Alright, so SpaceX is basically good to go for more rocket launches down in South Texas. The FAA recently gave the green light for the company to up its launch frequency at the Starbase facility from five times a year to 25 times. But, like, don’t worry, they said it won’t mess up the environment too much as long as SpaceX takes extra precautions. This info comes from a super detailed report called a “final tiered environmental assessment” that looked into all the potential impacts of the request.
Starbase is located way down in South Texas near Brownsville, right on the tip. This is where the Starship rocket, which is supposed to take humans to Mars, launches from. Elon Musk must be pretty stoked about this news because it brings him one step closer to getting the final approval to ramp up those launches.
And get this, just a few days ago, SpaceX employees living around the launch site voted to turn the area into its own city. Now the company is pushing for more control from the state of Texas to shut down the public beach nearby during launches. Currently, county officials handle that, but SpaceX wants in on the action. There’s a bill in the Texas Legislature that could make this happen.
Not everyone is thrilled about these changes, though. Some local activists are against it, saying SpaceX has already messed up the delicate environment and blocked access to the public beach. The FAA even mentioned in its assessment that increasing launches could harm sea turtles and marine mammals. They suggested SpaceX work with federal agencies to reduce the negative effects.
No launch date has been set yet for the next one from Starbase. The last Starship launch back in March didn’t go as planned – the rocket didn’t reach its target altitude and ended up exploding. SpaceX is still looking into what went wrong there.
Steve Kulm, a FAA public affairs specialist, said they’ll make a final call on SpaceX’s request once the company checks off all the other licensing requirements.
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