“The FAA completed the safety review portion of the SpaceX Starship-Super Heavy license evaluation on October 31,” the agency told FLYING.

The safety review is the “principal component” of the FAA’s vehicle operator license evaluation, which grants companies the authority to launch rockets. In its review, the agency assessed the impact of Starship launches on public health and property damage. It also evaluated SpaceX’s safety organization, system safety processes, and flight safety analysis, as well as quantitative risk criteria related to launch, reentry, and vehicle disposal.

Starship—whose two reusable components, the Super Heavy Booster and Starship upper stage, stand close to 400 feet when stacked together—is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. But its maiden voyage in April began and ended in flames, when the spacecraft lost control and exploded during stage separation just minutes into the flight.

Meanwhile, the impact of Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines on the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, launch pad, Starbase, created a massive crater. Starship’s liftoff broke windows, shook buildings, and sprayed ash and debris over an area far larger than expected, including 6 miles away in the town of Port Isabel.

While the FAA’s license evaluation safety review centered around Starship’s impact to people and property, the agency is now working on an environmental review to gauge its effect on nearby wildlife.

Coordinating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the Endangered Species Act, the FAA must produce an updated biological assessment for Starship. An initial biological assessment, published in October 2021, assessed threats to wildlife surrounding Starbase.

According to USFWS, the ongoing environmental assessment focuses on a new water deluge system installed at Starbase, one of several upgrades the company has made to the launch pad since April. Most launch pads have either a water deluge system or a flame trench to suppress heat and sound. But Starbase lacked such a system during Starship’s first launch, which may have exacerbated the damage caused by the engines.

The FAA initiated a consultation with USFWS on October 19, giving the latter 135 days to issue an amended biological opinion based on the FAA’s assessment. However, it does not expect to take the full amount of time.

The FAA’s completion of Starship’s safety review and the ongoing work toward the environmental review bring SpaceX closer to modifying its launch license, which would clear the way for the massive rocket to fly again. But the company may still have hurdles beyond the FAA’s evaluation.

Starship’s maiden voyage was permitted under the FAA’s April written reevaluation of the programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) it awarded to SpaceX in 2022. But the April explosion brought scrutiny upon the PEA in the form of a lawsuit brought against the FAA by five environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity.

The plaintiffs claim the FAA could have mitigated the damage from the launch and subsequent explosion. Had the agency conducted an environmental impact statement (EIS) instead of a PEA “based on SpaceX’s preference,” as the groups allege, the impact may have been less severe.

Both a PEA and an EIS can give an operator the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) compliance required to greenlight a launch. But unlike an EIS, the PEA allowed SpaceX to analyze the potential impact of its own launch proposal and may have authorized Starship to fly sooner. The FAA required SpaceX to take more than 75 actions after submitting its PEA. But the lawsuit alleges these were not sufficient to prevent a mishap.

SpaceX in June joined the suit as a codefendant, and it and the FAA are now seeking to dismiss it. If they lose, the FAA would be required to conduct an EIS, which could represent a major setback for Starship.

However, SpaceX last week said Starship is ready to fly pending the approval of its license modification, and the company should still be able to conduct test flights despite the ongoing lawsuit.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX’s Starship—the Most Powerful Rocket in History—Nears Return to Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Shortly after Thursday’s test flight concluded in a ball of flames, reports emerged that the FAA has grounded Starship as it conducts an investigation into the reason behind the explosion—and as others examine the potential health and safety hazards it created.

The FAA confirmed this in an April 20 statement: “An anomaly occurred during the ascent and prior to stage separation resulting in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA will oversee the mishap investigation of the Starship / Super Heavy test mission.”

An FAA spokesperson told FLYING that mishap investigations, which are standard in cases such as this, “might conclude in a matter of weeks,” but more complex investigations “might take several months.”

It’s unclear where the Starship explosion falls on this spectrum. But we’re beginning to get an idea of the launch’s effects on the surrounding area.

