As SpaceX nears its first Starship launch of 2024—possibly as soon as within three weeks—from its Starbase facility in South Texas, the company is pressing regulators to increase its cadence of flights.
After SpaceX decided to launch and attempt to land its Starship vehicle in Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo an enhanced environmental review of the site.
An FAA official confirmed to Ars that the company is seeking a modification of this five-launch limit to accommodate a higher flight rate.
SpaceX launched its first Starship vehicle, which is the largest rocket ever built and is intended to eventually be fully reusable, in April 2023.
That flight caused serious damage to the launch site near Boca Chica Beach and raised environmental concerns after it kicked up large chunks of concrete and dust into the surrounding wetlands.
During congressional testimony last October, SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability Bill Gerstenmaier said he wanted to see the US House and Senate provide more resources to the FAA for its licensing review processes.
The original article contains 644 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
As SpaceX nears its first Starship launch of 2024—possibly as soon as within three weeks—from its Starbase facility in South Texas, the company is pressing regulators to increase its cadence of flights.
After SpaceX decided to launch and attempt to land its Starship vehicle in Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo an enhanced environmental review of the site.
An FAA official confirmed to Ars that the company is seeking a modification of this five-launch limit to accommodate a higher flight rate.
SpaceX launched its first Starship vehicle, which is the largest rocket ever built and is intended to eventually be fully reusable, in April 2023.
That flight caused serious damage to the launch site near Boca Chica Beach and raised environmental concerns after it kicked up large chunks of concrete and dust into the surrounding wetlands.
During congressional testimony last October, SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability Bill Gerstenmaier said he wanted to see the US House and Senate provide more resources to the FAA for its licensing review processes.
The original article contains 644 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!