The Federal Aviation Administration has completed its investigations into SpaceX’s latest two Starship prototype tests, named SN8 and SN9, according to CNN’s Jackie Wattles. News about federal probes launched the launch of the SpaceX SN10 prototype in a legal language, but on Sunday CEO Elon Musk seemed confident that the issue had been resolved, tweeting that there is a “high chance of flying this week!”
Last month, the news broke that SpaceX violated its launch license with its SN8 test flight in December, prompting a formal FAA investigation. The agency rejected SpaceX’s proposed updates to its license and did not give the green light to the launch, but the company continued anyway, CNET reported. The rocket launched successfully, but then exploded during a landing attempt. An FAA spokesman now says the SN8 issue – that is, their investigation into the license violation, appears to have been in order with the entire part of the explosion – has since been resolved, according to a tweet from Wattles this week.
As for SN9, which exploded as well While trying to land during an altitude test earlier this month, the agency found that it “failed within the limits of the FAA safety analysis.” It should be noted that the SNA investigation of the FAA was a routine response to a re-entry failure like the one I saw on February 2nd.
“The FAA closed its investigation into the SpaceX Starship SN9 prototype on Feb. 2 today, paving the way for the SN10 test flight pending FAA approval of license updates,” an agency spokesman for Wattles said Friday. “The FAA oversaw the SN9 investigation into the SpaceX-led crash. The SN9 vehicle failed within the limits of the FAA safety analysis. Its failed landing and explosion did not endanger the public or property. “
WOnce these investigations are complete, SpaceX should be clear to launch its S10 prototype now, although anyone assumes when it will be. Whenever the launch ends, Musk loved it that the S10 has a 60% chance to land successfully.
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It’s not the worst chance I’ve ever seen. But if these spacecraft will “help humanity return to the moon and travel to Mars and beyond,” as supports the company, he really has to realize that everything has caught fire.