Security issues. SpaceX faces a fine of more than half a million dollars

“Security issues. SpaceX faces a fine of more than half a million dollars September 19, 03:10 Share: SpaceX regularly violates the rules (Photo: REUTERS/Joe Skipper) Author: Anastasia Pechenyuk The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may fine Elon Musk’s company SpaceX more than 600 thousand dollars for violations of safety rules during last year’s missile launches. In the notification of the fine, the administration mentions two launches carried out in 2023. The first is”, — write on: ua.news

In the notification of the fine, the administration mentions two launches carried out in 2023. The first is the launch into orbit of the Indonesian communication satellite Satria on one of the Falcon 9 rockets, which took place on June 18. SpaceX then launched using the new launch control room without a readiness check and without management approving the relevant requests. The FAA is seeking fines of $175,000 for each of the two violations.

The administration also mentions the July 28 launch of the Falcon Heavy carrying the EchoStar JUPITER 3 broadband satellite as a payload, during which SpaceX used an unauthorized fuel base for the rocket. The FAA is seeking a $283,009 fine for this violation.

It is worth noting that the amounts of fines appear to be completely disproportionate. As Gizmodo notes, the Falcon 9 launch cost is somewhere around $67 million. And the total amount of fines will be a little less than half a percent of the total cost of the two launches.

SpaceX has repeatedly violated FAA regulations in the past. In particular, in February 2023, the agency demanded a penalty of $175,000, claiming that SpaceX did not provide collision trajectory analysis data for the Falcon 9 launch in August 2022. A year earlier, the company was fined $18,475 after an employee was seriously injured during a test of the Raptor V2 rocket engine.