Not Accepting Fines Of IDR 9.5 Billion, SpaceX Blames FAA Performance

JAKARTA - On September 17, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) fined SpaceX US$633 thousand or around Rp9.5 billion. According to the FAA, SpaceX has violated the launch license provisions.

The launch license for which the company violated was the Satria-1 broad-band satellite or PSN Satria belonging to the Indonesian government in June last year. SpaceX was also deemed to have violated the launch license for the wide-band satellite Jupiter-3, or the EchoStar-24, in July 2023.

Two days after the fine was filed, SpaceX submitted a four-page reply to the leadership of the US House of Representatives Science Committee, the leader of the US Senate Trade Committee, and two committees overseeing the FAA Commercial Space Transport Office (AST).

In the letter, SpaceX blamed the FAA for frequently delaying the launch schedule due to minor problems. The company owned by Elon Musk also stated that AST could not process small problems on time.

"In connection with this issue, it should be noted that in every event, SpaceX provides sufficient notification to AST about this relatively small licensing update, which has no impact on public safety," SpaceX said.

SpaceX also provides an example of a date change problem. For example, the company changed the planned launch of Falcon 9, including the launch site, and expected a response on May 2. However, the FAA has not finished reviewing until June 13 due to too many changes.

The company issued another launch revision on June 15 just to change the location and according to SpaceX, this change does not require FAA approval. As of August 20, the FAA has yet to issue a new launch license.

SpaceX felt that the location change took a very long time, even though the company only moved the control center for launch. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk also mentioned that this fine was a legal war with political motives.