this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2024
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Proper EMC requires good design, additional components, and good shielding.
Components and shielding add cost directly, but also increase weight, which is probably millions times more expensive in fuel.
I bet they cheaped out on their shielding. Especially given the volume of sats they're trying to use.
Last I heard it was something like $3K a kilogram to get a ride on falcon. Compared to their cost overall for each unit it's pennies.
We used to shield the hell out of everything, but we've gotten away from that in recent decades. We're getting particularly good at generating only the frequencies we need.
I'm thinking that they made a last minute business decision to push the amplifiers too hard, or maybe they decided not to update the tech and just push it harder.
There's no way they didn't run basic testing on the hardware to make sure that it was putting out appropriate frequencies.
Someone had to have signed off on a mission assurance spec waiver if they're leaking a lot of EMI. If they didn't check with the FCC on this they might be in big trouble. Who am I kidding? This was probably done with their blessing.
From the article.