Though Musk warned prior to the launch that Starship would likely explode, telling listeners in an April 16 Twitter Spaces that it would be “a success” if it did not destroy the company’s Boca Chica, Texas launchpad, the test flight’s impact appears to be greater than SpaceX expected.

Broken windows and ash-like particulate matter from the launch have been reported as far away as Port Isabel, a town of about 5,000 people six miles away from the launchpad, and South Padre Island, where onlookers watched the test flight from about five miles away. Port Isabel residents also reported shaking buildings, resembling the aftermath of a Starship explosion in 2022.

The debris field was expected to span 700 acres, or a radius of about one mile, equivalent to the size of the debris field resulting from Starship’s largest explosion to date.

Getting reports from multiple people now of “particulates” raining down in areas of Port Isabel after the nearby explosion of the SpaceX rocket stack Starship/Superheavy, 4 minutes after liftoff this morning from Boca Chica in the Rio Grande Valley. pic.twitter.com/Vb9ritd7JE

— Pablo De La Rosa (@pblodlr) April 20, 2023

The City of Port Isabel said that there is no “immediate concern for people’s health,” but environmental groups are holding judgment until a full investigation can be completed. 

Spokespeople for the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity noted that the particulate emissions may be unsafe to touch or breathe in, and samples will need to be collected and examined to dispel any concerns. 

Experts also worry about the impact on the surrounding environment and ecosystem, which is home to several endangered species. These animals could be vulnerable not just to debris, but also to the noise of the launch. Reporter Lavie Ohana, who was present for the test flight, called it “one of the loudest launches I’ve ever been at.”

Particles falling in Port Isabel minutes after launch. @elonmusk #SpaceX #Starship #Starbase #TLPNetwork #TLPCrew pic.twitter.com/mu5hKmbih6

— The Launch Pad (@TLPN_Official) April 20, 2023

Eric Roesch, an environmental engineer and former regulator who runs the blog ESGHound, noted that the launch tower sits just a few hundred feet away from a protected habitat owned by Texas Parks and Wildlife. 

And per data Roesch obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via a Freedom of Information Act request, a February static fire test—essentially a test run for the test flight—produced far more noise than SpaceX projected. Intensity readings three miles from the test site reached 110 decibels, the equivalent of standing next to a jackhammer, according to the agency. That test was conducted at 50 percent of total thrust.

Roesch also pointed out that the Boca Chica launchpad does not have a flame trench or water deluge system, features present at most other large sites that help to suppress heat and sound from launches. NASA’s Space Shuttle orbiter, for example, took off over a flame trench.

Some, like Roesch, have criticized the FAA’s willingness to go ahead with the launch given these concerns. Though the agency required SpaceX to take more than 75 actions to mitigate the environmental impact of the test flight, Roesch predicted that the launch would be more severe than anticipated, and it appears he was not far off.

As the FAA dives deeper into the safety of Starship’s operation, SpaceX has another hurdle to overcome. While it appeared that the infrastructure supporting Starship avoided the same fate as the rocket itself, it later became clear that the launchpad suffered major damage.

The force of the rocket and the lack of a trench beneath it created a massive crater under the launcher, which could render it unusable for months. Musk on Twitter speculated that “the force of the engines when they throttled up may have shattered the concrete, rather than simply eroding it.”

Musk also said that SpaceX had previously planned to install a water-cooled steel plate beneath the launcher, but scrapped it because it “wasn’t ready in time,” adding that, “we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag [concrete] would make it through 1 launch.”

Musk also offered a timetable for the next launch: one to two months. But even if SpaceX is able to repair the launchpad in that time, it will still need the FAA’s signoff to run another test.

The good news for SpaceX is that the relationship between the space exploration firm and government regulators appears to be intact. On Tuesday, the company won approval from the U.S. Space Force to add a fifth U.S. launch site, signaling the government’s continued interest in working with Musk and SpaceX.

