SpaceX can continue developing its Starship rocket project in South Texas after getting approval from the long-awaited review by the US Federal Aviation Administration on Monday, June 13. But Elon Musk's company must perform over 75 actions to mitigate its environmental effects on the area.
SpaceX needs the license from FAA to conduct further its Starship flight tests and hopefully start operational launches from its private facility they call Starbase.
SpaceX's first orbital Starship SN20 is stacked atop its massive Super Heavy Booster 4 at the company's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on February 10, 2022.
SpaceX Starship Has "No Significant Impact" On Its Surroundings
The FAA has recently released two documents that discuss the summary of the environmental assessment it did on SpaceX and a detailed list of the things that the company must take. The federal agency found that SpaceX's Starship project has "No Significant Impact" on its surroundings but placed some limitations on launches and required steps to mitigate environmental impacts.
According to Space.com, the review is called a programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) that has been gauging the impacts of Starship activities in the facility. It was originally expected to be released at the end of 2021, but it was pushed back multiple times due to the need to confer with agencies and concerns from the public. But they did submit a draft version last September.
Finally, it was done and the result was mostly good news for SpaceX as it gave them the license to continue its rocket project at the Starbase, which caters to its prepping stage.
Due to this, SpaceX responded to the PEA release with a celebratory tweet, saying that they are now one step closer to the first orbital flight of Starship.
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FAA's Requirements for SpaceX
Despite granting the license to continue its operations, FAA officials noted that it does not guarantee the issuance of a vehicle operator license. Reuters reported that it is still subject to further review upon meeting FAA requirements for safety, risk, and financial responsibility.
FAA officials wrote in the report that after talking with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they require SpaceX to give more advanced notice of launches to reduce the time State Highway 4 is closed during those operations.
Furthermore, launches will not be allowed on 18 different holidays and are only limited to a maximum of five weekends per year. They also require continuous monitoring of vegetation and wildlife with advance notification to communities in the area regarding the potential engine noise and sonic booms.
Musk said on Friday that he was confident that the Starship, a rocket designed to carry astronauts to the Moon and Mars, would be successfully launched to Earth's orbit this year. He added that even if the review would drag on, SpaceX had a fallback plan to still be able to launch Starship by shifting its entire program to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Launching Starship in Florida would not put at risk nearby launch infrastructure that is important for the International Space Station. They planned to do another flight test after it was delayed due to the FAA's review.
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