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Suborbital Rocketeers Ask FAA For Fair Rocketry Rules

Posted by timothy on from the buggy-whip-bureaucrats dept.

HobbySpacer writes "John Carmack, Dennis Tito, Eric Anderson of Space Adventures, Brian Chase of the National Space Society and other notables in the world of rocketry and space activism issued a call today for the FAA to cut the regulatory tangle that threatens to hold a nascent fleet of suborbital space vehicles firmly on the ground. The FAA needs to make it clear that these rocket vehicles fall under the jurisdiction of its own Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) and not let intra-agency bureaucratic squabbles over control and power stall the development of this promising new industry."

18 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong story. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think this was meant to be a post under "Engineering From Science Fiction", not a story in its own right.

  2. Never forget the FAA's motto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "We're not happy until you're NOT happy."

  3. The project is doomed. by scottcha+4 · · Score: 3, Funny

    They want CONGRESS to help cut through the bureaucracy?

    Once they get done forming the committe to form the committe to investiage the possiblity of feasiblity the Chinese will all ready have colinized Mars.

    --
    Sanity is overrated...Being CRAZY is much more fun!!!
    1. Re:The project is doomed. by laughing_badger · · Score: 2, Funny
      ... the Chinese will all ready have colinized Mars.

      I was wondering what my old mate Colin was up to these days.

      --
      Help children born unable to swallow - www.tofs.org.uk
    2. Re:The project is doomed. by jkrise · · Score: 2, Funny

      the Chinese will all ready have colinized Mars.

      and yet, NASA will not trust the Chinese - so they'd send an unmanned drone after them!

      -

      --
      If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
    3. Re:The project is doomed. by devilspgd · · Score: 3, Funny

      They're sending Bush after the Chinese?

      --
      Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
  4. New Base by henrygb · · Score: 1, Funny
    "The U.S. suborbital rocket industry has the potential to develop a world-dominating business base in commercial human spaceflight"

    So would this be the next private-sector version of Guantanamo Bay?

  5. In other news by BabyDave · · Score: 5, Funny
    The FAA needs to make it clear that these rocket vehicles fall under the jurisdiction of its own Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST)...

    In other news, they're also searching for a suitable 'A' word so that the acronym doesn't look so stupid.

    1. Re:In other news by Lemmeoutada+Collecti · · Score: 1, Funny

      Might be even more fun as the Office of Private Intraorbital Underwriting and Management (OPIUM)

      --

      You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
  6. Re:It's no wonder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    " Why is it that the FAA can't create designated no-fly zones for general public research purposes?"

    I suggest the area in and around Redmond, nea Seattle. Should be more than 2 square miles? Dont worry if it hits anything, there will always be some backup.

  7. Dear US government... by Zemran · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am having trouble with all this red tape and would like your help with my rocket programme. I think that you should slacken the rules for us hard done by amateur rocket makers...

    I also wonder if you could help fund my rocket programme like you have helped with my other projects in the past?

    Regards

    Osama b. Laden

    --
    I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
  8. Personnally by s4ltyd0g · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't care who's juristiction they fall under, it's who they fall on that worries me (-;

  9. Re:It's no wonder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm not sure if the US police would appreciate anyone driving around in a cold war missile-launcher.

    Are Cold War Missile Launchers not Constitutionally Protected under the 2nd Amendment? I demand my right to form a well regulated militia using Sovite Cold War era missile launchers and armoured personel carriers!

  10. It must be hard to control the skies... by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    without letting out information that could jeopardize security. Surely, rocketeers would be overjoyed to have a javascript applet of where every plane is at any time, but clearly that would cause problems, even if it could be implemented. For my money, it should be really, really hard to get a permit to shoot things into space. NORAD has enough to worry about without having to nuke JoeBob's CO2-propelled trashcan with fins.

    --
    stuff |
  11. Re:liability concerns? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 3, Funny
    If there's one thing tech people do not understand, it is tort law.

    Hah! They also don't seem to understand contract law, copyright and patent law, and the difference between microwaves and gamma radiation!

    --
    If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
  12. Why not let them launch by reboot246 · · Score: 3, Funny

    from Area 51? After all, there's nothing really there according to the government.

  13. Re:Proliferation... by Nucleon500 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Interesting though it may be, commercial space flight is a nuclear proliferation nightmare: what if anyone with (say) $50M to spend could put any payload he wanted, anywhere on the planet, reliably?

    Oh, you mean like FedEx? Yeah, that would be scary.

    --
    Litigious bastards
  14. fall under? by Wilk4 · · Score: 4, Funny
    "The FAA needs to make it clear that these rocket vehicles fall under the jurisdiction of its own Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST)..."

    if they are suborbital,
    don't they fall under the law of gravity?
    (the ultimate authority in such matters... ;-)