About
Apogee is a single-principal firm. Clients work directly with the principal on every engagement.
How Apogee works
How an engagement runs.
1. Reach out
Describe the question, the rule or counterpart it has to satisfy, and the deadline. Apogee replies with a view on fit and what to send next; if Apogee is not the right fit, it refers you elsewhere.
2. A written quote
Fixed price where the scope is bounded: a filing exhibit, an interference showing, a disposal analysis, a diligence memo. A monthly retainer where it is not: docket monitoring, comment cycles, coordination that runs for months. No contingent fees and no percentage of anything.
3. The work
Each deliverable names the rule it satisfies, section by section, and shows the calculation behind it: the link budget, the EPFD or PFD margin, the decay estimate, the capacity model. The spreadsheets and scripts ship with the memo so the client, counsel, or a prime can rerun them.
4. The deliverable
A document ready for its audience: an exhibit for counsel to file, a memo for a board or an investment committee, a comment draft, a technical showing for a coordination meeting. Apogee is not a law firm; it works alongside regulatory counsel and supplies the technical record they file.
Research and academic collaboration
Apogee also works with universities, laboratories, and research groups on the questions ahead of the rules: spectrum allocation methods, sharing studies, orbital analysis, and debris modeling. The work supports researchers and students at the forefront of spectrum allocation and orbital analysis, and it keeps the client work current with the published literature. Academic engagements run on the same terms, with the option of a sponsored-research or STTR structure.
Analysis, calls, and introductions are done remotely. Attendance at coordination meetings, hearings, and board meetings is on request.
Background
Prior work and affiliations.
Regulatory bodies and agencies
Work with the FCC, NTIA, the ITU process, NOAA, the National Science Foundation, and NASA's Launch Services Program on satellite proceedings, frequency allocation, and filings. The allocation and coordination questions the bodies themselves raise are the same ones an applicant has to answer, and Apogee takes that work from either side.
Operators, partners, and start-ups
Engagements with Square Peg Communications, RIDE, and start-ups preparing a first filing: the frequency plan, the application schedules, the interference showing, the debris plan, and the milestones that follow a grant.
The Starlink regulatory review
A review of the Starlink authorization record from the 2018 initial grant through the 2026 Gen2 upgrade, and of the rules written around it: the five-year disposal rule, NGSO sharing, EPFD, and supplemental coverage from space. The regulatory timeline and the spectrum dial on this site grew out of that work.
Who Apogee works with
The regulatory bodies and agencies Apogee has worked with.
Regulatory bodies and agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Space and earth station applications, modifications, and market access petitions under part 100, the technical showings behind them, and comments in Space Bureau and Wireless Bureau dockets.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Coexistence and relocation analysis for the federal bands in the spectrum pipeline, and comments in NTIA proceedings.
International Telecommunication Union
Sharing and compatibility studies for Working Parties 4A and 7B, and API, coordination, and notification filings submitted through the FCC.
NOAA
Commercial remote sensing licensing determinations, TraCSS onboarding, and the meteorological-satellite bands touched by the 1675-1680 MHz reallocation.
NASA Launch Services Program
Launch and payload interface work: FAA part 450 approvals and the FCC and ITU authorizations for command, telemetry, and payload frequencies alongside the manifest.
National Science Foundation
Radio astronomy protection: aggregate interference and EPFD analysis in the passive bands, and coordination with NSF-funded observatories and the National Radio Quiet Zone.
Apogee Ventures provides regulatory and technical advisory services for satellite systems. The practice supports FCC and ITU requirements, licensing and registrations, spectrum and bandwidth planning, interference and spectrum-sharing analysis, and orbital debris compliance.
Keeping up with satellite spectrum and orbital requirements takes time and resources, and the technical analysis behind a filing is often the last thing funded. Apogee provides that analysis through clearly defined, fixed-scope engagements, helping your team prepare filings and navigate requirements with the FCC and regulatory authorities internationally. We handle the regulatory detail and supporting analysis so you can focus on the hard work of designing, building, and operating your systems.
The future of global connectivity depends on getting the regulatory architecture right, not just the orbital mechanics.Zachary Dodge, Principal Advisor
In academia
Apogee works with universities, research institutes, and federally funded laboratories on the science behind the rules: spectrum sharing, orbital analysis, and debris modeling. The principal lectures on satellite regulation and spectrum policy, supervises student projects and capstone problems drawn from live filings, contributes technical analysis to rulemakings on behalf of research groups, and co-authors with faculty. Research questions from that work inform the client work, and the client work supplies real examples for teaching. Interested in a lecture, a capstone problem, or a research collaboration? Reach out.
Start a conversation
Describe the situation and the deadline.