- Blue Origin has filed concerns with the FAA about SpaceX’s Starship rocket launches.
- The filing highlighted the potential environmental impacts to Blue Origin’s nearby facilities.
- Blue Origin has proposed limiting the number of launches SpaceX can perform and demanding third-party compensation for damages.
The billionaires’ battle for space continues.
Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin recently raised concerns with the FAA about Elon Musk’s SpaceX, asking that it limit Starship launch operations over concerns about its environmental impact.
The application focused on the FAA’s intention to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of issuing a license to SpaceX to launch its Starship Super Heavy super rocket from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX’s launch system is still in development. Comprised of the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster, it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and has only flown four times so far, with only two reaching space. Physicists say past launches have created heat and pressure equivalent to a volcanic eruption, raining mud on nearby towns.
But once fully developed and in orbit, Starship Super Heavy will be the largest and most powerful launch system on Earth.
According to the filing, the Super Heavy booster will be able to carry up to an “unprecedented” 5,200 tonnes of liquid methane for propulsion. Blue Origin says this will allow “Qualifying Distance Because of the margin of safety that may overlap with other businesses, governments, and public establishments.”
Citing concerns about Starship’s “greater environmental impact than any other launch system” at Kennedy Space Center, Blue Origin has asked the FAA to consider limiting the frequency of Super Heavy’s “launches, landings, and other operations.” […] “We will raise the threshold to a level that will have minimal impact on the local environment.” The application does not specify what that threshold should be.
Blue Origin said in the filing that it is concerned because it also operates nearby: It owns a large manufacturing facility at Kennedy Space Center, including Launch Complex 39A, which SpaceX leases for its Starship program. It also owns several facilities, all of which are in “proximate proximity” to SpaceX’s planned launch site for Starship Super Heavy, Blue Origin said.
Blue Origin’s complaint highlighted potential risks to the safety of personnel and property at nearby facilities, including explosions, debris, blast or sonic boom overpressure, and airborne toxins.
SpaceX plans to launch 44 Starship Super Heavy missions per year under its lease agreement with NASA, Blue Origin said in the filing.
Indeed, SpaceX has earned a reputation for its regular launches: the company accounted for nearly half of the world’s orbital launches last year. CNBC reports that the company will launch its Falcon 9 rocket 91 times in 2023, beating the previous record by 30.
In addition to capping the number of launches, Blue Origin has proposed other mitigation measures, such as adding infrastructure to reduce risk to other nearby launch companies and requiring SpaceX to compensate it for losses caused by its operations.
Musk responded to X’s complaint by writing, “Sue Origin,” adding another accusation against Bezos in a 15-year-long public feud.
The Tesla CEO later added, “This is clearly being done in bad faith. It’s not cool to try to sabotage SpaceX’s progress through legal action (for the third time).”
Neither SpaceX nor Blue Origin immediately responded to Business Insider’s request for comment before publication.
After being asked to decipher Musk’s original message, xAI chatbot Grok wrote that his post “seemed to be a tongue-in-cheek comment” about Blue Origin’s “history of resorting to litigation rather than competing fairly in the marketplace.”
The Tesla CEO simply replied with a target emoji.