There’s that, plus the company’s collaborations with NASA on other missions, like resupply trips to the International Space Station using SpaceX’s Dragon. Chances are that NASA and SpaceX will continue to work together for the foreseeable future. What remains to be seen, though, is how long of a leash the FAA will give them.

The post SpaceX Starship Grounded Indefinitely By FAA appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The 400-foot-tall rocket and booster departed the company’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, bombastically, leaving a trail of ignited propellant in its wake.

But a few minutes into the orbital test flight, as Starship’s super heavy booster was preparing to separate from the rocket, the spacecraft exploded, sending a ball of fiery debris hurtling into the Gulf of Mexico. The mission was uncrewed, so no humans were on board.

My Autotrack software captures the moment that Starship lost control. Excitement was very much guaranteed. Great first attempt by the SpaceX team!

Tune in to hear our live reaction! @NASASpaceflight https://t.co/uutBwWSABz pic.twitter.com/in201JaOiU

— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) April 20, 2023

According to SpaceX spokeswoman Kate Tice, it’s still unclear what caused the explosion. 

For about four minutes, Starship traveled along its expected path, though reports suggest some of the rocket’s 33 first-stage engines failed to ignite. It’s possible the rocket’s flight termination system, sensing the vehicle was going off course, triggered the explosion at the point of separation. Or, it could just be that natural forces tore it apart.

SpaceX called the event a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

By SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s standards, though, the test flight was a success. While Starship did not complete its more ambitious goals, it did comfortably clear the launch pad, and Musk on Sunday said he “would consider that to be a success.”

“Just don’t blow up the launchpad,” he half-jokingly told thousands of listeners during a Twitter Spaces that evening.

By Musk’s estimation, the launchpad would take “months” to repair, sidelining test flights for the foreseeable future. So despite the explosion, the launch will give the SpaceX team valuable data for future missions without incurring rebuilding costs.

Plus, this isn’t unusual. Starship prototypes have crashed or exploded in several previous missions, and the company has been known to embrace such incidents as progress toward a greater goal.

“Success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” it said in a Tweet.

Even agencies like NASA experience explosions. The most infamous, of course, was the Challenger explosion, but similar incidents are not exactly uncommon.

Bill Nelson, the former Democratic senator from Florida and current NASA administrator, congratulated SpaceX for a successful test flight on Twitter: “Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test—and beyond.”

Speaking of the next test flight, Musk dropped a hint at when that may take place.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!

Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

Barring an unanticipated rift, SpaceX will have NASA’s full backing for its next test. The two have already completed several successful resupply missions to the International Space Station using SpaceX’s Dragon, the most recent of which concluded over the weekend.

Now, they want to go deeper into the unknown. Starship was designed to do more than just orbit the Earth—its eventual purpose, SpaceX and NASA say, is to ferry hundreds of humans at a time to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

As it stands, the plan is for SpaceX to help NASA astronauts land on the moon in 2025, which would mark humanity’s first return to its surface in over 50 years. And Musk has claimed that the firm will land humans on Mars by 2029, but he’ll look to beat out a pair of private spaceflight firms that are each targeting rover landings sometime in 2024.

All of those projects will rely on a successful Starship orbital test flight. But despite Thursday’s explosion, Musk and SpaceX have time to iron out the kinks.

The post SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Explodes Minutes After Launch appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to the FAA, SpaceX must take a total 75 actions to mitigate the environmental impact of its Starship/Super Heavy launch facilities, 53 of which deal with biological resources.

Even after those actions are taken, FAA approval for the launch site will still depend on additional reviews.

Many of the actions coincide with concerns vocalized by Boca Chica residents—including potential harm to fish, wildlife, plants, and natural resources.

The PEA lists several points of concern, such as:

• Potential impacts on protected species and habitats
• Restrictions on access to public areas such as local roads and Boca Chica Beach
• Potential impacts on minority and low-income residents
• Degradation of the environment due to test and launch operations

The PEA also lists positive impacts, voiced by supporters of the launch site, such as:

• Economic benefits to the regional economy
• Continued innovation and progress in commercial space transportation
• Job creation

The first draft of the PEA was published on September 17, 2021, and it garnered more than 18,000 public comments.

