Last May, SpaceX announced plans to expand the launch pad it leases from NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to launch at least 44 giant Starship rockets a year. Today, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has come out strongly against the plan, filing a complaint against SpaceX with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It’s a threat to everyone, Blue Origin said, and is unacceptable.
Image source: SpaceX
According to representatives of Blue Origin, a direct competitor of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the Starship mega-rocket in the form of the eponymous ship and the Super Heavy booster carries so much fuel that the safety zone for neighboring sites and for surrounding civilian facilities is narrowed to the limit. The accompanying road closures at the declared launch frequency will be a disaster for traffic between all surrounding cities. Thus, the scattering of concrete fragments from the launch pad during the first test launch of the Starship complex in Texas reached a neighboring town, and no one was hurt, just a miracle.
Blue Origin is asking the FAA to pay closer attention to the environmental assessment of SpaceX’s new area of responsibility if the company is allowed to work in Florida at the stated intensity. There are expert opinions that in Texas, in the area of the company’s spaceport, not everything is fine with this, although the regulator has no formal claims against SpaceX. Musk succinctly responded to opponents on the X network (former Twitter) in his own spirit: “Let’s sue Blue Origin.”
As follows from the preliminary review of the complaint to the FAA, Blue Origin does not demand a complete ban on Starship launches. It only asks to limit their frequency. Blue Origin itself does not have the warmest relations with NASA. For example, the company was able to return to the Artemis lunar program only as a result of legal and moral pressure on the agency’s leadership.