The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $175,000 civil penalty against Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) for failure to submit launch collision analysis trajectory data directly to the FAA prior to the August 19, 2022, launch of the Starlink Group 4-27 mission.
SpaceX was required to submit the data to the agency at least seven days prior to an attempted launch.
Launch collision analysis trajectory data is used to assess the probability of the launch vehicle colliding with one of the thousands of tracked objects orbiting the Earth.
SpaceX has 30 days to respond to the FAA after receiving the agency’s enforcement letter.
The FAA announcement comes as the U.S. is sharpening its focus on objects in the national airspace following the intrusion by a Chinese surveillance balloon.
