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Old December 16th 18, 07:27 PM posted to sci.space.policy
David Spain
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Default BFS drops composite construction

On 12/16/2018 9:22 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:
I think it far more likely that BFR/BFS would be certified for taking
people into space and back since the FAA requirements for that are far
less strict than for passenger jet aircraft.


I agree with this point.

I'm thinking SpaceX is
going to try to argue that even as a P2P transport, it goes "into
space" and therefore shouldn't have to meet the strict safety rules that
a passenger jet aircraft would have to meet.

I also agree with you that SpaceX will try to keep this in the space
domain as long as possible, until it becomes routine enough for the FAA
to be willing to adopt the rules needed to allow this to remain
commercially viable.

I personally give this a slim chance of actually happening.


When it comes to rule making this technology is in the same domain as
was aviation in the 1930s. Who knows what the *right* rules are? This is
not a jet aircraft by any stretch.

We agree to disagree on this point. There is a market to cut the
appalling trans-oceanic travel times, esp. trans-pacific. And opening
new flight routes, such as Euro-Pacific. This seems the most promising
(to me) over the other options such as SST and HST, which I doubt could
be made as economical as this approach promises.

Also note: if the FAA becomes obstructionist, it doesn't have to be the
USA that opens the market. SpaceX is a private company. It can set up
trials wherever it is welcome.

Dave