“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
Jack Ma's only mistake was residing in China.
FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
21–30 of 82 posts
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#22The FAA, more than any technical reason, explains why SpaceX bought two oil rigs to perform oceanic launches.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#23Seems 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)
I believe the goal is to have a launch tower catch falcon 9 rockets, then take a starship, rotate it around the tower 180 degrees and put it on top of the rocket that just landed to refuel and launch again.
edit: super heavy not falcon 9 here is the youtube video I was remembering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdU9RzlHm-o
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#24Anybody else get flashbacks to Manifold: Time?
Eccentric entrepreneur building awesome rockets in the desert while the government tries to prevent him from launching?
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#25Seems 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)
In theory it could used for payload integration tests, dress rehearsal, or even static fires. But it seems odd to do those at a different pad than you'd actually launch from
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#26Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#27“Fine, I’ll take my knowledge and business to China” “Okay, okay we’re sorry, Mr. Musk”
Rockets are considered munitions under ITAR. Following through on that threat would result in serious jail time.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#28Seems 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)
Technically the tower may not be used for launches; it's only used for putting the stack on the launch pad. During the launch itself the stack may not be touching the tower at all.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#29“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.
He'd still need to buy/steal/conquer some territory. Plenty of terra nullius on Mars though.
Re: FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission
#30Seems 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. /libertaria…
> 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.
What makes you so sure? There's airports and heli pads nearby. It's the FAAs job to keep aviation safe.