Orbital Docket, by Intraorbit
Every deadline on a satellite license, and where it came from
Satellite operators must build, launch and operate their systems by dates set by the FCC and the ITU, or lose their license or their spectrum rights. Orbital Docket reads the public record every morning, works out each of those deadlines, and shows you the regulation and the document behind every date.
What problem this solves
Putting a satellite in orbit needs permission to use radio spectrum, and that permission comes with deadlines attached.
In the United States, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) licenses satellite systems. A license carries milestones: a geostationary satellite must be launched and operating within five years, and a constellation in low or medium orbit must have half its satellites up within six years and all of them within nine (47 CFR § 25.164). Miss one and the license can be cut back or cancelled, and a surety bond can be forfeited. The FCC Order granting a license can also set dates of its own.
Internationally, the ITU (International Telecommunication Union, the UN agency that coordinates satellite frequencies) gives each satellite network filing a limited period — normally seven years — to be brought into use. If it is not, the filing can be cancelled and its place in the queue lost.
None of these dates is published as a list. They have to be worked out from the rules and from thousands of licenses, Orders (many of them scanned PDFs) and ITU database entries, and the Order sometimes states a different date from the one the rule produces. Orbital Docket does that reading every day and keeps its working on file.
Who it is for
Satellite regulatory counsel
Never miss a binding date across a client's licenses, and show exactly which sentence of which document every date rests on.
Operator licensing teams
Keep your own authorizations alive, and see the deadlines facing the constellations you share spectrum with.
Investors, insurers and analysts
Check whether a satellite company's regulatory position is sound and compare operators without reading every filing yourself.
How it works
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Collect
Every morning the pipeline fetches new filings and Orders from the FCC's International Communications Filing System (ICFS) and the satellite network records the ITU publishes.
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Compute
Each deadline is calculated by applying a rule, with a version number, to a date in the record. No AI model is involved, so the same records always produce the same dates.
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Show the working
Every date names the regulation it applies, the filing, and the source document, identified by a SHA-256 fingerprint so you can check you are reading the same file. Where an Order disagrees, you see both dates.
What is in the database today
These totals are rebuilt from the public record every morning. They show the size of what is tracked; the records behind them are what a subscription opens.
One real record, with the name taken out
This is a real deadline, picked automatically from the live database. The operator's name, the file number and the document titles are blacked out; nothing else is changed. Subscribers see every record in this much detail, with names, plus the full list and its filters.
What a subscription gets you
Included
- Every deadline in the database, each with the rule version, the regulation it cites, the filing it applies to and the fingerprint of its source document, shown on the record.
- Both dates whenever they disagree. Where an Order states a deadline the rule does not produce, the gap is shown as a finding, with the clause that states it.
- The coverage report: what could not be read, what a person decided about it, and which checks would catch us publishing a number that stopped being true.
- Every rebuild, at no extra charge. The pipeline runs each morning, and new coverage arrives on your subscription.
Deliberately not included
- No bulk downloads and no exports. No CSV, no data dump, no file to take away.
- No API and no access tokens. You use it through the web application, and the application is the product.
- One login per subscription, for a single named person.
- No legal advice. This is a research tool that shows its working and names its sources. Check anything you intend to rely on against the primary document, which is linked.
Careful wording, on purpose
A calculated date is not a regulator's decision, so the product never claims more than the record shows.
| Never | Instead | Because |
|---|---|---|
| “Lapsed” | “Past due, unconfirmed” | Arithmetic cannot show that the Commission cancelled an authorization. |
| “Uncoordinated” | “No public interaction found” | Not finding evidence in records not yet fully read is not proof there is none. |
| “No extension was granted” | “No extension on file” | An empty extension table is a fact about our table. |
| A single date, where an Order disagrees | Both dates, and where each came from | The disagreement is the finding. Hiding it behind one number is the failure. |
Where the coverage ends
These limits are written by the same build as the data, so they change when the coverage does.
From Learn
- FCC satellite milestones, in plain English (47 CFR 25.164)
What an FCC milestone is, how the five-, six- and nine-year deadlines work for satellite licences, and what the rules say happens when one is missed.
Pricing
$99 per month, introductory
- The price you join at is the price you keep, for as long as you stay subscribed. $99 is the introductory rate and it will rise as coverage does. It never rises underneath an existing subscriber.
- Monthly. No annual tie-in, no minimum term.
- Cancel whenever you like, and keep access to the end of the month you have paid for. See the Refund Policy.
- Access is through the web application. Every record, every drill-down and every source fingerprint is on screen. There are no bulk downloads, no exports and no API; it is a place to look something up and show your working, not a data feed.
Subscribe Payment is handled by Paddle, our merchant of record. Already subscribed? Sign in.
Questions
What is a satellite milestone deadline?
A date by which a satellite operator must reach a stage of deployment, such as launching its satellites or putting them into service, as a condition of its license. The FCC sets milestones in its rules (47 CFR § 25.164) and sometimes in the Order granting a license; the ITU sets a deadline for bringing each satellite network filing into use. Missing one can cost the operator its license, its spectrum rights or a surety bond.
Where does the data come from?
Only from public records: filings and Orders in the FCC's International Communications Filing System (ICFS), the FCC's rules in the Code of Federal Regulations, and the satellite network data the ITU publishes. Nothing comes from paid data sources or private submissions.
How often is it updated?
Every morning. The pipeline fetches new filings, recomputes every deadline and records what changed since the day before. The date of the latest rebuild is shown at the top of this page.
Does it use AI to read the documents?
No. Dates are extracted with fixed, versioned patterns and calculated with versioned rules, so the same documents always produce the same result and every step can be checked. No language model is used anywhere in the pipeline.
Why is the sample record redacted?
To show that the data exists, and how much evidence stands behind each date, without giving the database away. The operator, file number and document titles are removed; subscribers see them.
Can I download the data or connect to it with an API?
No. There are no exports, no bulk downloads and no API. The product is a web application for looking deadlines up and showing where they came from.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is regulatory research that shows its working. Check anything you intend to rely on against the primary document, which every record links to.
What does it cost?
$99 per month at the introductory rate, billed monthly with no minimum term. The rate you join at is the rate you keep for as long as you stay subscribed.
Who runs Intraorbit?
Intraorbit is the trading name of Clifford Balinskas. Payments are handled by Paddle.com Market Ltd as merchant of record. Questions go to [email protected].