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Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. violated the terms of his federal license for a December test launch of his Starship spacecraft, a flight that ended in a fireball, according to a report.
It is not known which part of the test violated the license, the Verge website said in its article on Friday, which cited anonymous sources. An investigation of an incident by the The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has focused on SpaceX’s refusal to adhere to what the regulator has cleared, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, confirming Verge’s report. The person, who was not authorized to discuss the case, requested anonymity.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment made on Friday after normal business hours.
Stepped up regulatory review played a role in delaying a test of SpaceX’s Starship SN-9 prototype this week, the Verge reported. Musk expressed his frustration in a tweet on Thursday, criticizing the FAA for “a fundamentally broken regulatory structure”. The agency said Friday it would “assess additional information” from SpaceX as the company seeks to change its launch license.
The rocket company had touted the launch of the SN-9.
The Starship SN-8 flew on December 9 with a successful ascent and landing flip maneuver, remaining stable throughout the nearly seven-minute flight. But the low pressure in a fuel tank caused the spacecraft to land too quickly, resulting in a fireball to the touch.
“While we recognize the importance of acting quickly to foster growth and innovation in the commercial space, the FAA will not compromise its responsibility to protect public safety,” the FAA said in response to inquiries on the delay in the launch of SN-9. “We will only approve the change after we are satisfied that SpaceX has taken the necessary steps to comply with regulatory requirements.”
SpaceX’s stainless steel spacecraft is designed to be a versatile, fully reusable spacecraft that can carry 100 metric tons for deep space missions to the Moon and Mars and also serve as a point-to-point hypersonic vehicle to reduce travel times. on earth.
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