Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX is going to face many checkpoints. The company will face these issues on the way of its Starship launches and Mars Missions.
SpaceX has violated the terms of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). These terms were mentioned in its test license.
Last December, SpaceX has successfully launched its first high-altitude Starship rocket. But at the same time, SpaceX failed in the landing process of its Starship rocket. It exploded due to which violated many FAA license terms.
An investigation against SpaceX:
The FAA regulators start a probe to check the organization. That includes all the Mars missions, tests campaigns, and rocket launches of SpaceX.
During landing, the “Serial Number 8” starship crashed at Boca Chica, Texas. Was the launch of the starship done successfully due to which FAA, who looks after ground safety and issues related to the license, got unhappy? FAA was unhappy with SpaceX.
As a result of this explosion, FAA went for scrutiny and started an investigation against the company that week. The spokesperson of FAA has declined to specify the terms which the company has violated in its statement.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated its launch license in explosive Starship test, triggering an FAA probe https://t.co/yRD8tNcH2a pic.twitter.com/TLsOVDTwP6
— The Verge (@verge) January 29, 2021
This Friday, the spokesman of FAA Steve Kulm said that the FAA and the rocket-making company were working together. The collaboration is to get the information that the company provides to modify its launch license.
Steve said that they understand the importance of innovation and growth to commercialize space. But the FAA isn’t compromising with its responsibility of public safety.
FAA will approve the modification in the launch terms only when the company assures them that SpaceX would take all the necessary steps to fulfill all the regulatory requirements.
Will we be able to get to Mars?
This Thursday, the “Serial Number 9″ starship will get launched. This starship is made up of shiny steel and is 16-story high.
But FAA officials are still going through the review of license terms modifications. Due to which Elon Musk gets frustrated and makes a tweet. He wrote on Twitter that ” Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars.”
This issue of license violation escalated the heat between SpaceX and the world’s largest transportation agency. For the last many years, Musk and the other space industries are regularly complaining against the age-old US regulatory framework for launch licensing.
When a journal asked Musk in an interview what role a government should play to innovate in the space, he replied that “many times the best thing the government can do is just get out of the way.”
Image courtesy of ENGINEERING TODAY/YouTube Screenshot