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      SpaceX seeks a waiver to launch Starship “at least” nine times this year

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 22 February - 16:09

    SpaceX's second Starship rocket is seen on the launch pad at its Starbase facility in South Texas.

    Enlarge / SpaceX's second Starship rocket is seen on the launch pad at its Starbase facility in South Texas. (credit: SpaceX)

    As SpaceX nears its first Starship launch of 2024—possibly as soon as within three weeks—from its Starbase facility in South Texas, the company is pressing regulators to increase its cadence of flights.

    During a press availability this week, the administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, Kelvin Coleman, said the agency is working with the company to try to facilitate the Starship launch-licensing process.

    "They're looking at a pretty aggressive launch schedule this year," he said. "They're looking at, I believe, at least nine launches this year. That's a lot of launches. If you're doing modifications and doing them one by one, that's a lot of work. We've been talking to SpaceX constantly around the clock, coming together and trying to figure out how do we do this. We're invested with the company, and so we'll work with them to get them back going as soon as they can."

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      Varda looks to Australia after delays in obtaining US reentry approval

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 19 October - 21:15

    Artist's illustration of Varda's reentry capsule.

    Enlarge / Artist's illustration of Varda's reentry capsule. (credit: Varda Space Industries)

    Varda Space Industries says it has reached an agreement with a private range operator in Australia for spacecraft landings as early as next year after the US government declined to grant approval for the reentry of Varda's first experimental mission carrying pharmaceuticals manufactured in orbit.

    After years of applications, reviews, and discussion, the Federal Aviation Administration and the US Air Force would not clear Varda's spacecraft to land at a military test range in the Utah desert last month. An Air Force spokesperson told Ars it did not grant approval for the landing "due to the overall safety, risk, and impact analysis."

    Likewise, the FAA denied Varda's application for a commercial reentry license in early September. Varda's first small satellite mission launched The company's leaders say they are still working with the FAA and the Air Force in hopes of getting the spacecraft back to Earth in Utah in the coming months, but now they're looking at other options for future missions.

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      Industry united in push to extend ban on human spaceflight regulations

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 18 October - 23:08 · 1 minute

    The four private astronauts who flew into orbit with SpaceX on the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, the first fully commercial human spaceflight mission to low-Earth orbit.

    Enlarge / The four private astronauts who flew into orbit with SpaceX on the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, the first fully commercial human spaceflight mission to low-Earth orbit. (credit: Inspiration4/John Kraus )

    There are three US companies now capable of flying people into space—SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic—and representatives from those three companies told lawmakers on Wednesday that the industry is not yet mature enough for a new set of federal safety regulations for their customers.

    A nearly 20-year moratorium on federal regulations regarding the safety of passengers on commercial human spaceflight missions is set to expire on January 1. It was scheduled to lapse at the beginning of October, but Congress added a three-month extension to a stopgap spending bill signed into law to prevent a government shutdown.

    That allows a bit more time for lawmakers to write a more comprehensive commercial space bill addressing several issues important to the commercial space industry. These include industry-wide concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration's ability to quickly license commercial launch and reentry operations, a hurdle SpaceX is eager to overcome as it waits for FAA approval to launch the second full-scale test flight of its giant Starship rocket.

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      Citing slow Starship reviews, SpaceX urges FAA to double licensing staff

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 17 October - 14:09

    SpaceX said this week that Starship is stacked and ready to fly its second test flight.

    Enlarge / SpaceX said this week that Starship is stacked and ready to fly its second test flight. (credit: SpaceX)

    In a remarkably frank discussion this week, several senior SpaceX officials spoke with Ars Technica on background about how working with the Federal Aviation Administration has slowed down the company's progress not just on development of the Starship program, but on innovations with the Falcon 9 and Dragon programs as well.

    The SpaceX officials said they want to be clear that the FAA is doing a reasonably good job with the resources it has, and that everyone supports the mission of safe spaceflight. However, they said, the FAA needs significantly more people working in its licensing department and should be encouraged to prioritize missions of national importance.

    In recent months, according to SpaceX, its programs have had to compete with one another for reviews at the FAA. This has significantly slowed down the Starship program and put development of a Human Landing System for NASA's Artemis program at risk. Inefficient regulation, the officials said, is decreasing American competitiveness as space programs in China and elsewhere around the world rise.

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      FAA says SpaceX has more to do before Starship can fly again

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 8 September, 2023 - 19:40

    A discolored plume of exhaust was visible beneath the Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines on the Starship rocket's April 20 test flight, a likely indication of a propellant leak or fire in the engine compartment.

