FORKS — Space Transport Corp.’s Rubicon 2 rocket can be launched at its site near Queets without causing environmental damage or violating fly-over restrictions of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, company officials say.
“STC respects and admires the national marine sanctuary for defending the sanctuary against a perceived hazard,” Space Transport Corp. co-founder Eric Meier said Tuesday.
“However, we expect to show that the natural aversion to rocketry is unfounded.
“We appreciate natural beauty as much as anyone, and have chosen rocket technologies that have minimal impact on nature.”
Meier’s comments were in response to a PDN article Monday reporting that officials of the Port Angeles-based marine sanctuary are investigating the Aug. 8 launch of Rubicon 1 that failed at liftoff and plunged in pieces into sanctuary waters.
Sanctuary Superintendent Carol Bernthal and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration law enforcement investigator confirmed Tuesday that the company is under investigation and could face prosecution over its Aug. 8 launch attempt.
Rocket fuel discharge
Bernthal said the investigation was prompted because sanctuary officials feared that rocket fuel was discharged into the sanctuary’s waters when it was launched off a private beach bluff near the Jefferson-Grays Harbor county line.
“This is only one of 13 federally designated sanctuaries around the country . . . and we think the resources deserve a high level of protection,” Bernthal said.
