SpaceX just got permission to ramp up launches of its Starship megarocket from South Texas.
On Tuesday (May 6), the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released its final environmental assessment (EA) of Starship operations at Starbase, the SpaceX facility near Brownsville that just became Texas' newest city.
The report grants SpaceX's request to boost the number of Starship launches from Starbase per year by a factor of five, to 25. It also allows up to 25 landings at the site annually by each of Starship's two stages, the giant booster called Super Heavy and the upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, or simply Ship.
"After reviewing and analyzing this Final Tiered EA, including all available data and information on existing conditions and potential impacts, the FAA has determined that modifying SpaceX’s vehicle operator license supporting the increased launch and landing cadence of the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle would not significantly impact the quality of the human environment within the meaning of NEPA," the FAA wrote in a newly released 53-page document called a Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Record of Decision (ROD). (NEPA is the National Environmental Policy Act.)
"Therefore, the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required, and the FAA is independently issuing this Mitigated FONSI and ROD," it adds.
This finding was hardly a surprise; a draft EA issued by the FAA last November allowed the 25-flight cadence as well.
Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, and it's designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. SpaceX and its founder, Elon Musk, believe the giant vehicle will make Mars settlement economically feasible in the not-too-distant future.
Starship has flown eight times to date and twice so far in 2025. Both of this year's test flights, which occurred in January and March, had similar outcomes. Super Heavy performed well, coming back to Starbase for a dramatic catch by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms. But the Ship upper stage had problems, breaking apart less than 10 minutes into flight and raining debris down on the Turks and Caicos Islands and The Bahamas, respectively.
SpaceX is currently gearing up for Starship's ninth flight; it has conducted engine tests with the Super Heavy and Ship that will launch on the upcoming test mission. But we don't know yet when that liftoff will occur.
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