Spectrum Auctions Raise Concerns for Scientists

Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to auction anywhere from 600 to 800 megahertz of spectrum without specifying protections for scientific research, despite concerns from scientists who say access to certain bands allows unique observations in astronomy and atmospheric science.

“Folks really have their hair on fire about this,” said Renee Leduc, a former policy adviser at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Both the Senate and House reconciliation bills would restore the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction spectrum through fiscal year 2034. The former would require the FCC to auction at least 800 megahertz within eight years, while the latter would require 600 megahertz to be auctioned within six years. The FCC’s spectrum auction authority lapsed in 2023 after Congress failed to pass legislation extending it. A summary of the Senate bill states that the auction revenue would reduce the deficit by $85 billion.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the ranking member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, has previously advocated for spectrum auctions to help fund CHIPS and Science Act programs and other science-related initiatives. However, she has publicly opposed the recent Senate reconciliation proposal, saying it threatens to interfere with military uses of certain frequencies slated for auction.

The few carveouts in the proposed bills are all related to bands that are heavily used by the military, said Roohi Dalal, deputy director of public policy at the American Astronomical Society. “There’s been no indication that Congress would be amenable to carveouts for protected radio frequency bands” for radio astronomy, Dalal said. (AAS is an AIP Member Society.)

Before the Senate reconciliation text was released, AAS President Dara Norman sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee requesting that bands allocated to the Radio Astronomy Service be excluded from consideration for repurposing and auction. These allocations are made “based on the frequencies at which we can observe specific physical phenomena in the universe,” Norman wrote, meaning radio astronomers cannot make the same observations using other bands. For instance, around 1.42 gigahertz is the neutral hydrogen line, which enables studies of the universe’s structure and evolution over time.

Dalal said AAS hopes the auction process “recognizes the importance of adhering to those domestic and international regulations” that protect certain frequencies for radio astronomy, including FCC and International Telecommunication Union regulations, which lay out which frequencies are used for what purpose. “If someone were to violate the regulations from the ITU, there’s no real path there to object to that, but I think it sets a dangerous precedent,” Dalal added.

Auctioning any of the protected bands “would just be another, almost, nail in the coffin for U.S. leadership in radio astronomy,” Dalal said. NASA’s budget request proposes a 47% cut to science programs, and neither reconciliation bill includes additional funding for science, though the Senate proposal would add nearly $10 billion for space exploration.

Furthermore, depending on the buyer, the auctions could also hurt international partners, Dalal added. For instance, if a frequency was auctioned for satellite use, “those satellites are going to fly overhead not just U.S. radio observatories, but radio observatories around the world that expect those frequencies to be protected,” she said.

Leduc said meteorological scientists are particularly concerned about the Senate bill, which would direct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to “conduct a timely spectrum analysis” of bands of frequencies, including those between 2.7 and 2.9 gigahertz, which are the bands that the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) system relies upon. NEXRAD data is used to map precipitation patterns and movements and is essential for forecasting weather, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The instruction to conduct an analysis of the NEXRAD bands “essentially is code for, ‘We’d really like to auction that, can you do a study on moving any users out of there?’” Leduc said.

Leduc also flagged concerns about auctions between 7.125 and 8.4 gigahertz, where all of NOAA’s satellites and many of NASA’s Earth-observing satellites transmit and receive communications, and between 1.675 and 1.71 gigahertz, which is used for geostationary communication services. The Senate bill would exempt some of these bands from auction.

It is feasible to find 600 or 800 megahertz within a nine-gigahertz range and avoid protected frequencies, Dalal said, but this will result in “more pressure and potentially more interference” on bands that are important for radio astronomy, including some bands that do not have specific scientific protections but still have important applications, such as calibrating GPS systems.

Leduc said some groups have an interest in the bands between 7 and 8 gigahertz that are currently used for NOAA and NASA Earth-observing satellites, including the cellular and Wi-Fi industries. The Biden administration had begun conducting detailed studies on freeing up spectrum in this range, and these studies have continued under the Trump administration, Leduc said.

Leduc added that there may be ways for buyers and current users to share a frequency, but that research is largely in its early stages. Interference from attempts to share may prevent data from being transmitted or warp the data such that it looks like normal data but is inaccurate, she said, which can significantly harm atmospheric models in the long term.