AWS Ground Station announces Licensing Accelerator

AWS is announcing Licensing Accelerator, a new AWS Ground Station feature which provides commercial businesses, space start-ups, and universities access to resources to help them more efficiently secure spectrum licenses required for their operations and missions. Licensing accelerator is free-of-charge to AWS Ground Station customers. AWS Ground Station is a fully managed service that lets customers control satellite communications, process satellite data, and scale their satellite operations. With Licensing Accelerator, AWS Ground Station customers can launch and scale their spacecraft operations faster by leveraging the latest, centrally located information about satellite licensing regulations such as space station licensing, remote sensing licenses, and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) coordination. Today satellite operators must navigate complex and rapidly changing national and international requirements in order to launch, operate, and communicate with their satellites. To start, they must gain approval to launch their satellites. Next, they have to apply for spectrum needed to communicate with their spacecraft. In the case of Earth exploration satellites, operators also must secure remote sensing licenses. Finally, they have to coordinate their spectrum and operational needs with the ITU and its 193 members. All of this requires work with multiple agencies and comprehensive understanding about how all the different licensing application processes work. As a result, customers can find it difficult to accurately forecast how much time is needed to apply for licenses and meet all the requirements, resulting in possible launch and service delivery delays. Additionally, they may have to allocate additional capital budgets to meet licensing requirements and complete applications while ensuring their operations and missions continue on schedule. Licensing Accelerator removes the guesswork and provides a guide for satellite operators’ licensing requirements. By onboarding to Licensing Accelerator and answering a few questions about their satellite mission, AWS Ground Station customers get a customized step-by-step guide with consolidated checklists and links to free resources for their licensing needs. With Licensing Accelerator, AWS Ground Station customers no longer need to invest the capital to figure out these steps. Licensing Accelerator saves customers time and helps mitigate the risks of launch delays by helping satellite operators more accurately submit their applications and predict the time to get an operation approved. Customers who want additional assistance will be routed to Licensing Accelerator Partners who are expert radio frequency (RF) engineers, consultants, and lawyers with decades of licensing experience. Licensing Accelerator Partners offer a free initial consultation to AWS GS customers at no commitment, so customers can identify the right partner to meet their needs. Licensing Accelerator is available in the US East (Ohio) region with additional regions coming soon. To learn more about AWS Ground Station, visit our website [here](/ground-station/). To get started with Licensing Accelerator, onboard to AWS Ground Station through the AWS Console [here](http://console.aws.amazon.com/groundstation) and request access to Licensing Accelerator.