In New Application, Camden Spaceport Proposes Drone Surveillance Of Land, Homes Beneath Rocket Paths

This is a rendering of the original plan for a vertical-launch spaceport in Camden County.

Nearly eight years into its quest to build a spaceport in coastal Georgia, Camden County is proposing the use of drones and aerial surveillance on launch days, as part of a plan to monitor the number of people on private property and in a national park, which lie beneath its proposed rocket trajectories.

Landowners say they were not consulted about the plans. It exacerbates an already-fraught relationship between the county and, in particular, some private landowners on Little Cumberland over the project.

In its revised launch site operator license application, obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the county also says the new, smaller rockets it plans to launch could fail at least three times more often than its original plan.