The explosive crash of a SpaceX rocket prototype this week led the Federal Aviation Administration to oversee an investigation into the incident. The news follows recent reports that SpaceX violated federal safety regulations last year.
ANn FAA spokesman said CNN through a statement that the investigation will “identify the root cause” of the “accident”And explore“ possible opportunities to further increase security as the program develops ”.
Mishap is certainly a word to describe what happened last Tuesday (February 2, 2021) at SpaceX’s test facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
The SN9 high altitude test it seemed to be doing well, with the prototype of the starship making a suborbital flight at approximately 6 miles (10 km), followed by a free aerodynamic flight fall back to the floor. But things went sour during the flip landing maneuver, like “one of [three] Raptor engines didn’t reignite and made the SN9 land at high speed and experience a RUD ”, according for SpaceX.
By RUD, SpaceX means “quick disassembly not programmed”. Good joke (and a term used for decades), but the FAA is not laughing, especially since this is now the second explosive crash of a prototype starship, the first happening on December 11, 2020.
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“The FAA’s top priority in regulating commercial space transport is ensuring that operations are safe, even if there is an anomaly,” said the FAA declaration. Thus, the aerospace regulator, which also oversees US airspace, “will oversee the investigation of [Tuesday’s] landing accident ”involving the SpaceX prototype.
Musk fans will complain, but that is exactly the kind of thing the FAA should do. How is it guidelines make it clear, the FAA may be involved due to a launch or reentry accident or incident, an accident at the launch site or in the case of “failure to complete a launch or reentry as planned. ”The FAA may also be involved when damage to“ payload, a launch or reentry vehicle, a launch or reentry support facility … located at the launch or reentry site ”exceeds $ 25,000.
Many boxes marked there, so the FAA is certainly within its limits in this case.
And if I dare say, the aerospace regulator may be supported by SpaceX now, given recent events. As the Verge reports, the high altitude test done in December was not authorized. Prior to the SN8 test, SpaceX “sought an exemption to exceed the maximum public risk permitted by federal safety regulations”, according to Reuters, which the FAA subsequently denied. SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, continued with the release anyway.
SpaceX wanted to launch SN9 last week but it could not because of the FAA’s lack of approval. On Tuesday, however, the FAA decided to allow the launch, saying that SpaceX had taken the necessary “corrective actions”, the details of which remain unknown, according to Reuters.
That said, an FAA declaration launched before the launch of SN9 on Tuesday, it provides some clues as to what happened to change the agency’s view.
“The FAA demanded that SpaceX conduct an investigation of the incident, including a comprehensive review of the company’s security culture, operational decision making and process discipline,” said the FAA spokesman. “All tests that could affect public safety at the Boca Chica launch site were suspended until the investigation was completed and the FAA approved the company’s corrective actions.”
The FAA said there will be “no further enforcement action on [the] SN8 matters ”, and that the requested measures were incorporated into the launch of SN9.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On its website, the company says that these flight tests “aim to improve our understanding and development of a fully reusable transport system, designed to transport crew and cargo on long-term interplanetary flights and help humanity return to the Moon and travel to Mars and beyond. “
That these tests involve the semi-controlled bob of a huge rocket prototype partially filled with fuel, and now a pair of explosions that would make Michael Bay blush, does not seem to be a major concern for SpaceX. Of course, the immediate area around the Boca Chica test site is unoccupied, but the residential and commercial areas are located a few kilometers north on Port Isabel and South Padre Island. So it is clear that the FAA is concerned.
On January 28 tweet, Musk said that “the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory framework.” The CEO of SpaceX is not entirely at odds with his comments. The Department of Transportation, which oversees the FAA, developed new rules last year to modernize the way the FAA “regulates and licenses commercial space operations and allows the burgeoning aerospace industry to continue to innovate and grow while maintaining public security”, according to a declaration. But, as Verge reports, these regulations have not yet been implemented.
In his tweet, Musk said that under current rules, “humanity will never reach Mars”. That, give me a break. History will hardly register an American aerospace regulator like the fundamental obstacle for the Red Planet, but the richest man in the world is clearly frustrated by not being able to do what he wants, whenever he wants. Good.