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>One government agency, he said, at one point required them to do a study that estimated the chances of a re-entering rocket body impacting a gray whale in the

>One government agency, he said, at one point required them to do a study that estimated the chances of a re-entering rocket body impacting a gray whale in the event that it splashed down hard -- personally I agree, that is kind of ridiculous. Except that’s not actually what happened. See https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/57423/did-the-u-s-government-require-spacex-to-study-the-impact-of-rocket-launches-on https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/57423/did-the-u... If you read the relevant portions of SpaceX’s submission to the FAA (link and page numbers in the link above), the FAA comes across as totally reasonable. It sounds like they were just trying to make sure that SpaceX complied with the Endangered Species Act and other related laws. That’s hardly an example of agency overreach.

TimTheTinker 2y ago
This definitely wasn't the FAA. I think it may have been the NOAA(?) - sorry, I don't remember exactly which agency. The FAA has required environmental studies, but it's not the only one that has. The answer you linked to didn't look into or take into account requirements from other agencies. For example: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-recovery-activities-california-and https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-author... But that's not the specific interaction I'm thinking of.
- trogdor 2y ago
  Without question, it was the FAA. Click the link and read the document. “At the request of the FAA, SpaceX conducted a literature review of ESA-listed endangered and threatened species with known or presumed distributions in the study area that may be affected by the proposed March 2024 13 FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation Tiered Environmental Assessment for SpaceX Starship Indian Ocean Landings activities.” It goes on to explicitly reference the (essentially zero) risk of impacting and killing and endangered-species-listed marine mammal on splashdown. It is the interaction described above. The Endangered Species Act is not a requirement from another agency. It’s the law. Everyone has to follow it.
  - TimTheTinker 2y ago
    I didn't mean the linked thing wasn't the FAA (I did read it). I meant that the incident I'm thinking of wasn't.

TimTheTinker 2y ago

This definitely wasn't the FAA. I think it may have been the NOAA(?) - sorry, I don't remember exactly which agency. The FAA has required environmental studies, but it's not the only one that has. The answer you linked to didn't look into or take into account requirements from other agencies. For example: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-recovery-activities-california-and https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-author... But that's not the specific interaction I'm thinking of.

trogdor 2y ago
Without question, it was the FAA. Click the link and read the document. “At the request of the FAA, SpaceX conducted a literature review of ESA-listed endangered and threatened species with known or presumed distributions in the study area that may be affected by the proposed March 2024 13 FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation Tiered Environmental Assessment for SpaceX Starship Indian Ocean Landings activities.” It goes on to explicitly reference the (essentially zero) risk of impacting and killing and endangered-species-listed marine mammal on splashdown. It is the interaction described above. The Endangered Species Act is not a requirement from another agency. It’s the law. Everyone has to follow it.
- TimTheTinker 2y ago
  I didn't mean the linked thing wasn't the FAA (I did read it). I meant that the incident I'm thinking of wasn't.