The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has determined that SpaceX’s plans for the company’s huge Starbase launch site in South Texas will have an environmental impact on the surrounding land and area, but not enough to require a complete environmental impact statement. SpaceX will now have to make more than 75 changes to its proposal for Starbase facilities if the company wants to avoid further review and eventually receive an FAA license to launch its new Starship rocket into orbit from of the place.
SpaceX Starbase facilities are located in a small town called Boca Chica, Texas, in the far south of Texas, along the Rio Grande River and the U.S.-Mexico border. In recent years, SpaceX has used the site to build large-scale prototypes of Starship, the company’s next-generation monster rocket designed to carry people and cargo to deep space destinations such as the Moon and Mars. SpaceX has already conducted several high-altitude test flights with Starbase Starship prototypes, but now the company hopes to launch Starship into space for the first time and send the vehicle into orbit.
The destination of the SpaceX star base facilities in Boca Chica has been weighed
To launch Starship into orbit from Starbase, SpaceX first needs an FAA launch license. And the fate of SpaceX’s star base facility in Boca Chica has been hanging over the past year and a half, as the FAA has been conducting an environmental review of how the company’s launch operations would affect the surrounding area. Now, with a decision made, SpaceX will have to address the more than 75 actions the FAA has listed in order for the company to reduce its environmental impact in the area. If SpaceX makes these changes, it should help pave the way for the company to receive a launch license for Starship, although this is not yet guaranteed.
SpaceX indicated on Twitter that it sees the decision as good news to move forward with its launch plans.
Originally, SpaceX did not plan to launch its future Moon and Mars rocket from Texas. SpaceX bought its first ground in Boca Chica in 2012 with the intention of creating a purely commercial launch site where the company could launch its much smaller Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Finally, SpaceX predicted the launch up to 12 times a year from the area, far from the hustle and bustle of its much busier launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. With that goal in mind, the FAA conducted a comprehensive environmental review of SpaceX’s plans, and in 2014, the agency released an environmental impact statement, or EIS, detailing how these smaller launches would affect the area. An EIS can take many months and often years to complete, as it requires interviewing experts, scientists, business officials and residents, as well as conducting rigorous analysis and research on how a proposed action will affect the immediate human environment.
However, SpaceX’s plans have changed significantly since the first EIS was released. Starting in 2018, the company seriously increased production activities at Boca Chica after deciding to dedicate its South Texas facilities solely to the production of Starship prototypes. The most modest commercial launch facility that SpaceX envisioned has been transformed into a thriving facility, full of massive warehouses and stores and dominated by 24-hour construction by thousands of employees.
As SpaceX’s presence in the area grew, the company also began high-altitude flight testing with its Starship prototypes, launching vehicles to heights of 30,000 to 40,000 feet in the air before of trying to land them back on Earth. Most of these tests ended with explosions of fire, with only one successfully hooking up its landing. A prototype broke just before it was due to land in March 2021, spreading metal debris through the nearby wildlife refuge.
SpaceX will have to address the 75 actions the FAA has listed
Test flights, combined with ongoing construction and ground testing, have caused growing tension with the nearby community. Starbase is located next to a small neighborhood of a couple of dozen houses called Boca Chica Village, which is only really accessible via a lone state road that connects to Starbase. This road is frequently closed during tests and other demonstrations, limiting access to both the village and the nearby beach. Residents also complained about the disruption of their daily lives, as they were often asked to leave home during major tests. Many of Boca Chica Village have sold their properties to SpaceX, although some residents have stayed home.
Finally, in late 2020, the FAA announced that it planned to conduct an environmental review of SpaceX’s plans to launch Starship into orbit from Starbase. In September 2021, the FAA released a draft programmatic environmental assessment, or PEA, that outlined SpaceX’s updated plans for the area. The document revealed that during the ongoing development of Starship, SpaceX plans to carry out up to 20 Starship suborbital launches a year, sending the vehicle itself to high altitudes or into space, but not into orbit. before attempting to land it. back to Earth. The company also plans to launch up to five orbital and / or suborbital launches with Starship a year in addition to the Super Heavy engine, a massive rocket that SpaceX is also developing to give Starship the extra boost it needs to achieve the orbit. During these launches, the Super Heavy would also attempt to land back on Earth, either on a landing pad or on a platform in the nearby Gulf of Mexico.
Finally, SpaceX estimated that it would have to close access to the state highway for a total of 500 hours each year for normal operations and an additional 300 hours each year for anomalies. And certainly things would change as SpaceX progressed in its development. SpaceX predicted that the number of orbital launches would increase over time as suborbital flights decreased. Beyond the disruption, SpaceX also described other important additions to its plans, including the creation of a natural gas pretreatment system to purify the methane that will be used on the Starship rocket. And it was speculated that SpaceX would have to build a pipeline to transport gas to the plant.
SpaceX has since ruled out plans for a natural gas pretreatment system, a power plant and a desalination plant, according to an FAA decision released today. The company has also modified the capabilities of its Raptor engine, which is used to power Starship. Because of these changes, SpaceX does not need as many engines for its vehicles as previously expected, but the FAA concluded that this would not have “noticeable changes in environmental impacts.”
As part of its environmental review, the FAA organized a period of commentary on the plans proposed by SpaceX, which generated both intense criticism and support from members of the public. Many critics demanded that the FAA conduct a new EIS, as the one conducted in 2014 was no longer appropriate under the new SpaceX plans. The FAA said it received more than 18,000 comments during that period, which helped lengthen the decision-making process as SpaceX had to delete responses to each of the comments. The FAA also had to consult with various government agencies to make its decision, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Park Service, which raised some questions about the potential effects of SpaceX on zone. In a biological opinion given to the FAA, the FWS noted that there has been a decrease in the population of woodpeckers, an endangered bird that nests in Boca Chica, correlated with the increase in SpaceX activity. in the area, CNBC reported.
As part of this decision, the FAA will not conduct another EIS, which will potentially save SpaceX time to move forward with its first orbital launch. But the company still has work to do. The more than 75 FAA-listed actions include things SpaceX can do to address its impact on air quality, sound levels, and access to the nearby beach. The company must notify the local authorities and the general public in advance of its releases. SpaceX also cannot cut roads for 18 identified holidays, and can only close the road for up to five weekends a year.
Prior to the FAA decision, SpaceX also received a potential blow to its plans at Boca Chica of the Army Corps of Engineers. In March, the Corps informed SpaceX that it was withdrawing the company’s permit application for Starbase expansion plans, citing the lack of requested information provided by the company. SpaceX can reactivate the permission application process by providing the information that the Corps requested, although it is unclear whether and when SpaceX will comply.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has been working on a potential Plan B for Starship. In December, the company began construction of a Starship launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, an area that has hosted orbital launches for the past half century. SpaceX already operates two out-of-zone launch zones for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
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