Civil Penalty Assessed by the FAA Against SpaceX

Top Stories from the Journal of Space Commerce for the Week Ending Sept. 20

The FAA has proposed $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.

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).

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.

SpaceX has 30 days to respond to the FAA after receiving the agency’s enforcement letters.

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But the penalties have not slowed SpaceX down ... not that anyone might think that it would. NASA and the company recently tested a 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy rocket, or booster, in the transonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Super Heavy rocket will launch the Starship human landing system to the Moon as part of Artemis.

During the tests, the wind tunnel forced an air stream at the Super Heavy scale model at high speeds, mimicking the air resistance and flow the booster experiences during flight. The wind tunnel subjected the Super Heavy model, affixed with pressure-measuring sensors, to wind speeds ranging from Mach .7, or about 537 miles per hour, to Mach 1.4, or about 1,074 miles per hour. Mach 1 is the speed that sound waves travel, or 761 miles per hour, at sea level.

Engineers then measured how the Super Heavy model responded to the simulated flight conditions, observing its stability, aerodynamic performance, and more. Engineers used the data to update flight software for flight 3 of Super Heavy and Starship and to refine the exterior design of future versions of the booster.

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Speaking of the Moon, a proprietary Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor developed by Sierra Space has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, heralding the first time in history that oxygen has been extracted from simulated lunar soil, or regolith, using an automated, standalone system in a lunar environment. The technology, when scaled up, is designed to produce oxygen in bulk to support one of the primary objectives of NASA’s Artemis program: establishing the first long-term presence on the moon.

Sierra Space test engineers spent two weeks in August operating the company’s oxygen extraction system inside a thermal vacuum chamber at Johnson, working with lunar regolith simulant in an environment the hardware would recognize as similar to the water-ice-laden south pole region of the moon. Under lunar temperatures and pressures, the Sierra Space system executed all of the regolith handling steps and performed the carbothermal reduction reaction that extracts oxygen from minerals in the regolith simulant.

The tests confirmed that Sierra Space’s system can successfully handle regolith that would be delivered from a lunar rover or robotic arm and automatically bring it into the reaction chamber, perform the carbothermal reduction reaction process to extract the oxygen from the minerals in the regolith, and remove the processed regolith from the system so the operation can be repeated.

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Back in Earth orbit, the latest edition of the Novaspace ‘Satellite Connectivity & Video Market’ report reveals significant shifts across the satellite communications industry.

The past three years have seen a dramatic eightfold increase in global satellite capacity supply, reaching around 27 Tbps in 2023, a figure accounted for over 80% by Starlink. This dominance can be partially attributed to delays from initial target dates from most other constellation projects and software-defined satellites.

The rise of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) systems has caused a decline in orders for Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites as operators have adopted a “wait and see” approach. Despite this, GEO capacity still represented around 85% of capacity revenues in 2023, though NGSO capacity revenues are projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27%, surpassing GEO revenues by 2028 and wringing in around $18 billion by 2033.

According to the report, rising competition should contribute to the Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU) for satellite capacity falling below $100 per Mbps per month across most segments by 2033. This price decline is set to unlock new opportunities in rural, remote, and under-connected areas, including those near urban centers and over oceans, driving global capacity demand to 73 Tbps by 2033 (27% CAGR).

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The Space and Aeronautics subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearing last week to discuss ongoing efforts to streamline licensing for launch and related activities as well as to evaluate the appropriate structure for regulating commercial space activities outside the purview of the current regulatory structure.

Congress seeks to assess the extent to which the Part 450 licensing process streamlined regulations under SPD-2, and whether such regulatory reforms succeeded in easing the burden of regulatory compliance experienced by commercial launch and reentry providers. It is also beneficial for Congress to consider whether there are other aspects of Part 450 licensing that could benefit from further study and improvement.