SpaceX blasts FAA for claiming falling satellites could by 2035 kill someone every two years
In a letter response to an FAA report to Congress issued last week, SpaceX has strongly criticized the FAA for claiming falling satellites from the many big constellations being launched now could by 2035 kill someone every two years.
The FAA’s report actually claimed that some of the risk of death from these satellites would come from space junk impacting airplanes. From the report:
“Some debris fragments would also be a hazard to people in aircraft. Projecting 2019 global air traffic to 2035 and assuming that a fragment that would injure or kill a person on the ground also would be capable of fatally damaging an aircraft, the probability of an aircraft downing accident (defined in the Aerospace report as a collision with an aircraft downing object) in 2035 would be 0.0007 per year.”
As SpaceX’s response correctly notes, this claim of a threat is absurd. Not only do the satellites from these constellations always burn up in the atmosphere — making the risk zero — the chances of a collusion that the FAA claims are still so infinitesimal they should not have been considered worth mentioning. SpaceX also noted that the FAA’s analysis was based on obsolete Iridium satellites from the 1990s that are no longer being launched, not the kind of satellites and the preventive actions modern satellite companies take in flying them.
It appears this report is just another example of the full court press of the administrative state against not just SpaceX but all of private enterprise. By exaggerating the risk of space debris, the FAA is trying to justify more regulation and restrictions in an effort to garner more power to itself at the expense of freedom.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
In a letter response to an FAA report to Congress issued last week, SpaceX has strongly criticized the FAA for claiming falling satellites from the many big constellations being launched now could by 2035 kill someone every two years.
The FAA’s report actually claimed that some of the risk of death from these satellites would come from space junk impacting airplanes. From the report:
“Some debris fragments would also be a hazard to people in aircraft. Projecting 2019 global air traffic to 2035 and assuming that a fragment that would injure or kill a person on the ground also would be capable of fatally damaging an aircraft, the probability of an aircraft downing accident (defined in the Aerospace report as a collision with an aircraft downing object) in 2035 would be 0.0007 per year.”
As SpaceX’s response correctly notes, this claim of a threat is absurd. Not only do the satellites from these constellations always burn up in the atmosphere — making the risk zero — the chances of a collusion that the FAA claims are still so infinitesimal they should not have been considered worth mentioning. SpaceX also noted that the FAA’s analysis was based on obsolete Iridium satellites from the 1990s that are no longer being launched, not the kind of satellites and the preventive actions modern satellite companies take in flying them.
It appears this report is just another example of the full court press of the administrative state against not just SpaceX but all of private enterprise. By exaggerating the risk of space debris, the FAA is trying to justify more regulation and restrictions in an effort to garner more power to itself at the expense of freedom.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
More shading of the truth and outright lies in favor of a political agenda by the Bidumbs
“ space junk impacting airplanes “
Silly
Its just proof that they place idiots in charge of these organizations.
Do they even realize that over 2000 meteorites impact the Earth every year and we know of less than a few people who have been injured by them.
Are they claiming that the satellites will be falling more frequently than asteroids?
My numbers are more than likely a little off but they are still idiots.
uh, does the report include reports of China’s rocket parts landing in the Philippines? Or are they just aiming at destroying Musk?
The claims of upper stage weight was also exaggerated.
From the article:
So, yes, Nancy Reyes. It does not include China’s contribution to falling debris, and it does seem to focus primarily on the kinds of satellites that SpaceX operates. Government officials seem eager, these days, to pile on the attacks, where Elon Musk is concerned. It does not seem to matter that SpaceX’s satellites are to fall to earth in the usual places in the Pacific Ocean (fall to water?). The implication is that Musk is launching “death satellites” that will kill half a person a year, and may knock down various airplanes, every few years.
I would not be surprised if someone were to blame Musk for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Obviously, it wasn’t a black hole, but it could have been a deadly Musk satellite, or maybe a Falcon second stage, since Starlink wasn’t flying back then.
Well, if this report is true, then FAA/F&W are also responsible for any Falcon upper stage debris strikes by delaying fully reusable Starship/SuperHeavy development.
Chomper could clean up debris—therefore it is FAA/F&W that are responsible for any debris deaths.
The meteor has got to be more dangerous due to the wide shock wave from the large air burst type. Here is a skydiver that filmed a meteor passing by at low altitude https://youtu.be/gzYJaQ0h4Dg?feature=shared
If administrative rule making by the CDC is any guide here, then regulators can regulate down to 1 estimated death per decade. They love using false science method like studies of studies.