FAA issues launch license to Rocket Lab
Capitalism in space: The FAA has issued a launch license to Rocket Lab for three launches from New Zealand.
This is no surprise. As I noted on May 15, I suspect the reason Rocket Lab announced its launch date for May 22 before getting the launch license was to force the FAA to finally issue it.
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Capitalism in space: The FAA has issued a launch license to Rocket Lab for three launches from New Zealand.
This is no surprise. As I noted on May 15, I suspect the reason Rocket Lab announced its launch date for May 22 before getting the launch license was to force the FAA to finally issue it.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Q:
-How much do these launch-license’s cost the applicant?
-Anyone have a link to a PDF of the entire application? I would like to read one.
Wayne: To see the license process for expendable rockets, go here: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/launch_reentry/#expendable
They have different procedures, depending on the rocket. Go to https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/ to see all the options.
The process is apparently complex and time-consuming, much more than it should be.
Thank you!
Hmm. I’m wondering why a launch from New Zealand would require **any permission** from the US
Fred: Because Rocket Lab is based in the U.S., it needs FAA approval. This is to maintain its proper legal status in the U.S. so that satellite companies here can buy their services.
Fred–
-the company itself is based in the United States.
(In part, this is the inevitable fall out of contorting the Commerce Clause beyond reality.)
Related because its about the FAA:
http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/334233-appeals-court-strikes-down-federal-registration-rule-for-toy-drones
Interesting. I am certain that the FAA knew the limits of their scope to regulate and thought that they would just go for it anyway and see what happens. I suppose this establishes a starting point to attempt to control to some degree, from their point of view?
Drones can and I am sure will be something to contend with related to security in the future. They are relatively cheap, are getting more and more powerful, they can carry a bigger and bigger payload, longer and longer range and speed, essentially undetectable by radar, there can be many controlled simultaneously and precisely delivered pretty much anywhere using GPS. GULP!
fred wrote: “I’m wondering why a launch from New Zealand would require **any permission** from the US”
In another thread, John E Bowen wrote: “the US has a big reach, big sphere of influence.”
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/rocket-lab-sets-may-21-for-first-test-launch-of-its-electron-rocket/#comment-983522
US companies have to follow US law, even when they operate outside the US. For example, it is illegal for a US company to use bribery, even in countries where bribery is customarily expected (when working for defense contractors, I had to attend annual ethics classes just to make sure that these types of concepts were beat into my head).
When a US company operates in New Zealand (a non-bribery country, just to be clear) then it is still required to get proper US permissions to launch its rockets, and it is still required to comply with ITAR restrictions (ITAR was beat into my head even while doing commercial work, but that is because even a communication satellite is considered a munition, for ITAR purposes — heh, it seems that the continued beatings worked, as I still remember this stuff, but my morale didn’t improve).
There may be advantages to being a US company (although I can’t think of any as I write this; so much for morale), but there are disadvantages, too. Companies must comply with their homeland laws as well as the laws of each country they operate in.
In this way, every country has a big sphere of influence.