By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U. S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been in the U. S. U. S. He warned Elon Musk’s corporate area, SpaceX, that its environmental review of a new tower at its launch in Boca Chica, Texas, is incomplete and that the company would possibly order SpaceX to dismantle the building. tower.
An FAA spokesman said Wednesday that the agency’s ongoing environmental review of the “integration tower” of SpaceX’s proposed rocket meeting “is underway,” adding that “the company is building the tower at its own risk. “
A May 6 letter from the FAA to SpaceX notified via Reuters said recent structural activities on one of the two proposed towers “may complicate the ongoing environmental review procedure for the Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle program. “The FAA letter indicated that the tower can succeed in 480 feet.
Based on the environmental review, the FAA can simply order SpaceX to dismantle the tower. “It is conceivable that modifications will be made to the launch site, adding the integration towers to mitigate significant impacts,” the May 6 letter read, adding that the FAA learned of the tower’s structure “based on video footage to be released. “
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment, but Musk has criticized the FAA and the U. S. regulatory system. U. S.
SpaceX told the FAA in May that it did not believe the review was mandatory because it only intended to use the “integration tower for production, study and progression purposes and not for legal or legal releases through the FAA,” the FAA said.
But the signature description on the documents “indicates otherwise. “
The FAA cited a SpaceX document that the towers would be used to integrate the Starship/Super Heavy launcher. “Super Heavy would be coupled to the launch stand, followed by the Starship coupled to Super Heavy,” the FAA letter mentioning SpaceX’s presentation at The Fifth of May says.
The FAA and Musk have clashed at times.
On June 29, Musk lamented the delay in launching the Transporter-2 project in Florida and tweeted that “a plane has entered the “no-go zone,” which is unreasonably gigantic. There is simply no way for humanity to reach a civilization in the area. without primary regulatory reform. “
Earlier this year, the FAA said SpaceX’s launch of the SN8 spacecraft in December violated its licensing requirements. Effective March 12, the FAA began requiring a firm protective inspector on all SpaceX launches to “ensure compliance with federal regulations for public protection. “
FAA Administrator Steve Dickson spoke with Musk on March 12 for 30 minutes to highlight “the FAA’s role in protecting public through ensuring compliance with regulatory standards,” the firm said in April.
(Reports by David Shepardson; edited through Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)