Musk's SpaceX violated its launch license in explosive Starship test: the Verge

[turbinetree]

TECHNOLOGY NEWS
JANUARY 29, 2021 11:13 PM UPDATED 21 HOURS AGO

By Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

(Reuters) - SpaceX’s first high-altitude test flight of its Starship rocket, which exploded last month while attempting to land after an otherwise successful test launch, violated the terms of its Federal Aviation Administration test license, the Verge reported on Friday, citing sources.

An investigation was opened that week focusing on the explosive landing and on SpaceX’s refusal to stick to the terms of what the FAA authorized, the Verge said.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-starship/musks-spacex-violated-its-launch-license-in-explosive-starship-test-the-verge-idUSKBN29Z06R

I know airlines that if they violate a FAA law they get fined. this is a big deal

[roamer65]

1. Must have been a Jewish space laser.

[OnlinePoker]

2. The problem is, they don't say what the violation was.

Did it fly too high (or not high enough)? I don't believe Starship Serial number 8, which was the designation of the rocket, had self-destruct capabilities, so maybe that was the issue. SN9 and SN10, which are both on the test launch pads now, both have this capability. SpaceX wanted to launch SN9 for its test flight yesterday (Friday), had the Temporary Flight Restrictions in place from the FAA, but then had them downgraded to only a 7200 ft altitude, insufficient for SpaceX to complete the tests they needed to do. SpaceX had even lowered the planned flight altitude from 12km to 10km, but couldn't get the permissions in place and scrubbed the launch.

[turbinetree]

3. It looks from reading the article they went to high.

Here is a video of the crash

[CentralMass]

4. Musk will probably throw a fit and move the operation to another country.

[turbinetree]

5. That also was my thought