SpaceX slams proposed FAA fine in protest letter to Congress

SpaceX has filed a complaint with Congress over its dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

On Tuesday (September 17), the FAA announced that it planned to fine SpaceX $630,000 for violating regulations on two launches last year. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk responded to the news the same day. Declare about X (formerly Twitter) said the company plans to sue the FAA for “exceeding regulatory authority.”

Now the company has sent a letter to Congress challenging the proposed fine and accusing the agency of moving too slowly.

The two missions the FAA is referring to are PSN SATRIA, an Indonesian communications satellite that was launched into orbit on June 18, 2023, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, and EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter 3, another communications satellite that was launched on July 28 of that year aboard a Falcon Heavy.

Both launches took place on Florida’s Space Coast: PSN SATRIA from SpaceX’s launch pad at Cape Canaveral, while EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter 3 took place next door from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

relevant: SpaceX Launches PSN SATRIA Communication Satellite for Indonesia, Rocket Lands on Sea (Video)

The FAA alleged that SpaceX violated two regulations for the PSN SATRIA launch. The company used a new launch control room and eliminated the readiness vote (normally held two hours before liftoff) without waiting for two modifications to be approved. According to the FAA, the company submitted these modifications, but the request was not approved until liftoff.

According to the FAA, SpaceX used a newly built rocket propellant farm at KSC for EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter 3, but it has not yet been approved.

SpaceX details these alleged violations in a new letter to the House Committee on Science and Technology and the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, Technology and Transportation.

SpaceX has been expressing concern for nearly two years that the FAA is not keeping up with the pace of the commercial spaceflight industry. While it is clear that the agency lacks the resources to review permits in a timely manner, it is focusing its limited resources on areas unrelated to… pic.twitter.com/2NJu00ZLiWSeptember 19, 2024

For example, the letter that SpaceX also uses Posted on X And it emailed the journalist, arguing that there is no requirement in the launch regulations to conduct a readiness survey two hours before liftoff. “It is important to note that SpaceX conducts the survey prior to propellant loading, and later, consistent with safe operations,” the company wrote.

The letter details two other alleged violations, explaining why SpaceX doesn’t see them that way. For example, the company notes that on Aug. 20, 2023, the FAA issued a waiver allowing SpaceX to use the propellant farm in advance of the launch of NASA’s Crew-7 astronaut mission, which lifted off from KSC on Aug. 26 of that year.

SpaceX wrote that “the waiver issued by the FAA states that granting the waiver ‘will not jeopardize the health and safety of the public, safety of property, or the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.'”

“Because SpaceX’s operations for the Echostar XXIV/Jupiter 3 launch and the Crew-7 launch were identical in that they involved a new RP-1 farm, it is unclear why the FAA could not make a positive safety determination for the Crew-7 launch and the same determination for the Echostar XXIV/Jupiter 3 launch,” the company added. (RP-1 is the kerosene propellant used in the Merlin engines of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.)

SpaceX said in a statement that “the company strongly denies the FAA’s assertion that it violated any regulations.”

The letter criticized the FAA broadly, claiming the agency was hindering the U.S. launch industry.

“For over a year, SpaceX has raised concerns that the FAA is failing to keep pace with the needs of the commercial space industry and U.S. government agencies that rely on commercial space launch capability to support national security and national priorities,” the document, signed by David Harris, SpaceX’s vice president of legal affairs, concludes.

Some of SpaceX’s frustration stems from regulatory overreach for Starship, a massive new rocket the company is developing to help it land on the moon and Mars. SpaceX claims it is ready to launch Starship’s fifth test flight in early August, but the FAA says it won’t get liftoff approval until late November.

The agency said it and its partners need more time to review potential environmental impacts and to review changes SpaceX made to Starship’s configuration and mission profile following its fourth test flight in June.

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