SpaceX will have to clear another regulatory hurdle before ramping up work with its Starship megarocket on Florida's Space Coast.
The company currently builds, tests and launches the 400-foot-tall (122 meters) Starship, which is still in development, at its Starbase site in South Texas. But SpaceX wants to add Florida to the mix as well: It aims to fly the giant vehicle from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which already hosts liftoffs of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
In 2019, a NASA-led environmental assessment (EA) concluded that Starship operations at KSC wouldn't significantly affect the surrounding ecosystem. However, SpaceX's plans for the site have changed since then, and a more in-depth review — an environmental impact statement (EIS) — is therefore now in order, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today (May 10).
"While the 2019 EA prepared by NASA provides an analytical baseline, the environmental impacts of these proposed changes to Starship-Super Heavy LC-39A development and operations will be specifically analyzed in this EIS," FAA officials wrote in a statement today (May 10).
Related: Relive SpaceX Starship's 3rd flight test in breathtaking photos
Starship consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable — a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 m) upper stage known as Starship, or simply "Ship." SpaceX views the vehicle as potentially revolutionary, saying it could make Mars settlement and other ambitious exploration feats economically feasible.
A fully stacked Starship has launched three times to date. The first occurred in April 2023, the second in November 2023 and the third on March 14 of this year. Each of those flights lifted off from Starbase, and each of the latter two lasted longer and notched more milestones than its respective predecessor.
Proposed Starship activities at LC-39A that were examined by the 2019 EA involved infrastructure development, as well as approximately 24 launches per year, FAA officials explained.
"SpaceX now proposes to construct additional launch infrastructure not previously contemplated in the 2019 EA; launch an advanced design of the Starship and Super Heavy vehicle; operate at a projected higher launch tempo; and land the Super Heavy booster at LC-39A in support of the reusability concept. Starship landings are no longer proposed to occur at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station," the officials wrote in today's update. (Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is next door to KSC.)
The revised plan envisions up to 44 Starship launches from LC-39A per year, FAA officials added in an emailed statement today.
SpaceX is responsible for preparing the EIS, under the supervision of the FAA. The agency is inviting input on the matter; it will hold two in-person public meetings on the Space Coast on June 12 and a third on June 13, as well host as a virtual meeting on June 17. Public comments can also be submitted from today through June 24.
If you're interested in attending or contributing to these meetings, you can learn more here.
A positive result on the EIS would not clear SpaceX to start launching Starship from KSC, by the way; the company would still need to obtain a vehicle operator's license from the FAA.
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