Environmental groups are taking on SpaceX

It was spectacular: two weeks ago, SpaceX took off as the largest rocket yet – and exploded in the sky just four minutes later.

The debris ended up in the ocean. But the rocket launch has not only left its mark on nature there: the rocket test site is located in the middle of a nature reserve, a habitat for endangered species. On the one hand, a crater was torn into the ground at the start, on the other hand, chunks of concrete were distributed in a radius of 500 meters. Fine sand particles have been documented even at a distance of 10 kilometers.

Elon Musk has now announced that the next test flight of the heavy rocket could take place in a few months. Environmentalists are not very enthusiastic about this.

Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday. This would have given Elon Musk’s company go-ahead without a comprehensive analysis of potential environmental impacts.

Musk says in a Twitter chat for selected people that ejecting the rocket is not toxic, as the “NZZ” writes. But at the next start, precautions will be taken to ensure no more sandstorms occur.

If the environmentalists went through with their lawsuit, SpaceX’s rocket program could be drastically delayed — by several years in extreme cases.

(yum)