation and precession, etc. It is all very small but over time the errors grow.