SpaceX's Elon Musk has just received a warning from the official US Federal Aviation Administration or FAA that its own environmental review of a certain tower at its own Boca Chica launch site remains incomplete. The largest transportation agency in the United States government could reportedly order SpaceX to immediately take down the tower.
FAA on SpaceX 'Massive Starship Launch Tower'
According to the story by WioNews, a certain FAA spokesman stated that the agency's environmental review of SpaceX's proposed rocket assembly "integration tower" remains underway. It also added that the company is reportedly building the tower at its very own risk.
The FAA officially sent a letter to SpaceX on May 6 noting recent construction activity on one out of two of their proposed towers might complicate the still ongoing environmental review process for the company's Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program. The FAA letter reportedly stated that the tower could be as high as 480 feet or about almost 150 meters!
Elon Musk Criticism on FAA
Based on the official environmental review, the FAA might even order SpaceX to take down the supposed tower. The letter noted that it is possible that changes might have to be made at the supposed launch site. This then included the integration towers to mitigate other significant impacts, according to the May 6 letter. Elon Musk stated that he believes in "population collapse" and that SpaceX needs to bring humans to Mars in order to "save civilization."
The article by Reuters notes that the FAA actually learned about the tower's construction based on a certain publicly available video footage. SpaceX, however, did not respond to a request for comment. Elon Musk, however, has repetitively criticized the FAA as well as the US regulatory system.
SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle
SpaceX reportedly told the FAA back in May that it did not really believe the review was necessary due to the company only intending to use the integration tower for research, production, and even development purposes and not really for the FAA-licensed or even permitted launches, according to the statement of the FAA.
The agency's description in the documents, however, indicates otherwise. The FAA also cited a SpaceX document that the towers would reportedly be used to integrate the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle.
SpaceX on Transporter-2 Mission
The FAA letter reportedly stated quoting SpaceX's May 5 submission that the Super Heavy would actually be mated to the launch mount shortly followed by the Starship mated to the other Super Heavy. This isn't the first time that Elon Musk and the FAA have clashed together.
Back on June 29, 2021, Elon Musk lamented the delay of the launch of the Florida Transporter-2 mission. He reportedly tweeted about the incident noting an aircraft entered the "keep out zone," which was reported, "unrealistically gigantic."
It was noted that there is no way that humanity can actually become a spacefaring civilization without the help of major regulatory reform. As of the moment, it's hard to tell what will happen next after the FAA's letter to Elon Musk.
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Written by Urian B.
