For several years, spacex has been consistent with building the starship rocket with the
goal of developing an interplanetary vehicle, capable of transporting goods, and crew to
the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
The Federal Aviation Administration or FAA has been wary of SpaceX, citing concerns that
the company's operations may harm habitats in our ecosystem.
It's not that the FAA wants to be a nightmare for Elon Musk's multibillion-dollar dreams
or company, SpaceX, but they have to perform their duties, which include air traffic management,
aircraft certification, airport standards, and protection of U.S. assets during the launch
or re-entry of commercial space vehicles.
As a result, the organization has been hellbent on regulating SpaceX's rocket launches, and
operational standards in accordance with their policy.
However, it looks to be terrible news for SpaceX.
And why on earth would the FAA want to be an impediment, when it is attempting to benefit
mankind, particularly in the aspect of commercial space travel?
Instead of causing difficulties for the company, they should be thinking about how to assist
SpaceX accomplish its goal of conquering space.
We will discuss how FAA is watching spacex with an eagle eye, and at the same time, refused
to allow the company to achieve their first orbital test flight.
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It seems that the FAA has forgotten that history repeats itself; some years ago, Nostradamus
said that flying items, and flying human transportation will become a norm in our society, but people
of that time called him crazy.
Fast forward to this present day, where Elon Musk is trying to make the prophesy a reality,
why would FAA become the demon to hinder spacex prosperity?
The company has implemented all sort of engineering concept to achieve the kind of accomplishment
that would astound the world, but the FAA is now playing a difficult game with SpaceX,
much like the FBI does with criminals.
SpaceX installed the components needed to stack the outer engines on super the heavy
and to fuel the rocket a few weeks ago; they would have been able to stack it, but there's
no way they could have totally stacked it and launched it immediately.
And, as far as I know, the plumbing for the starship side isn't finished either, so if
they really wanted to launch both stage of the starship after setting it up, they'd have
to fuel the starship, then pull it up and stack it on top of the super heavy, but for
now, that seems like a mere dream.
SpaceX's next remarkable achievement will be to launch a fully stacked version of its
Starship, and Super Heavy rocket combo beyond Earth's atmosphere and into space.
The company is theoretically prepared for that stage, but if the FAA's recent call for
public views on issuing a launch license is any indicator, that regulatory permission
might take much longer than a month to materialize.
Although the company intends to perform many Starship programs over the next few years,
in order to carry out these programs, which will undoubtedly result in the launch of the
starship, a permit or vehicle operator license granted by the FAA is required.
SpaceX hopes to execute the first-ever orbital test flight of a Starship vehicle from Starbase
shortly, but that won't be possible until the FAA completes its study.
Before issuing this permit to SpaceX, the FAA agreed to create a Programmatic Environmental
Assessment, or PEA, which examines the possible environmental implications of the launch activities
undertaken at the Starbase site in Boca Chica, Cameron County, Texas.
The government stated an expected completion date of which they will get back to SpaceX
on the hearing, and the date was stipulated to be soon.
Weeks earlier, FAA posted a draft evaluation of the Starbase assessment and invited the
public to comment on it; they subsequently claimed that they received more than 17,000
written comments on the document during that period.
Around October, the FAA also hosted two public hearings on the assessment via Zoom.
According to FAA authorities, they received around 121 vocal opinions during those sessions.
These 121 vocal comments, were primarily from spacex supporters.
Both fans and foes of SpaceX were highly loud, raising a number of problems that the FAA
will have to consider, and address with SpaceX before moving forward.
The FAA may have considered answering some of these concerns by giving a temporary license
for the purpose of a test and reconsidering existing launch licenses in the heat of this
response.
The almost four-hour hearing drew both passionate support for SpaceX's ambitions to expand its
Starbase facility, and aggressive opposition.
Nearly five dozen individuals spoke during the Zoom hearing.
According to an informal count, there were around 39 comments in support of the proposal
and 18 comments against it.
The responses in support of SpaceX were more likely to come from outside the state, from
those who were generally pleased with the company's efforts to give humans a taste of
living in space.
There were, many local supporters as well.
This demonstrates that there are many spacex enthusiasts all around the world, and they
will go to any extent to ensure that spacex succeeds in whatever space exploration adventure,
which will benefit humanity.
The handful 18 opponents who came out against the proposal where later investigated to reside
near Brownsville, Texas.
They might also claim a variety of environmental issues, such as the destruction of wildlife
habitat, as well as impacts on the South Texas population, such as industrialization.
They described how Spacex plants in Boca Chica, Florida, sprang up near Cape Canaveral and
caused environmental damage in the area.
But on the contrary, Rohan Joseph, who identified himself as an aerospace engineer, “lifelong
environmentalist,” and birder, cited the protection of sea turtles at launch sites
in India as an example of the positive effects of a launch site on an area.
And there have been no reports of disasters in aquatic life from one of SpaceX's Starlink
companies, Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited, which is based in India.
"If SpaceX were an oil exploration company, no questions would be raised," Joseph said.
He also asked why SpaceX seemed to be getting so much criticism for their launch location
when there was an old oil drilling site nearby, or why, if the ecosystem was so clean, adjacent
South Padre Island had been allowed to grow.
A lot of supporters highlighted how the initiative may inspire a new generation of Texans.
Gail Afar, a certified nurse in Texas, works with young school children, said that "their
eyes light up whenever spacex’s topic is raised”.
This could virtually mean that people running up to undo spacex, are either haters of Elon
Musk or spacex, or they are completely against humans travelling to space and not the acclaimed
environmental pollution or disaster.
The FAA has yet to decide whether an experimental orbital launch will be granted, and also licensed.
The first SpaceX orbital flight planned for the Super Heavy rocket to separate from Starship
a little more than two minutes after launch from Boca Chica, and splash down 20 miles
offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is among those that are concerned about the Starship
program.
Chief Operating Officer Clayton Wolf, stated in a letter to the FAA around November, that
the agency had issues about the Draft PEA.
analysis is insufficient in certain areas in describing and evaluating all potential
impacts of SpaceX's proposed activities.
Furthermore, the Draft PEA gives findings but no "evidence from investigations, research
projects, or best available science" to back those conclusions up.
The letter acknowledges that the FAA has assessed that the Starship program is likely to have
an impact on ten federally protected species, and it contains 16 pages of detailed comments
and recommendations for reducing such risks.
Similarly, The Nature Conservancy Texas expressed concern to the FAA about SpaceX's current,
and planned activities at Boca Chica, and questioned whether a PEA is adequate to address
the full scope of direct and indirect impacts to " Boca Chica's unique, and highly productive
natural environments, which have been conserved through substantial public investment and
should not be compromised for a private enterprise."
These authorities, particularly the FAA, should not be an obstacle to SpaceX's launch strategy,
even in the near future.
Will they be able to keep spacex running indefinitely?
Especially when the company formally launches commercial spaceflight, and hundreds of starships
are launched and run into the moon on a regular basis.
Especially when the company formally launches commercial spaceflight, and hundreds of starships
are launched and run into the moon on a regular basis.
The FAA, which is a government body, should not be against to SpaceX's success and the
Starbase, but rather should find a way to assist the company's efforts, Elon is working
to serve humanity better, not just for his own gain.
Do you think the FAA will ever approve SpaceX to launch the full-stacked starship?
Please do well to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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