I don’t know, but I thnk he’s an old Boeing guy, based on past comments he has made.
That’s been my take as well.
Part of me reads the story along with the FAA notification and find myself wondering why this is even interesting. Environmental impact studies are a thing and have been a thing for some decades now. I do think they are mostly minor government grift, but it is a routine activity for most business, space related or not. SpaceX is building the tower at their own risk; Bob’s right that they probably made that calculated decision to put pressure on approval, and there isn’t much in the reporting that shows the FAA won’t complete its analysis when it predicted with favorable results for SpaceX.
But then government corruption, particularly at the federal level, seems to have reached new levels. When something like this is allowed to Team USA gynmastics, primarily because some bureaucrat wanted a job on the US Olympic committee; then it is reasonable to believe someone within the FAA would consider some grift to harm SpaceX’s efforts. It isn’t like the FAA record has been particularly clean recently. And note I made to links to IG items from this year that involve sexual assault of young women and failures in regulation that lead to the untimely death of 346 people. How much jail time do you think these bureaucrats face? It is a sure thing bet that if the FAA rules against SpaceX, that will make more news than the two IG reports combined.
Repurpose the launch tower as a radio tower and apply for a grandfathering from the perhaps less political FCC. Then when the political climate improves, repurpose again. Problem fixed.
Put a US Flag on the top
Musk was friendly to Trump. His rival, Bezos, took out Parler when it was being used by Republicans to discuss election irregularities. The Democrats are quite at home with using government entities to punish their opponents while handing out favors to their patrons.
Bezos bought the WAPO so he could use the implied threat to keep the politicians in line. Musk needs his own sword of Damocles, I bet he could buy CNN right now for near-firesale prices.
Musk is friendly to everyone. He has the things he wants to do and will do what it takes to get those things done, even if that means being nice to people. There is an element of Machiavelli to his actions. Wait, how could Musk be immoral when he has electric car and solar panel companies? Maybe he didn’t start them to save the planet but he isn’t above marketing them to people who thinks that is what they do.
How does this apply to his space based activities? Musk comes off as open but no one knows what lies in any (hu)man’s heart.
Tesla only looks like an electric car company. It’s a battery development company.
He’s slamming them for road closures and possibly unlicensed security guards. I wonder what Cameron county’s voters would think of forcing SpaceX to move all their operations to Florida?
Or five miles south?
Not enough campaign contributions paid by SpaceX recently?
Uh. I don’t so much care if they oppress all us conservatives and plunge our democracy into fascism. But I really really don’t want them stopping SpaceX.
I’m serious, at least in a relative sense.
FAA Delenda Est!
“FAA Delenda Est!”
I’ll go along with that. Add Australia’s CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority – the only safety they care about is the safety of their jobs).
Who in the hell is mkent?
I don’t know, but I thnk he’s an old Boeing guy, based on past comments he has made.
That’s been my take as well.
Part of me reads the story along with the FAA notification and find myself wondering why this is even interesting. Environmental impact studies are a thing and have been a thing for some decades now. I do think they are mostly minor government grift, but it is a routine activity for most business, space related or not. SpaceX is building the tower at their own risk; Bob’s right that they probably made that calculated decision to put pressure on approval, and there isn’t much in the reporting that shows the FAA won’t complete its analysis when it predicted with favorable results for SpaceX.
But then government corruption, particularly at the federal level, seems to have reached new levels. When something like this is allowed to Team USA gynmastics, primarily because some bureaucrat wanted a job on the US Olympic committee; then it is reasonable to believe someone within the FAA would consider some grift to harm SpaceX’s efforts. It isn’t like the FAA record has been particularly clean recently. And note I made to links to IG items from this year that involve sexual assault of young women and failures in regulation that lead to the untimely death of 346 people. How much jail time do you think these bureaucrats face? It is a sure thing bet that if the FAA rules against SpaceX, that will make more news than the two IG reports combined.
Repurpose the launch tower as a radio tower and apply for a grandfathering from the perhaps less political FCC. Then when the political climate improves, repurpose again. Problem fixed.
Put a US Flag on the top
Musk was friendly to Trump. His rival, Bezos, took out Parler when it was being used by Republicans to discuss election irregularities. The Democrats are quite at home with using government entities to punish their opponents while handing out favors to their patrons.
Bezos bought the WAPO so he could use the implied threat to keep the politicians in line. Musk needs his own sword of Damocles, I bet he could buy CNN right now for near-firesale prices.
Musk is friendly to everyone. He has the things he wants to do and will do what it takes to get those things done, even if that means being nice to people. There is an element of Machiavelli to his actions. Wait, how could Musk be immoral when he has electric car and solar panel companies? Maybe he didn’t start them to save the planet but he isn’t above marketing them to people who thinks that is what they do.
How does this apply to his space based activities? Musk comes off as open but no one knows what lies in any (hu)man’s heart.
Tesla only looks like an electric car company. It’s a battery development company.
Somewhat related, from last month. Cameron County DA: SpaceX may be violating Texas law.
He’s slamming them for road closures and possibly unlicensed security guards. I wonder what Cameron county’s voters would think of forcing SpaceX to move all their operations to Florida?
Or five miles south?
Not enough campaign contributions paid by SpaceX recently?
Uh. I don’t so much care if they oppress all us conservatives and plunge our democracy into fascism. But I really really don’t want them stopping SpaceX.
I’m serious, at least in a relative sense.
FAA Delenda Est!
“FAA Delenda Est!”
I’ll go along with that. Add Australia’s CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority – the only safety they care about is the safety of their jobs).