In January, an Indian rocket arced across the sky over the island of Sriharikota as it soared into space. On board were several satellites, including an Indian mapping satellite, one from Canada and one from an asteroid mining company.
The rocket also contained four satellites that were actually denied permission to launch in the first place.
The rogue satellites belonged to Swarm Technologies, a private artificial intelligence company headed by Canadian-born Sara Spangelo and based in Silicon Valley. The satellites — called SpaceBees — are only about 10 centimetres across.
And therein lies the problem: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied the company permission to launch from the U.S. precisely because the satellites were too small to accurately track, and posed a potential danger to other satellites.
But if
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