Between two public hearings regarding the draft PEA, commenters from around the country voiced their opinion on the matter. Support for the project was seemingly split among local residents and officials.

“I don’t just ask you, I beg you to give them that permit,” said Brownsville City Commissioner Jessica Tetreau. “There are so many people here in the Brownsville area who have benefited from this project coming to our area.”

Others, like local resident Emma Guevara, rejected the notion entirely.

“I am appalled by the audacity of all these pro-SpaceX supporters spouting the exact same rhetoric, spotted by a billionaire with nothing but his own interest in mind so that he can make more money off of his apartheid emeralds,” she said during a hearing. “This has nothing to do with you. Listen to directly impacted voices. The FAA needs to, at the very least, do an environmental impact statement, but at the most, this entire project should be canceled.”

How We Got Here

SpaceX is developing one of the world’s most powerful launch vehicles, dubbed Starship, with the power of its Super Heavy booster. Starship has undergone previous test launches. In one, Starship exploded shortly after landing.

In order to continue work on Starship and Super Heavy, SpaceX has requested to expand its facilities in Boca Chica, Texas. To do so, SpaceX must gain a license to expand, test, and launch the spacecraft.

SpaceX’s proposal is still pending approval.

The post FAA: SpaceX Must Complete 75 Actions Before Boca Chica Launch Site Approval appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The FAA held its second virtual public hearing on the SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy projects Wednesday night, once again drawing attention from around the country, with more than 100 attendees sharing their comments on the proposed operations at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

The hearing centered on SpaceX’s Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), an overview of the potential environmental impacts of the operations proposed by SpaceX. The private space company owned by Elon Musk is developing its Starship and Super Heavy projects, which are designed to make orbital and suborbital launches from Boca Chica.

A project of this magnitude will require several pieces of infrastructure. SpaceX has proposed launch pads, a liquid natural gas pretreatment system, a 250-megawatt power plant, and several other facilities to be built on-site. Being next to the coast, SpaceX also plans to build multiple off-shore landing platforms.

Wednesday’s hearing was extremely similar to the previous one held Monday and included commenters who spoke at both meetings.

The hearings consisted of a presentation of the Draft PEA; once in English and again in Spanish. However, the presentation documents themselves were not translated for Spanish-speaking viewers.

“The Spanish translation and outreach by the FAA is a joke and, in fact, is actually a violation of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” said local resident Bekah Hinojosa. “A Spanish notice was only sent out three days before the hearing, with only one Spanish email. The FAA did virtually no public outreach.”

Multiple local residents, who predominantly speak Spanish, previously voiced their concerns before and during Monday’s hearing. No apparent changes were made for the subsequent hearing on Wednesday.

While many attendees did not live in Boca Chica, or even in the state of Texas, support for SpaceX operations was plentiful.

“Although I’m not a resident of the area, I feel, as an American and as a human, I have the right to support and urge the FAA to grant SpaceX appropriate approvals to continue development over the launches,” Taylor Dihel said.

Local residents were seemingly split on support for SpaceX’s planned operations.

“Another of the fondest memories of my youth is the night of July 20, 1969, when I saw, on our black-and-white vacuum-tube television, men walk on the moon,” said local resident Ludivina Garcia. “It is beyond my wildest imagination, that 52 years later, the company founded by a man, not yet born, would choose the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to build a gateway to Mars.”

Claudia Hernandez, a local resident, responded to preceding comments from non-residents.

“They do not know the community. They don’t know our language, and for them to think that money, that Elon Musk and SpaceX is bringing, will benefit us, is mistaken,” Hernandez said.

Among the attendees in opposition to the Draft PEA, there were many mentions of “environmental racism.”

