Mars immigration plan hit a setback, Musk took on NASA

Musk (Elon Musk) is enthusiastic about the concept of Mars colonization, his SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies) is also working to develop a lower-priced, reusable Mars colony ship “Starship” (Starship), and has experienced many failures in a number of tests. But sources point out that one of the failures was due to SpaceX’s failure to comply with the terms of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) permit.

Musk’s SpaceX, with the Falcon 9 rocket on the left

U.S. technology news site “The Verge” reported that it is not clear which part of the test violated the launch permit, “Bloomberg” from sources familiar with the matter confirmed that the FAA is investigating why SpaceX refused to comply with the content of the regulator’s authorization, SpaceX 29 did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The investigation should refer to the eighth prototype of Starship “SN-8”, the aircraft in December 9 last year to try to challenge the flight to new heights, successfully launched and completed nearly seven minutes of flight, but in the flip landing procedures failed to land, suspected of touching the ground too fast and exploded, the fireball almost burned up the cabin. The fourth prototype, the SN-4, exploded during a static ignition test in late May last year.

In response to SN-9, the FAA said, “The agency recognizes the importance of rapidly advancing commercial progress and innovation in space, but will not compromise its responsibility to protect public safety, and will only approve SpaceX’s attempt to modify its launch permit after we are satisfied that it has taken the necessary steps to comply with regulatory requirements. approve the launch permit SpaceX seeks to modify.”

Musk, for his part, expressed his displeasure in a tweeted reply on the 28th, saying that the FAA’s space division has a fundamentally dysfunctional regulatory structure and that their rules are only for a small number of government agencies, sporadic and dispensable launches each year, and that “humans will never be able to land on Mars under these rules.”