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FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

reuters.com

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Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#11

Post by Recurecur »

mullingitover wrote: post #3

Seems 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?

One major problem with bureaucracy is that it will create issues to justify itself.

I'm sure there's no real problem, it's just the government getting some PR and potentially some money via some kind of license/permit fee.

Musk and SpaceX have no desire to hurt anyone, that would impact their plans.

At this point this country would greatly benefit from less government involvement in just about everything. /libertarian

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#13

Post by nostrademons »

jimbob45 wrote: post #2

“Fine, I’ll take my knowledge and business to China” “Okay, okay we’re sorry, Mr. Musk”

Would probably just declare himself his own country. Just needs his own currency (wait, didn't he do that already?), own military (it's handy to own a fleet of ICBMs with better guidance systems than anything the U.S. has), and own energy infrastructure.

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#14

Post by fooey »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #5
mullingitover wrote: post #3

Seems 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.

I agree, it's right next to an airport, so the FAA has jurisdiction over anything over 200 feet tall. What it's meant for is basically irrelevant, except the scenario where SpaceX lied to the FAA about what it is for.

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#15

Post by fooey »

staunch wrote: post #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 b…

Musk is already muzzled by a federal agency.

Going head to head with the agency controlling airspace on top of that is a pretty terrible idea.

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#16

Post by justapassenger »

giarc wrote: post #4
jimbob45 wrote: post #2

“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?

This. Spacex, while private and agile company, exists purely because of USA government buying their services - that’s majority of their revenue.

There’s nothing wrong with that, being government contractor is a huge part of an economy.

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#18

Post by admiral33 »

p1necone wrote: post #8
mullingitover wrote: post #3

Seems 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)

At the very least it's good for show.

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#19

Post by nieve »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #5
mullingitover wrote: post #3

Seems 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.

> The FAA letter said the tower could be as high as 480 feet.

Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

#20

Post by sprayk »

p1necone wrote: post #8
mullingitover wrote: post #3

Seems 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)

"integration" means putting it together/assembling it. At Cape Canaveral, they have the Vehicle Assembly Building for this.
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