Earlier this morning the FAA released a statement that highlighted two different safety requirements and the corresponding fines due to SpaceX not complying. While Starship has been in the news lately in relation to the FAA and certain delays, these new fines are actually related to specific Falcon 9 and Heavy operations that occurred around a year ago.
While a fine of this size is insignificant in the grand scheme of things for a company like SpaceX, it does bring more attention to the topic and relationship between the FAA and the company.
$633,009 In Fines
The FAA or Federal Aviation Administration is a government agency that manages the safety and efficiency of civil aviation and commercial space transportation in the United States. In other words, when it comes to approving launches, related infrastructure changes, certain procedures, etc, their input and approval is usually required.
This morning they released a statement saying, “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes $633,009 in civil penalties against Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) for allegedly failing to follow its license requirements during two launches in 2023, in accordance with statutorily-set civil penalty guidelines.”
“Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” said FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols. “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences,” he said.
The statement then goes on to highlight the specific examples of SpaceX failing to comply. They first say, “In May 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its communications plan related to its license to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The proposed revisions included adding a new launch control room at Hangar X and removing the T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures. On June 18, 2023, SpaceX used the unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission and did not conduct the required T-2 hour poll. The FAA is proposing $350,000 in civil penalties ($175,000 for each alleged violation)” they said.
For context, that specific mission was a Falcon 9 launch that lifted off over a year ago on June 18th, 2023. More specifically, in May 2023 SpaceX made it clear to the FAA that they intended to change the control room and T-2 hour readiness poll. However, by the next month in June, they still hadn’t received approval and decided to just go through with the changes. As far as safety concerns go, realistically this is a rocket with hundreds of successful launches under its belt.
Looking at the second part of the fine, the FAA says, “In July 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its explosive site plan related to its license to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The proposed revision reflected a newly constructed rocket propellant farm. On July 28, 2023, SpaceX used the unapproved rocket propellant farm for the EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter mission. The FAA is proposing a $283,009 civil penalty.” They finished by saying, “SpaceX has 30 days to respond to the FAA after receiving the agency’s enforcement letters.”
This mission was actually a Falcon Heavy launch with one of the heaviest geostationary satellites ever sent into space. Again as highlighted by the FAA, it occurred over a year ago on July 28th. In terms of delays between the failure to comply and the FAA issuing these fines, it usually takes quite a bit of time.
For example, in a completely different instance, SpaceX was fined $175,000 back in 2023 for a launch that happened in the middle of 2022.
Focusing back on the recent fine, this second failure to comply is similar to the first. Again SpaceX submitted a request to change some infrastructure, and then before it was approved they made the change. This time they made the request in July and launched later that same month.
Again, while this fine is more of a slap on the wrist than anything, it highlights some of the struggles the company and agency face. They are trying to keep safety in mind while also moving at a rapid pace. With ambitious future projects like Starship underway, speed on the regulatory side will play an important role in its progress and or delays.
If all that wasn’t enough, on X, Elon responded to a tweet about these fines and said, “SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach.” In another tweet, he said, “More lawfare”.
Starship Delays
For the first time since Starship’s maiden flight early last year, the time between a subsequent test flight has been more than the previous. Specifically, after Integrated Flight Test 1, it took 212 days of work, FAA approval, and preparation until the second launch in November. After that, it only took 117 days to launch a third time after the second attempt. Most recently, SpaceX managed to launch Starship again after only 84 days. As of right now, it’s been 105 days since the last flight test.
While some might find that concerning, the reality is there simply is much more work that needs to be done between this flight compared to the last. One of the biggest examples is preparation for a booster catch. Unlike practically all other mission milestones once Starship has cleared the launchpad, an anomaly or explosion has a relatively small impact on the program. On a booster catch attempt, however, this could absolutely cause some damage to Stage 0 if something were to go wrong.
Spending more time to build up the second tower and conduct even more booster catch tests with the arms could easily save months of time when compared to a rushed booster catch attempt. Also, the act itself of catching a booster out of mid-air will require some incredible precision and take time to get right.
You then have the legal side with FAA approval. With this next flight, the fact that the booster would be returning back to land rather than the ocean is a change from all previous Starship launches. It’s also a change that the FAA no doubt will be very strict on regarding general safety and what’s necessary before they grant approval. Practically the entire flight profile of the previous 4 launches has been the same which definitely helps with approval speed and clarity.
In relation to this, in SpaceX’s recent statement, they said, “The Starship and Super Heavy vehicles for Flight 5 have been ready to launch since the first week of August. The flight test will include our most ambitious objective yet: attempt to return the Super Heavy booster to the launch site and catch it in mid-air.”
They go on to acknowledge that “This will be a singularly novel operation in the history of rocketry. SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success. Every test comes with risk, especially those seeking to do something for the first time. SpaceX goes to the maximum extent possible on every flight to ensure that while we are accepting risk to our own hardware, we accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring public safety.”
“It’s understandable that such a unique operation would require additional time to analyze from a licensing perspective. Unfortunately, instead of focusing resources on critical safety analysis and collaborating on rational safeguards to protect both the public and the environment, the licensing process has been repeatedly derailed by issues ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd. At times, these roadblocks have been driven by false and misleading reporting, built on bad-faith hysterics from online detractors or special interest groups who have presented poorly constructed science as fact.”
They finished by saying, “We recently received a launch license date estimate of late November from the FAA, the government agency responsible for licensing Starship flight tests. This is a more than two-month delay to the previously communicated date of mid-September” they said.
Recently, at an aerospace summit, Dan Murray, executive director of operational safety at the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation was quoted saying, “We work very well with SpaceX. We have a very strong dialogue with them. They get the majority of our resources because they’re doing the majority of the operations. We are doing everything we can to work with them as efficiently as we can” he said.
In a specific response to some of these statements from SpaceX he mentioned, “We have a great dialogue with them. We prefer to have our dialogue directly with them.”
As far as the next Starship launch goes, it will at least be a few months before any approval is granted from the agency. With future missions like Artemis relying on Starship to be ready, there are quite a few parties affected by the delay or speed of the program. Even though they are making impressive progress, if the company and the FAA can’t find a way to work with each other in a timely manner, it could cause much more significant issues in the future. Something to keep in mind as the company makes a push toward Integrated Flight Test 5.
Conclusion
This morning the FAA released a statement explaining over $600,000 in fines to SpaceX for a Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch back in 2023. They cited examples of the company failing to comply with certain licensing agreements after changes were made. At the same time as this happens, the company is trying to push toward the next Starship flight which was recently delayed to late November.