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Texas Company Convicted for Supplying Potentially Tainted Rocket Fuel to NASA, SpaceX

The space race has been heating up for years now and it’s become a lucrative industry as of late. However, not all news on that front is good, like with the case of a Texas company that was convicted for potentially supplying tainted rocket fuel to both NASA and SpaceX.

United States Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery issued a statement saying Anahuac Transport Inc. pleaded guilty to fraud. Corporate representatives Gary Monteau and Brant Charpiot voiced their guilt yesterday. Anahuac reportedly admitted to falsifying its records. Additionally, the company stated it delivered potentially tainted rocket fuel for NASA and Department of Defense (DOD) rocket launches. These two organizations entered contracts with space-faring companies like SpaceX, meaning the latter may have received tainted fuel.

NASA and the DOD contracted Anahuac to transport the fuel to their launch sites. For reference, Anahuac frequently hauled chemicals in its tanker trailers. To ensure no contamination could occur, Anahuac’s vehicles should not have previously contained certain chemicals that could have reacted with the rocket fuel. Anahuac falsified documents and claimed its trailers had not previously transported said chemicals. As you might have guessed, the trailers had.

NASA and the DOD contracted Anahuac from 2012 through 2020. Because of their involvement, Monteau, Charpiot, and Anahuac entered voluntary exclusions with the United States. Specifically, they agreed to a ban forbidding federal government contracting for two years. The company will also forfeit $251,401 which equals the gross proceeds it received from its business dealings.

U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett accepted the company’s plea. Sentencing will occur on May 12 and Anahuac may also be required to pay a $500,000 fine.

NASA Moves its X-59 Supersonic Plane to Texas for Testing

Though NASA received unfortunate news regarding rocket fuel, another project is close to officially debuting. Its new X-59 supersonic plane arrived in Texas for further testing.

NASA delivered a statement almost two weeks ago expressing its excitement. The organization reports Lockheed Martin built it at their Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. Later, it moved to another Lockheed facility in Texas for structural tests before bringing it back to the West Coast. Given the scope of the project, you may wonder why they didn’t begin construction in Texas. Mike Buonanno, a Lockheed Martin aerospace engineer, explained the reasoning.

“Our Texas site has existing facilities to perform the kinds of tests needed,” Buonanno disclosed. “It would have been expensive and time consuming to design and build them from scratch in Palmdale. But in Fort Worth they’ve got the perfect facility with a full control room and all the support equipment needed to do those tests very efficiently.”

NASA plans to use it for commercial transportation. Despite being a supersonic plane, its sound emissions are significantly quieter.