FAA warns Musk that he is building Super Heavy launch tower without permission

Seems like much ado about nothing unless SpaceX is outright lying:<p>&gt; SpaceX told the FAA in May that it did not believe the review was necessary because it only intends to use the &quot;integration tower for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or -permitted launches,&quot; the FAA said.<p>Does the FAA have jurisdiction over this tower if they&#x27;re not actually using it for launches?

Why is the headline editorialized to include Elon&#x27;s name? Reuter&#x27;s title reads &#x27;U.S. warns SpaceX its new Texas launch site tower not yet approved&#x27;.

Sorry if this is too off topic, but that picture in the article really puts the scale of Starship in perspective. It&#x27;s really huge.

Anybody else get flashbacks to Manifold: Time? Eccentric entrepreneur building awesome rockets in the desert while the government tries to prevent him from launching?

The FAA is in a pissing match with SpaceX. They are an organization that was setup to deal with 1 or 2 space launches a year. They don&#x27;t know how to operate to accommodate the amount of launches SpaceX wants to have. So instead of changing or modernizing they flex. The old I&#x27;ll show them who&#x27;s in charge, will drive them out of business with paperwork and a bureaucracy. Who do they think they are wanting to expand Human civilization to Mars! Musk should just pay them off the way Boeing did.

This project appears to be on the critical path to making humanity a multi planetary species. That should be balanced against whatever impact the environmental review finds. Not that it should give SpaceX a blank check. But to the extent that the environment is fragile and needs protection, it&#x27;s even more important to not have all of our eggs in it.

The title is a bit FUD, SpaceX already received permission to build the tower from the FAA.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;oeaaa.faa.gov&#x2F;oeaaa&#x2F;external&#x2F;searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&amp;oeCaseID=474570805&amp;row=115" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;oeaaa.faa.gov&#x2F;oeaaa&#x2F;external&#x2F;searchAction.jsp?action...</a><p>There&#x27;s the document.

Slightly relevant video: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;gNFyLGlR-0w" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;gNFyLGlR-0w</a>

better to say sorry than ask permission. I know an awful lot about the FAA. Progress demands risk and the FAA is a pathologically risk averse agency. Many people in the agency understand this but outwardly must tow the party line. therefore when the FAA is being unreasonable I believe SpaceX should ignore them and push the envelope.

&gt; <i>FAA Administrator Steve Dickson spoke with Musk on March 12 for 30 minutes to stress &quot;the FAA’s role in protecting public safety by ensuring regulatory compliance....</i><p>If there are legit concerns that the FAA needs to be involved in, that&#x27;s fine. But the fact that Dickson is personally involved is a sign he might be the kind of person that likes to flex on people. There&#x27;s almost certainly no good reason for him to be personally involved.<p>If Dickson is just out to engage in a public pissing contest with Elon Musk, it&#x27;s not hard to predict the outcome. Musk, in 2021, is not easily bullied.

The FAA, more than any technical reason, explains why SpaceX bought two oil rigs to perform oceanic launches.

“Fine, I’ll take my knowledge and business to China”<p>“Okay, okay we’re sorry, Mr. Musk”