SpaceX is facing a possible $633,009 fine from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for allegedly skipping certain safety procedures in two Falcon rocket flights last year.
“Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”
The first Falcon 9 flight in question is the PSN SATRIA mission, which involved launching an Indonesian communication satellite from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 18, 2023.
That May, SpaceX allegedly “submitted a request to revise its communications plan” related to its license to launch from the Florida launch site, according to the FAA’s statement. There were two proposed revisions: adding a new launch control room at one of the facility’s hangars and removing a readiness poll previously taken two hours before liftoff.
SpaceX launched PSN SATRIA with those revisions before the FAA had approved them, the federal agency claimed, and the agency is proposing a $175,000 fine for each of the two alleged violations.
The second incident cited by the FAA involves the launch on July 28, 2023, of the Jupiter 3 telecom satellite, which was carried to orbit by a Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, located about 16 miles northwest of Cape Canaveral.
For that mission, SpaceX allegedly used a newly built rocket propellant farm at the Kennedy Space Center. According to the FAA, the company submitted a revision request concerning the propellant farm earlier that month but proceeded before receiving clearance. The FAA is proposing a $283,009 penalty for this alleged violation.
SpaceX has 30 days to respond after receiving the FAA’s enforcement letter.
“SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach,” he wrote in a separate reply.
Last week, the company published a lengthy blog post criticizing the regulatory landscape of the launch industry.
“Starships need to fly. The more we fly safely, the faster we learn; and the faster we learn, the sooner we achieve full and rapid rocket reuse,” SpaceX wrote in the post, emphasizing that while the company has been ready for Starship’s fifth test flight since early August, the FAA is still reviewing the modifications to the vehicle configuration and mission profile and is unlikely to finish until late November.
“Unfortunately, we continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware,” SpaceX wrote in the post. “This should never happen and directly threatens America’s position as the leader in space.”
