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New boss (9/8/23)
Rachael Zisk & Jack Kuhr
September 08, 2023
Good morning. Happy Friday and welcome aboard to the 88 of you who joined us this week.
Today’s newsletter:
✈️ FAA nominee
🚀 Relativity’s MS expansion
💫 Payload’s picks
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Biden Picks FAA Nominee
Image: White House
President Biden plans to nominate Michael G. Whitaker to be the new FAA chief, a position that has been open for more than 500 days.
The nomination comes five months after Phillip Washington withdrew from consideration after congressional pushback over his limited aviation industry experience. The position has been vacant since March 2022, with Billy Nolen and Polly Trottenberg serving as acting administrators in the interim.
Resume: Whitaker is a 30+ year aerospace veteran, serving as deputy FAA administrator from 2013 to 2016 under Obama. Whitaker is now COO at Supernal, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) startup.
Whitaker’s nomination will have to be approved by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the full Senate before he can get on the job.
“I have long urged President Biden to put an experienced nominee forward so the FAA can reduce disruptions, ensure safe travel, and guide us into the next era of aviation,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) said in a statement. “Given his experience as a former FAA deputy administrator, I look forward to swiftly assessing Mike Whitaker’s nomination.”
Space’s regulators: The FAA plays a central role in regulating space activity, including monitoring launch infrastructure, issuing launch licenses, and maintaining airspace safety. However, since the early 2000’s, the agency has stopped short of regulating human space flight.
In 2004, Congress imposed a “learning period” that prohibited additional regulations on space tourists.
The rulemaking moratorium will end Oct. 1 without action from Congress, though industry has asked for another extension.
This month, Congress is also considering an FAA authorization bill, which asks the agency to look at how rockets and airplanes can better share the airspace. The current FAA authorization also expires Sept. 30.
+ Starship and FAA update: After months of implementing operational improvements, SpaceX finally filed its Starship mishap report with the FAA in August.
The FAA told Payload on Wednesday, “The SpaceX Starship mishap investigation remains open. The FAA will not authorize another Starship launch until SpaceX implements the corrective actions identified during the mishap investigation and demonstrates compliance with all the regulatory requirements of the license modification process.”
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Relativity Breaks New Ground at Stennis
Image: Relativity
Relativity Space signed a seven-year lease on a test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to prepare for its 3D-printed Terran R rocket.
The company will pay $2.76M for the initial lease on the Apollo-era A-2 stand, and has the option to take out another 10 years if needed. Relativity already has 10-year leases on the E-2 and E-4 stands as well as a commercial use agreement on E-1.
“The scale of Terran R as a medium-heavy lift reusable launch vehicle is substantial,” Relativity CEO Tim Ellis said in a statement. “Exclusive access to these rare, national-asset facilities through partnership with NASA uniquely enables Relativity to develop a world-class launch vehicle.”
Terran R: Relativity successfully launched its first 3D printed rocket, Terran 1, back in March…then quickly announced it was shelving the small-lift launcher in favor of developing the heavier-lift Terran R. A first flight is slated for 2026.
Terran R will also be additively manufactured, and Relativity is building brand-new 3D printing tech to build the rocket and its massive Aeon R engines.
Building at Stennis: Relativity has been plotting an expansion at Stennis for a while. The company announced its plans to build several test stands and administrative offices at the historic site in November. Now, the company says it’s planning to commit $267M to the expansion.
Relativity is hiring for the site now as it ramps up operations.
The new lease will speed up the rocket testing cycles, the company said, hopefully allowing them to get back to space faster.
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In Other News
Payload's Picks
📖 What we’re reading:
Astralytical revisits Virgin Galactic’s business model and hype cycle (6 min read).
Polaris talked with Office of Space Commerce head Richard DalBello about taking on the nation’s space traffic management mission (4 min read).
👀 What we’re watching:
Starship is fully stacked for the first time in four and half months (1 min watch).
Japan launched its SLIM lunar lander to the Moon (1 min watch).
Sierra Space dropped a new animation illustrating how its Dream Chaser spacecraft will fly to the ISS (2 min watch).
🏆 ICYMI, here were this week’s three most-read stories on our website:
The View from Space
Image: ISRO
The Earth and Moon can be seen in this image snapped by ISRO’s Aditya-L1 mission on Sept. 4.
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