What SpaceX has to do to convince the FAA to let Starship flyQuartz By Tim Fernholz 8/22/2023
Inside Elon Musk's fraught relationship with the Federal Aviation AdministrationElon Musk doesn’t like being told what to do. That’s, in part, why he decided that his company SpaceX would build its own launch site on private land in Texas as an alternative to the pads he leases from the US government.
Eight years after breaking ground on a spaceport at Boca Chica, the company has only made one attempt at flying a rocket to orbit from there. In April, the first flight of Starship, the company’s massive new launch vehicle, failed—not unusual for young rockets. But the system designed to destroy the rocket in the event of an emergency didn’t behave the way the company expected, either. The launch pad itself, tested for the first time by 33 powerful rocket engines firing at once, dissolved, pelting the area surrounding the pad with chunks of rock. Sand was hurled into the air and rained down on communities six miles away from the launch site.
Shortly thereafter, Musk said he expected to fly the rocket again in about eight weeks. He said so again in June. Now, four months since the launch attempt, the company is still working to regain its launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates commercial spaceflight in the US. Last week, SpaceX submitted a final report on the incident to the agency, which will need to approve its conclusions; then, SpaceX will need to take corrective actions and have its launch license modified to reflect them.
“SpaceX must submit updated information before its license can be modified or more flights added,” an FAA spokesperson told Quartz. “The update must include corrective actions identified in the mishap investigation report and any other changes material to public health and safety and the safety of property. The FAA will evaluate the new material and ensure it complies with all regulatory requirements prior to modifying the license to authorize future launch operations.”
Nonetheless, the US Coast Guard has issued a warning to mariners that rocket launches could take place off the coast of Boca Chica as soon as Aug. 31. While such notifications are routine and don’t guarantee a launch will take place, the announcement suggests SpaceX is confident it can win over the agency in the next 10 days. (SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.)
To do so, the company will need to make progress on a number of issues, but two stand out as potential safety risks that the FAA will scrutinize closely. One is the self-destruct system, and the other is the new infrastructure to ensure the violent energies of the world’s most powerful rocket can be contained.
How to build a spaceport from scratchWhen SpaceX started building out its first launch site in the territorial US, the company hired Brian Mosdell for the job. An aerospace engineer, Mosdell had worked on rocket programs at Boeing and United Launch Alliance before joining up with SpaceX. His main task was converting a launch site leased from the US Air Force at Cape Canaveral to suit a modern rocket, the Falcon 9, by building out the infrastructure and ensuring it met regulatory requirements.
After years in staid traditional aerospace, Mosdell enjoyed SpaceX’s culture of aggressive problem solving. His team refurbished old propellant tanks and air compressors to keep costs down, and worked 80-hour weeks to get the pad ready for the rocket. He wound up working on seven Falcon 9 launches before leaving the company in 2014. Now, he advises rocket companies setting up new launch sites.
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