A spokesperson from the FAA told TechCrunch in an emailed statement that the company’s request was not granted at this time “due to the overall safety, risk and impact analysis.”
That could mean so many different things.
And I wouldn’t doubt that that played a huge role in the decision, but I’m curious as to what, if anything, changed between when they created the mission profile /launched it, and now. Did they not get some basic permit to launch it that also included the entry plan, which was approved?
That’s what I’m unsure of.
I don’t think the launch permits have anything to do with this company at all. They would’ve just purchased a ride on another company’s rocket (likely Space X or ULA). They probably assumed they could figure out reentry when they got to that point in the mission. I can’t say for sure, but they very well may even have multiple plans for getting the capsule back, and this was just the first one they tried.
Could just explicitly mean impact analysis, like we’re not cool with what happens if the parachute burns up or fails to deploy.
Yep, definitely an option. I guess I’m just confused as to why this is just now a problem and they didn’t have a plan from the beginning. Or if they did, what changed?
