SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday mocked what he termed as “overregulation” in the field of space travel on Sunday as he campaigned in Pennsylvania for former President Donald Trump.
What Happened: Musk said on Sunday that his rocket manufacturing company had to study if its ambitious launch vehicle Starship would hit a shark upon returning to Earth and landing in the ocean.
“… it’s a big ocean. There are a lot of sharks! It's not impossible, but it's very unlikely,” Musk said. However, the company eventually did the analysis to confirm that it couldn’t possibly hit a shark. But later, regulators demanded that the company also assess the probability of the vehicle hitting whales, Musk said.
“When you look at a picture of the Pacific, what percent of the surface area do you see as whale? If Starship did hit a whale, honestly, it's like the whale had it coming, cause the odds are… so low. It's like Final Destination: Whale Edition,” Musk said at a Town Hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Why It Matters: Musk is currently campaigning for Trump in the swing state of Pennsylvania. The billionaire also attended a Trump campaign event in Pennsylvania earlier this month and termed the election a "must-win situation" for Trump after officially endorsing him in July.
Trump, meanwhile, has expressed his intent to set up a government efficiency commission led by Musk if elected President. The committee, Musk said in August, will be aimed at removing an “accumulation of laws and regulations.”
“That's (accumulation of regulations) like the hardening of the arteries. Or a way to think of it is being tied down by a million little strings like Gulliver. You can't move. And it's not like any one of those strings is the issue, it's that you've got a million of them,” Musk said in a podcast with Lex Fridman.
The billionaire entrepreneur then added that there needs to be a “garbage collection” system for regulations to prevent them from accumulating and preventing key projects such as building high-speed rail in the country.
SpaceX And Regulators: Musk has often slammed regulators for slowing SpaceX operations.
In September, SpaceX said in a blog post that the delay in getting regulatory approvals for the fifth test flight of its ambitious Starship, despite the launch vehicle being ready, is because the Federal Aviation Administration is consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife on the impact of the proposed flight on surrounding wildlife, among other reasons. The Starship licensing process, the company then said, is being “derailed by issues ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”
"We need multiple Fish licenses to launch a rocket (actually)!" Musk wrote on social media platform X last month. Bureaucracy is rising and the regulatory red tape is affecting all large projects in America, the CEO then said.
The CEO also accused the agency of favoritism towards Boeing after it proposed a fine of $633,009 on SpaceX for regulatory violations last month.
Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Read Next:
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.