FCC issues its first ever space junk fine

US operator Dish has earned the dubious honour of becoming the first company to get in trouble with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s new Space Bureau.
The agency this week announced it has settled an investigation that found Dish failed to properly deorbit its Echostar-7 direct broadcasting satellite (DBS). Launched in 2002, the geostationary satellite until recently provided spot beam services to the Western US.
The method of retiring these expensive bits of kit depends on th