SpaceX Caught Violating Coastal Permit At Vandenberg, Files Request For 36 Launches Per Year,. With Hundreds of Plastic Weather Balloons To Be Lost At Sea
Written by 991KBU on April 4, 2024
SpaceX … the rocket building and internet communications company … has been caught cheating on its Coastal Commission permit to launch six rockets per year from Vandenberg Space Force Base …. 100 miles up the coast from Malibu.
And now … the company is asking for permits to launch 36 rockets per year. And this request includes a request to launch 36 plastic weathers balloons every time …. balloons that fall to Earth … many of them falling into the ocean.
On top of that … another rocket company has just been granted operates for 48 rocket launches per year from Vandenberg … 100 miles upcoast from Malibu.
SpaceX is a tenant at the Space Force launch complex at Vandenberg. And every time it launches a rocket … it has to notify the Santa Barbara County Parks Department to close down a public campground at Jamala.
And Santa Barbara County Parks noted a strange thing. Instead of six launches per year … they saw 13 launches in 2022.
28 rocket launches in 2023. And 11 in the first three months of this year.
Santa Barbara County Parks asked Coastal … what about the six rockets per year limit??
Rather than fine SpaceX for violating its coastal permit … the Coastal staff agreed to “reopen” its approval limit of six launches.
So last week … SpaceX filed an amended request …and the Coastal Commission yesterday filed papers with all this information.
KBUU News has learned … it is for a drastic increase in launch frequency. And … a large amount of plastic pollution dumped into the Pacific Ocean.
In addition to the proposed 36 rockets per year from its expanded rocket base at Vandenberg … the company wants of 12 powered landings of its first stage booster at Vandenberg … instead of at a robot ship off of Baja California.
There is no information in the Coastal documents about the weather balloons. Presumably … they precisely measure atmospheric winds before the launch of the rockets … and the landings of the booster.
Each plastic balloon and its radio gear will be lost, with dozens falling in the ocean. The effect of all that plastic debris raining into the Pacific Ocean would be offset through Space-X making a donation to a UC Davis program, which recovers lost and abandoned fishing nets and other gear from the ocean.
The rocket launches would also be loud …. possibly affecting animals on the Vandenberg coast. That effect is not analyzed.
The impact of all these launches on the atmosphere …. not addressed.
The impact of rocket debris … plastic and metal that detach from the rockets and fall in the ocean … not addressed.
And on top of all that … the Coastal Commission also has given the green light for a new company to set up at Vandenberg.
Phantom Space Corporation has a permit for 48 launches and 48 engine fire tests annually.
Add it all up … and we might see two to three rocket launches per week … just up the coast from Malibu.
All of this information comes from a Coastal Commission report filed Wednesday, for the agenda item
No comment from SpaceX.
The matter will be discussed at the next Coastal Commission meeting next Wednesday in Long Beach.
