By Marcia Smith
On the heels of SpaceX’s largely successful Starship test flight yesterday, the FAA has released a revised draft environmental assessment of SpaceX’s proposal to increase the cadence of launches at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, TX.
An original version was released earlier this year and public meetings were scheduled to obtain input, but the FAA canceled them after learning of allegations that SpaceX violated clean water regulations. Those issues apparently have been resolved. The public may submit comments on the revised draft beginning today and the meetings are rescheduled for January.
The FAA regulates commercial space launches and reentries to ensure they meet public safety requirements and leads an interagency process to review environmental impact, national security or foreign policy concerns, and insurance requirements for the launch operator. The federal environmental agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Currently SpaceX has permission to conduct up to five launches of the Starship/Super Heavy rocket per year from Boca Chica, plus as many as 10 Starship landings and five Super Heavy booster landings. It wants to increase that cadence to 25 launches, 25 Starship landings, and 25 Super Heavy landings per year. Super Heavy, also called “the booster,” is the first stage of the rocket. Starship, or “the ship,” is the second stage. Both are reusable.
The company just completed its sixth Starship Integrated Flight Test, IFT-6, yesterday, the fourth this year. Starbase General Manager Kathy Lueders said at a Mexican Space Agency conference, CONACES 2024, that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes to launch 25 next year.
They were not able to return the Super Heavy booster to the launch tower as they did on IFT-5 last month, but otherwise the mission was successful. IFT-5 demonstrated what SpaceX plans to do routinely — recover and reuse the booster as it does now with Falcon 9 first stages. The booster flies itself back to the launch site and is caught in mid-air by mechanical arms — chopsticks — attached to the launch tower.
During the test flights so far, Starship flies a suborbital trajectory three-quarters of the way around the world and splashes down in the Indian Ocean, but SpaceX plans to bring the ships back to Boca Chica, too, once they achieve orbital flight.
The FAA issued a Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment of SpaceX’s request to increase the number of launches and returns in July 2024 and scheduled five public meetings to take place beginning on August 13 to obtain public input.
The FAA regulates commercial space launches and reentries to ensure they meet public safety requirements and leads an interagency process to review environmental impact, national security or foreign policy concerns, and insurance requirements for the launch operator. The federal environmental agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Currently SpaceX has permission to conduct up to five launches of the Starship/Super Heavy rocket per year from Boca Chica, plus as many as 10 Starship landings and five Super Heavy booster landings. It wants to increase that cadence to 25 launches, 25 Starship landings, and 25 Super Heavy landings per year. Super Heavy, also called “the booster,” is the first stage of the rocket. Starship, or “the ship,” is the second stage. Both are reusable.
The company just completed its sixth Starship Integrated Flight Test, IFT-6, yesterday, the fourth this year. Starbase General Manager Kathy Lueders said at a Mexican Space Agency conference, CONACES 2024, that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes to launch 25 next year.
They were not able to return the Super Heavy booster to the launch tower as they did on IFT-5 last month, but otherwise the mission was successful. IFT-5 demonstrated what SpaceX plans to do routinely — recover and reuse the booster as it does now with Falcon 9 first stages. The booster flies itself back to the launch site and is caught in mid-air by mechanical arms — chopsticks — attached to the launch tower.
During the test flights so far, Starship flies a suborbital trajectory three-quarters of the way around the world and splashes down in the Indian Ocean, but SpaceX plans to bring the ships back to Boca Chica, too, once they achieve orbital flight.
The FAA issued a Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment of SpaceX’s request to increase the number of launches and returns in July 2024 and scheduled five public meetings to take place beginning on August 13 to obtain public input.
On August 12, however, CNBC published a report that SpaceX “violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas” citing a notice of violation from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and an earlier notice from the EPA that it violated the Clean Water Act.
SpaceX denied the allegations. The revised Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment released today says they have been resolved (a summary is also available). The TCEQ and the EPA “found that SpaceX must apply to TCEQ for an individual Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TDPES) permit covering the deluge water discharges.” SpaceX did so and “has since entered into agreements with TCEQ and EPA to resolve the alleged violations.”
The public may submit comments on the revised draft between November 20 and January 17, 2025. The five public meetings are scheduled as follows:
SpaceX denied the allegations. The revised Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment released today says they have been resolved (a summary is also available). The TCEQ and the EPA “found that SpaceX must apply to TCEQ for an individual Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TDPES) permit covering the deluge water discharges.” SpaceX did so and “has since entered into agreements with TCEQ and EPA to resolve the alleged violations.”
The public may submit comments on the revised draft between November 20 and January 17, 2025. The five public meetings are scheduled as follows:
Tuesday, January 7, 2025, Texas Southmost College, Jacob Brown Auditorium, 600 International
Boulevard, Brownsville, TX 78520
1:00 PM–3:00 PM Central Time
5:30 PM–7:30 PM Central Time
5:30 PM–7:30 PM Central Time
Thursday, January 9, 2025, Port Isabel Event & Cultural Center, Queen Isabella Room, 309 E Railroad Avenue, Port Isabel, TX 78578
1:00 PM–3:00 PM Central Time
5:30 PM–7:30 PM Central Time Monday,
January 13, 2025, virtually
12 comments:
The situation for Spacex will improve after Trump cleans house at the FAA.
BYU Shoots down Spacex https://news.byu.edu/intellect/sounding-off-byu-researchers-study-the-roar-of-spacexs-starship
Who cares ! Yada yada yada !!
10,000 GALLONS OF WASTE IN EVERY LAUNCH AND THE STUPID ENVIROMENTAL AGENCY TURNS ITS BACK!!!!! FERIA VENDIDOS Y MAMONES. Y SON PUROS GRINGOS... NO MESCANS HERE!!!!
November 21, 2024 at 7:30 AM eres un pendejo!!!
ESTUPIDO, TRUMPUTO VINO A VER SU MORDIDA,
PINCHE PENDEJO...
Exactly !!! im. In the end , ELON MUSK will get his way. His evil master plan to take the land (Boca Chica Beach) from the “ local natives “ has come to fruition. And now with his BFF Trump , the sky is the limit. $$$$ rules !!!
Do not go and express your opinions. They do not care. It is a done deal. I know all of you will go and express your thoughts but do it for fun, because you know Musk is the Bomb.
Boca Chica Beach was sold to Musk by our corrupt politicians. Too late to complain.
Musk es un pendejo who will get his in the end.
Fuck the environmentalist. Always getting their asses kicked.
where can I complain, my home rattles and is about to fall down, everything he lights up one of dam rockets.
Haven't caught a fish ever since that shit started, the fish are all gone there is no longer any plants nor vegitation in that area any more, and he calls it progress??? das cause he don't live here he lives in Hollywood.
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