In April of this year, the Bahamas paused this agreement after a SpaceX rocket, the Starship, exploded a month earlier due to a mid-flight failure, resulting in huge amounts of debris washing ashore onto the island nation.
Last year, SpaceX was engaged in negotiations with the Bahamas, with the company seeking permission to land its Falcon 9 rocket boosters within the country’s territory. According to internal sources, Elon Musk’s company had promised to build complimentary Starlink internet terminals for the island’s defence vessels.
However, in April of this year, the Bahamas paused this agreement after a SpaceX rocket, the Starship, exploded a month earlier due to a mid-flight failure, resulting in huge amounts of debris washing ashore onto the island nation.
The space wing of Musk’s empire is rapidly expanding into the space business. However, in this endeavour, SpaceX has had to take a few licks as it tries to navigate geopolitical complexities sensitively. This is particularly challenging, as it involves seeking permission for advanced satellites and rockets to fly over or near territories of various sovereign nations.
After the Starship explosion in March, the Bahamian government publicly called for an investigation. News organisations reported that Chequita Johnson, Acting Director General, Civil Aviation Authority, Bahamas, said that there were no toxic materials or significant environmental damage from the explosion. However, the incident triggered the government to reevaluate its agreement with Musk’s SpaceX.
This deal was said to have been signed in February 2024 by the Bahamas’ Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who allegedly greenlit the agreement without consulting with other important government ministers. The Prime Minister’s Office, however, has disputed this claim by affirming in a statement that the approval to facilitate SpaceX rocket landing was a collective decision by the cabinet and was not taken by any individual or independent ministry.
The Office also clarified that while Starlink is used by the island nation’s defence forces for communication, it was paid for in full by the government and that no donations were ever offered or accepted by SpaceX for this cause.
Starlink is an integral aspect of Musk’s array of businesses, as the satellite internet constellation is a major driver of revenue to fund the tech billionaire’s dream of sending humans to Mars on his SpaceX rockets. Unfortunately for SpaceX, its challenge lies in gaining the trust of sovereign, foreign nations, who are themselves privatising their space sector. Even within the US, Musk has rivals in Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, which is quickly expanding its abilities in satellite networks.
Troubles have only doubled for SpaceX after the Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum, threatened legal action against the company for ‘contamination’ from Starship launches from the company’s rocket site, Starbase, which is located in Texas, two miles north of the Mexican border. Sheinbaum’s comments come after a Starship rocket exploded earlier this month into a fireball on a test stand at Starbase. SpaceX representatives, however, took to another one of Musk’s businesses, the social media site X, to clarify that the space company’s teams were being impeded from collecting any Starship debris which may have fallen into Mexican territory.
For Starship to leave Earth’s orbit, it must pass over the Caribbean airspaces. However, this leaves the region vulnerable to any debris in case of a rocket failure, which is not entirely out of the realm of possibility, considering that this has been the outcome of all three test flights this year.
According to SpaceX, the Falcon 9 rocket could carry heavier payloads and more satellites if its booster is allowed to land in the Bahamas. The deal also included a $1 million donation to the University of Bahamas, with the company pledging to routinely conduct workshops and seminars on space and engineering, said the government.
SpaceX is also required to pay a landing fee of $100,000 for each landing, in accordance with the island country’s space regulations, which were specifically enacted because of the deal with Musk’s company. However, all is not lost, as two Bahamian officials did say that these landings could resume later this summer.
A conclusion will be reached once the government examines the SpaceX report on the environmental consequences of the booster landings, and officials agree to amend the country’s space re-entry rules to improve the approval process and tweak the environmental review mandates.
