FINAL Spire OA-5 Let

Ex PARTE PRESENTATION NOTIFICATION LETTER submitted by Spire Global, Inc.

Spire Letter

2016-08-19

This document pretains to SAT-LOA-20151123-00078 for Application to Launch and Operate on a Satellite Space Stations filing.

IBFS_SATLOA2015112300078_1146879

4 spire Spire Global, Inc. 33 Norfolk Street San Francisco, CA 94103 19 August, 2016 Marlene H. Dortch Secretary Federal Communications Commission International Bureau, Satellite Division 445 12"" Street, S.W. Washington D.C., 20554 Subject: Ex Parte Letter; File No. SAT—LOA—20151123—00078; Spire Satellite Launch on Orbital ATK Antares OA—5 Mission Based on discussions with NanoRacks LLC ("NanoRacks"), which has a direct relationship with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ("NASA") / International SpaceStation ("IS$") Program Director, Spire understands that the NASA/ISS Program Director has agreed to a mission profile for the OA—5 Cygnus spacecraft involving release of four Spire satellites from Cygnus. Under the mission profile, following cargo delivery to ISS, Cygnus shall maneuver to an orbit acceptable to NASA prior to releasing the Spire satellites. That orbit is currently defined as a co—elliptic orbit above the ISS Semi—Major Axis with a relative perigee greater than 45 km. The agreementis subject to: a. Flight readiness certification by NASA, particularly with respect to the NanoRacks cubesat deployers that will be used. The flight certification process will confirm the ability to precisely control timing of release of the Spire satellites. b. Confirmation that, following launch and docking operations, there is sufficient fuel on Cygnus to execute both the planned satellite deployment and planned disposal operations. 6. If there is not sufficient fuel for that planned deployment, Cygnus will unberth from ISS and release the Spire satellites at an altitude at least 15 km below and 15 km in front of ISS. With respect to explosion risks to ISS resulting from Cygnus operations to deploy Spire satellites, because Cygnus operates in close proximity to ISS, an extremely stringent set of safety requirements are levied on the Cygnus spacecraft against any hazardous conditions including accidental explosions. The Cygnus spacecraftis verified by the Safety and Mission Assurance community to be two—fault tolerant against any catastrophic hazards that could endanger the ISS and the crew. There are no changes to Cygnus during different phases of the mission, so the risk of explosion is no different from pre—IS$ arrival, berthed operations, or post—ISS departure when the satellite deployment would occur. The risk of explosion near or at ISS has a far more serious consequence than when Cygnus is away from ISS. Therefore the spacecraft has to be designed to be extremely robust or fault tolerant and thus should satisfactorily pass any risk assessmentfor an explosion hazard during deployment operations. NASA has determined that deployment of satellites from cargo resupply spacecraft, from altitudes above the ISS, and at the same inclination, increases the probability of the need for future ISS maneuvers. It is Spire‘s understanding that the risk of potential future ISS collision avoidance maneuvers caused by the planned deployment of the four OA—5 Spire cubesats is acceptable to NASA, and that NASA will examine similar future missions on a case—by—case basis. Cp.axsbto— Sincerely, Jebrly Barna Launch Manager Spire Global, Inc. 33 Norfolk St : San Francisco, CA 94103 » 415—356—3400


Document Created: 2019-04-11 19:01:11
Document Modified: 2019-04-11 19:01:11
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