Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On May 23, Tesla, SpaceX of Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, and FAA became co-defendants in an environmental lawsuit filed by US environmental protection groups. Last month, the company made its first test flight of the world's largest rocket, the Starship (Starship), which exploded in the air.

In a motion filed in court on Friday, SpaceX asked federal judge Carl Nichols to allow the company to become co-defendants with FAA in response to a lawsuit filed against FAA earlier this month by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental and cultural heritage nonprofit.

The plaintiffs "have no objection" to SpaceX's intervention, according to the documents. Jared Margolis, senior lawyer at the Center for Biodiversity and lead lawyer for the plaintiff, said: "it is standard practice and expected for applicants to intervene in cases with licensing problems."

The group suing FAA claimed that the agency should have conducted a more in-depth environmental assessment of the possible impact of SpaceX's launch before allowing the company to launch the world's largest rocket starship from its spaceport interstellar base on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville, Texas.

The Centre for Biological Diversity also claimed that the "mitigation measures" required by the SpaceX were insufficient to avoid "significant adverse impacts" on endangered species, their habitats and indigenous tribes in the area.

In the document, SpaceX outlines the potential impact on the company if environmentalists win the lawsuit, including on its business and finances. The space company also argues that this will damage the "significant national interests" and scientific interests that may be brought about by starships.

"if the court decides in favour of the plaintiffs, FAA's decision could be shelved and further permits for starships and super-heavy rocket programs could be significantly delayed, causing serious damage to SpaceX's business," SpaceX wrote.

In the lawsuit, the Center for Biological Diversity asked FAA to give an Environmental impact statement (EIS). This is a lengthy process that could put SpaceX's starship development in Texas on hold for years.

SpaceX also wrote in the motion that because FAA is a government agency, it does not fully represent the interests of SpaceX in litigation. FAA said in a statement that it "does not comment on ongoing litigation issues".

SpaceX is in jeopardy. Bret Johnsen, SpaceX's chief financial officer, filed the motion along with a statement detailing the damage the company could do if it lost the lawsuit. Since July 2014, SpaceX has invested more than $3 billion in the development of interstellar base facilities and starship systems, Johnson wrote in a statement.

Musk's comments after his first full-stack launch attempt last month show that this year alone, the company is expected to spend about $2 billion on starship development.

Johnson also highlighted the future mission of the SpaceX starship. SpaceX has signed a major $4.2 billion contract with NASA, which will use its rockets to send astronauts to the moon. In addition, SpaceX has signed business client contracts, including three missions for billionaire Jared Isaacman (Jared Isaacman), Yusaku Maezawa and Dennis Tito (Dennis Tito). The contracts are "currently worth hundreds of millions of dollars," Johnson wrote.

Starships are also crucial to the future of SpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet business, which has more than 1.5 million customers. Johnson points out that so far, "SpaceX has invested billions of dollars in the chain." Musk had previously stressed the interdependence of the two businesses, and Johnson further reiterated that SpaceX needed a starship to launch its second-generation chain satellite V2.

"without starships, SpaceX would not only be financially damaged by its inability to launch a V2 satellite, but would also affect hundreds of thousands of people. They are waiting for the Starlink network to upgrade to serve them," Johnson wrote.

Finally, Johnson pointed out that losing the case would force SpaceX to "significantly reduce" its investment in its interstellar base facilities, which would hurt the company, local employees and the community as a whole.

The aftermath of the first test flight in the first test flight of a starship, the SpaceX rocket at an altitude of nearly 122m has achieved several milestones. It flew for more than three minutes, but it also lost several engines during launch, causing serious damage to ground infrastructure and failed to reach space after the rocket began to fall and was deliberately destroyed in the air.

SpaceX is cleaning up the damaged launch site, where huge craters were left on the ground, and debris smashed into launch towers, nearby fuel tanks and other ground equipment. In addition, the launch also produced dust and dust, with particulate matter said to be 10 kilometers away from the launch pad. The test flight also caused a forest fire.

Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida School of Research, is studying the composition of the particle sample. He believes that SpaceX dodged a bullet during the launch and that the blown concrete could destroy the rocket on the launch pad.

"it could have been worse than it is now," Metzger said. I think they made a mistake. They risked launching from the concrete surface, but they seemed to have a 70% success rate. They cleaned up the tower, tested the first stage of the rocket, got a lot of good data, found an interstage problem, and hoped to solve it and get better results in the next test. "

Metzger did not assess the ecological impact of launch pad debris and rocket explosions on endangered species living and migrating in the region. The Texas Regional Office of the United States Fisheries and Wildlife Service and other independent researchers are studying the environmental impact of starship test flights and explosions.

SpaceX's motion also explains why starships are ultimately good for science. The unprecedented capabilities of rockets "will enable scientists to focus on previously impossible scientific tasks and pursue the fastest and easiest way from concept to task execution," the company wrote.

"with its huge capacity, starships can put large telescopes and heavy scientific experimental equipment into orbit at a lower cost, and transport cargo, people and even settlements to other planets or moons," SpaceX said.

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