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

On October 18, Elon Musk (Elon Musk) rocket company SpaceX plans to propose to Congress on Wednesday that the policy of "no safety regulation of commercial manned spaceflight" be extended for another few years.

A senior SpaceX executive plans to argue at a Senate subcommittee hearing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has struggled to keep up with the fast-changing rocket launch industry.

William Gerstenmeier, vice president of construction and flight reliability at SpaceX, said in an interview: "We want to keep the pace of development as fast as possible and do not want to be hindered in unnecessary places."

Even under traditional regulatory responsibilities, FAA needs to increase its manpower to carry out supervisory responsibilities, says Mr Gerstenmeier. As of Tuesday, only SpaceX had conducted 73 missions in 2023, the largest number of launches by the company in a single year.

He added: "they support us, but we think they are overwhelmed and we think they will become busier and busier in the future."

FAA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since 2004, FAA has not established safety rules for commercial manned spacecraft. People who travel to space in commercial spacecraft must admit under the framework of "informed consent" that the spacecraft they will be on is not certified by the government.

Proponents of the ban argue that the commercial aerospace industry is still in a "learning period" and that premature regulation could stifle innovation.

The nearly 20-year ban was supposed to end on October 1st. However, Congress extended the ban for three months until January 1 next year. This is a stopgap measure of funding for the federal government, and it is not clear whether the ban will be extended again.

The issue will be discussed at a hearing of the Senate Space and Science Subcommittee on Wednesday. Representatives of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Richard Branson's Virgin Galaxy will testify alongside Gerstenmeier.

SpaceX also plans to put forward proposals to speed up FAA work on Wednesday. For example, SpaceX must wait for FAA to complete its investigation into the launch accident of the first starship test before reapplying for a launch license. Mr Gerstenmeier says it is best to do these things at the same time.

SpaceX is critical of the rules and regulations governing licensing procedures for rocket launches and re-entry of spacecraft, part 450 of the FAA licensing procedures. Part 450 aims to simplify rocket licensing by establishing performance-based requirements.

SpaceX believes that FAA has encountered difficulties in effectively implementing these regulations because different companies have different ways to demonstrate similar requirements.

"I think the problem with part 450 is that we may have introduced the rules too quickly," Mr Gerstenmeier said. although it is well-intentioned to simplify the process, the details actually determine the success or failure, which actually slows us down. "

In July, FAA announced plans to set up a rulemaking committee to identify new safety standards that might be implemented after the ban ends. The committee plans to collect recommendations on these standards from members of the aerospace industry.

However, the SpaceX prefers to extend the ban while the FAA debates possible regulation. Under the framework of "informed consent", FAA already has the right to intervene in the event of a major accident.

"FAA already has a lot of power in today's world," says Mr Gerstenmeier. "

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.