The Federal Aviation Administration is seeking a civil penalty of $175,000 against SpaceX on the grounds that the company failed to submit collision avoidance data before a launch.
On Aug. 19, 2022, SpaceX sent the Falcon 9 Starlink 4-27 mission into space in order to launch 53 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX was supposed to send collision avoidance data to the FAA at least seven days beforehand so that authorities could assess how likely it was that the SpaceX launch vehicle would collide with an Earth-orbiting object.
As such, SpaceX is subject to a fine. Although the maximum amount under law is $262,666, the FAA landed at the $175,000 figure after reviewing the information they had gathered in their investigation of the SpaceX violation.
The Elon Musk-led company now has 30 days to respond to an FAA enforcement letter. The letter marked the first time the FAA had levied fines on a rocket operator for failure to submit launch data, an FAA spokesperson told CNBC.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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