    Enlarge / A discolored plume of exhaust was visible beneath the Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines on the Starship rocket's April 20 test flight, a likely indication of a propellant leak or fire in the engine compartment. (credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images )

    The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it has closed an investigation into the problems SpaceX encountered on its first full-scale Starship test launch in April, but federal regulators won't yet give a green light for the next Starship flight.

    "The closure of the mishap investigation does not signal an immediate resumption of Starship launches at Boca Chica," the FAA said in a statement, referring to the location of SpaceX's Starship launch facility at Boca Chica Beach in South Texas.

    The nearly 400-foot-tall Starship rocket, the largest ever built, is standing on its launch pad in Texas for the upcoming test flight, which could happen before the end of this month, pending FAA approval.

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      YouTuber who crashed plane admits he did it for money and views

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 12 May, 2023 - 19:39 · 1 minute

    Screenshot from Trevor Jacob's YouTube video "I Crashed My Airplane."

    Enlarge / Screenshot from Trevor Jacob's YouTube video "I Crashed My Airplane." (credit: TrevorJacob on YouTube )

    A YouTuber who deliberately crashed a plane to "gain notoriety and make money" has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday. In his plea agreement, California pilot Trevor Jacob admitted to "deliberately destroying" the plane wreckage and repeatedly lying to officials.

    The crimes of destruction and concealment with intent to impede a federal investigation carry a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a potential fine of up to $250,000. The Los Angeles district court may impose a lesser sentence due to the plea deal, though.

    Jacob is scheduled to appear in court in the coming weeks, the DOJ reported. A DOJ public information officer, Ciaran McEvoy, told Ars that Jacob has not yet pleaded guilty. After an initial court appearance—essentially a bond hearing—a change of plea hearing will be scheduled. If Jacob pleads guilty at that hearing, a federal judge will schedule a sentencing hearing several months later. From there, Jacob would meet with the US Probation Office, which will draft a confidential pre-sentencing report recommending the sentence that the office thinks he deserves. Jacob and the prosecutors can either agree or disagree with that sentencing report, and then, ultimately, a judge will determine what sentence is imposed.

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      Environmental groups sue the FAA over SpaceX launch from Texas

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 1 May, 2023 - 20:06

    SpaceX's Starship launch site is located in coastal South Texas.

    Enlarge / SpaceX's Starship launch site is located in coastal South Texas. (credit: SpaceX)

    Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday, saying that the agency had not sufficiently regulated the launch of SpaceX's Starship rocket from South Texas.

    In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, the groups say that the FAA failed to account for the damage caused by testing and launching the Starship rocket, which results in "intense heat, noise, and light that adversely affects surrounding habitat areas and communities, which included designated critical habitat for federally protected species as well as National Wildlife Refuge and State Park lands."

    During the initial launch of the Starship rocket, on April 20, the environmental organizations say the launch "scattered debris and ash over a large area," including adjacent lands that provide a habitat for endangered species.

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      Green light go: SpaceX receives a launch license from the FAA for Starship

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 14 April, 2023 - 21:52

    Photograph from beneath a giant rocket component.

    Enlarge / SpaceX's Booster 4 is lifted onto its orbital launch mount in South Texas. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter )

    On Friday afternoon—after much angst and anxious waiting by the spaceflight community—the Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch license to SpaceX for the launch of its Starship rocket from South Texas.

    Receiving this federal safety approval is the final regulatory step the company needed to take before being cleared to fly the largest rocket ever built. Now, the only constraints to launch are technical issues with the rocket or its ground systems. SpaceX is expected to hold a final readiness review this weekend before deciding to proceed with a launch attempt.

    This could occur as soon as Monday. The company has a slew of road closures, temporary flight restrictions, and notices to mariners set up for April 17. The launch window is expected to open at 7 am local time in Texas (12:00 UTC). Backup launch opportunities are available on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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      SpaceX could be fined $175K for failure to properly report launch data to FAA

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 17 February, 2023 - 20:52

    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying 60 Starlink satellites on November 11, 2019.

    Enlarge / A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying 60 Starlink satellites on November 11, 2019. (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto )

    Before launching 53 Starlink satellites from Florida last August , it seems that SpaceX failed to submit required data to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Now, the FAA has proposed a $175,000 fine to SpaceX for not sharing that data within at least seven days of its launch.

    According to the FAA, the missing SpaceX data is critical because it’s used to “assess the probability of the launch vehicle colliding with one of the thousands of tracked objects orbiting the Earth.”

    The FAA and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

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