FAA requiring SpaceX to make changes to Texas launch site ahead of future launches

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

There will be some environmental impact on the surrounding land and area, but not enough to require a full environmental impact statement, according to the FAA. If the company wants to get a license from the FAA to launch its new spaceship from the site, it will need to make more than 75 changes to its proposal.

Boca Chica, Texas is located on the southern tip of Texas along the Rio Grande river and the US-Mexico border. For the last few years, the site has been used by the company to build full-scale prototypes of its next-generation monster rocket. The company hopes to launch the vehicle to space for the first time in the near future.

A launch license from the FAA is required for the launch of Starship from Star base. The company will need to address more than 75 actions listed by the FAA in order to reduce their environmental impact. If those changes are made, they should help pave the way for the company to get a launch license.

The future Moon and Mars rocket was not going to be launched from Texas. The company bought a piece of land in Boca Chica in 2012 in order to build a launch site for its smaller rockets. The plan was for the company to launch up to 12 times a year from the area, away from the busy launch site in Florida. An environmental impact statement was published by the FAA detailing how the smaller launches would affect the area. It can take a long time to complete an EIS, as it requires interviewing experts, scientists, business officials, and residents, as well as conducting rigorous analysis and research about how a proposed action will impact the nearby human environment.

Since the first EIS was published, the plans of the company have changed a great deal. The company decided to devote the South Texas facility to the production of Starship prototypes after ramping up production in Boca Chica. The more modest commercial launch facility has evolved into a thriving installation filled with warehouses and tents and dominated by thousands of employees.

The company began conducting high-altitude flight tests with its prototypes in the air before attempting to land them back on Earth. Only one of the tests succeeded in sticking its landing. The prototype blew apart before it was supposed to land in March of 2021.

Tension has arisen with the nearby community due to the test flights and ongoing construction. The only way to get to Starbase is via a single state highway that connects to Boca Chica Village. Access to both the village and the beach is limited when that road is closed. The residents complained of being asked to leave their homes during major tests. Some residents of Boca Chica Village have sold their homes to the company.

The FAA is going to conduct an environmental review of the plans for the launch of the spaceship from Star base. The FAA released a draft programmatic environmental assessment in September of 2021. The document shows that, during the development of Starship, the company plans to conduct up to 20 suborbital launches a year, sending the vehicle on its own to high altitudes or up to space, before attempting to land it on Earth. The company plans to conduct up to five orbital and/or suborbital launches with Starship a year on top of the Super Heavy booster, a massive rocket that is also being developed to give Starship the extra thrust it needs to achieve. The Super Heavy would attempt to land back on Earth, either at a landing pad or a platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

For normal operations, the company would have to close access to the state highway for 500 hours a year, and for anomalies, it would have to close access for 300 hours a year. Things would change as the company grew. Over time, the number of launches would increase. The creation of a natural gas pretreatment plant is one of the major additions to the plans of the company. There were rumors that the company would have to build a gas line. The plans have since been scrapped.

Critics wanted the FAA to conduct a new EIS because the one that was conducted in 2014 was no longer adequate. More than 18,000 comments were received by the FAA, which made it take longer to make a decision. The FAA had to consult with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in order to make its decision. In a biological opinion given to the FAA, the FWS stated that there has been a decrease in the population of the piping plover, an important bird in the area.

Prior to the FAA decision, the Army Corps of Engineers may have had a negative impact on the plans for Boca Chica. The Corps withdrew the company's permit application due to a lack of requested information from the company. The permit application process can be revived by giving the information the Corps requested.

There is a plan B being worked on by the company. In December, the company began construction on a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, an area that has hosted orbital launches for the last 50 years. The area has two launchpads for the company's rockets.

The person is developing.