“The reality is, this will be historical in the making. But what’s historical in the making is that this is the legacy of environmental racism … the people are being exploited. Gentrification is continuing,” said local resident Melissa Martinez.

Some comments even became racially charged, as Brownsville resident Paul Mamakos shared his opinion on the Boca Chica site, referring to SpaceX operations as a “space hoax.”

“I don’t want a billionaire to come down here and hire a bunch of Mexicans because they’re just polluting the local area,” he said. “Instead of building giant exploding green silos, how about we fix the problems right here in Texas, is what I’m saying.”

Michael Paul, who travels to the area, accused local residents of neglecting the beaches that would be intermittently closed during SpaceX launches.

“There is no such thing as environmental racism. That is a manufactured wokeism. If locals really cared about the beach, they would clean it up,” Paul said. “Locals really don’t care about their beach. They just want it because they’re petulant and childish. They want what they want, without any consequences.”

Much like Monday’s hearing, there were multiple mentions of the human race becoming a “multiplanetary” species. Ian Winiarski, 17, gave an explanation of what type of fuel would be used for the Starship project and its carbon emissions.

“There is no other significant vehicle that has been proposed yet that has significant funding that could be used to effectively colonize Mars,” Winiarski said.

Throughout both hearings, SpaceX supporters focused heavily on the potential economic benefits Starship and Super Heavy may have on Boca Chica, while the opposition harped on the seemingly lax nature of the FAA in conducting a proper environmental study. Many called for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be conducted in place of the PEA.

It is not certain whether or not the FAA will conduct an EIS or if they will approve SpaceX’s draft PEA.

The post Final Day of Hearings Yields More Support for SpaceX appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

A new FAA draft report assessing potential environmental impact suggests SpaceX may ultimately be allowed to launch larger rockets from its Texas Boca Chica site.

SpaceX is working with the FAA to win permission to launch its large Super Heavy booster rocket and Starship upper stage from the site, which is located on the Gulf of Mexico about 25 miles from Brownsville. The rockets are designed for future missions to the moon and Mars.

The 149-page report, released Friday, says SpaceX’s proposed plans would appear to have no significant impacts to noise, air quality, climate change, or local wildlife in the area.

The next step is a month-long FAA comment period on the report, including two virtual public hearings.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk is encouraging people to add their voices to the debate. “Support is greatly appreciated!” Musk tweeted Friday. “Humanity’s future on the moon and Mars & beyond depends upon it.”

SpaceX plans for Starship—measuring nearly 400 feet—to eventually make humans an interplanetary species.

The Boca Chica launch site is located in what the FAA describes as a “sparsely populated coastal area” which includes “unvegetated tidal flats, shallow open water, low sand dunes, and salt flats.”

Regarding local animals and fish, the FAA draft report says the “proposed action is not expected to have significant impacts on terrestrial habitats or wildlife populations” and “the likelihood of impacts” on fish and other marine life are “extremely low.”

However, the report says SpaceX’s proposals “may affect and is likely to adversely affect” several species listed in the federal Endangered Species Act, including birds and sea turtles. The FAA said it was consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to further evaluate the potential impact and said it would include results in its final report.

Construction Impacts

“Construction activities are not expected to result in significant noise impacts,” the report said. “Noise from individual launch, landing, and static fire engine test events is expected to be heard by people in the surrounding communities.” However, that is “not expected to cause general annoyance or pose health concerns,” said the FAA. Overall, SpaceX’s proposals are “not expected to result in significant noise impacts.”

SpaceX estimates approximately 7 metric tons of liquid methane would be released into the atmosphere during Starship fuel loading, according to the report. Activities related to launch of Starship are “not expected to result in significant impacts to air quality,” the report said.

Following the end of the FAA comment period on October 18, the FAA will move forward toward a final report. Any final FAA license to launch the larger rockets would come after that.

The post FAA Report Bodes Well for SpaceX Texas Launch Site appeared first on FLYING Magazine.