FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
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Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#2“Fine, I’ll take my knowledge and business to China”
“Okay, okay we’re sorry, Mr. Musk”
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#3Seems like much ado about nothing unless SpaceX is outright lying:
> SpaceX told the FAA in May that it did not believe the review was necessary because it only intends to use the "integration tower for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or -permitted launches," the FAA said.
Does the FAA have jurisdiction over this tower if they're not actually using it for launches?
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#4“Fine, I’ll take my knowledge and business to China” “Okay, okay we’re sorry, Mr. Musk”
SpaceX biggest customer is the US government. You really think the US gov will ship satellites to China for launches?
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#5Seems like much ado about nothing unless SpaceX is outright lying: > SpaceX told the FAA in May that it did not believe the review was necessary because it only intends to use the "integration tower for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or -permitted launches," the FAA said. Does the FAA have jurisdiction over this tower if they're not actually using it for launches?
Without knowing the height it is hard to tell. As an amateur radio operator I can put up a tower that is just under 200 feet tall without any real approval. Past that I would need FAA approval. It gets expensive, mostly because you need to keep the tower illuminated at night.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#6Seems like much ado about nothing unless SpaceX is outright lying: > SpaceX told the FAA in May that it did not believe the review was necessary because it only intends to use the "integration tower for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or -permitted launches," the FAA said. Does the FAA have jurisdiction over this tower if they're not actually using it for launches?
Perhaps FCC?
There are rules about towers within some distance of an airport. Perhaps it runs afoul of those.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#7Sorry if this is too off topic, but that picture in the article really puts the scale of Starship in perspective. It's really huge.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#8Seems like much ado about nothing unless SpaceX is outright lying: > SpaceX told the FAA in May that it did not believe the review was necessary because it only intends to use the "integration tower for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or -permitted launches," the FAA said. Does the FAA have jurisdiction over this tower if they're not actually using it for launches?
How much testing can you do with a launch tower without actually launching anything? Surely any launch would have to be cleared by the FAA right?
(I could totally be wrong and there's good reasons to build this, but my initial assumption is that the only real reason to build a launch tower would be to launch stuff with it)
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#9“Fine, I’ll take my knowledge and business to China” “Okay, okay we’re sorry, Mr. Musk”
Yeah, Elon's just dying to follow Jack Ma lead.
/s
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#10> FAA Administrator Steve Dickson spoke with Musk on March 12 for 30 minutes to stress "the FAA’s role in protecting public safety by ensuring regulatory compliance....
If there are legit concerns that the FAA needs to be involved in, that's fine. But the fact that Dickson is personally involved is a sign he might be the kind of person that likes to flex on people. There's almost certainly no good reason for him to be personally involved.
If Dickson is just out to engage in a public pissing contest with Elon Musk, it's not hard to predict the outcome. Musk, in 2021, is not easily bullied.