Jeff Bezos blames Elon Musk’s rockets for spewing too much heat in neighborhood

There’s a fiery feud brewing between billionaire space companies Blue Origin and SpaceX.

Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, has filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Bezos’ company is worried about the environmental impact of SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket launches at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And has requested the FAA to cap SpaceX launches of Starship Super Heavy (Ss-SH) boosters and rockets in Florida.

Musk responded to the complaint with a cheeky tweet.

The complaint with the FAA

Blue Origin has “filed a public comment ” with the FAA last week.

It suggests that Starship may have a “greater environmental impact than any other launch system” at Kennedy Space Center.

In a filing to the FAA, Blue Origin highlighted concerns about the potential impact of SpaceX’s Starship launches on their nearby facilities. Reportedly, the FAA is currently preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the environmental risks of granting SpaceX a license to launch this powerful rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The company fears the launches could contaminate the air with dangerous chemicals, produce loud noise and vibrations, disturb adjacent towns with road closures, and harm people and property with explosions or debris.

To address these issues, Blue Origin requests that the FAA restrict the number of Starship launches at the Florida site, create more launch infrastructure to spread out the impact, and evaluate the environmental testing previously completed at SpaceX’s Texas launch site.

Starship to launch at least 44 times a year

The Starship system is still under development, but it’s a beast. It combines the Starship spaceship and the Super Heavy booster. So far, it’s only managed to reach space on two out of four test flights.

According to Business Insider , a physicist revealed that a 2023 launch generated heat and pressure similar to a volcano explosion. Furthermore, the launch caused debris such as soil and sand to shower down on a nearby town.

Once fully operational, this powerful launch vehicle could have big environmental consequences.

Blue Origin ‘s filing highlights the Super Heavy booster’s massive fuel capacity – a staggering 5,200 metric tons of liquid methane for lifting the rocket.

This “unprecedented” amount, they argue, could result in “qualified distances for safety margins that potentially overlap the operational sites of other companies, the government, and the public.”

As per the filing, SpaceX aims to launch 44 Starship-Super Heavy flights on an annual basis under a NASA lease.

This isn’t the first time these space giants have clashed. Blue Origin has even sued NASA over a lunar lander contract awarded to SpaceX. As per Teslarati , the legal action was initially dismissed by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, but last year Blue Origin was officially granted the Human Landing System (HLS) contract for the Artemis program.