FAA delays environmental review of SpaceX’s Starship project

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. saw its goal of launching its large Starship spacecraft from Boca Chica, Texas, thwarted early next year after U.S. regulators delayed a planned environmental review for two months to 28 September. February.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intended to release a final Programmatic Environmental Assessment by December 31, but SpaceX, under the supervision of the FAA, is currently responding to more than 18,000 comments. public opinion, and the FAA continues its consultation and coordination with other agencies.

SpaceX’s Boca Chica location in the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border is the company’s assembly site for its new, large, fully reusable Starship spacecraft system designed to carry human beings to the Moon and Mars. It is also key to SpaceX’s efforts to launch additional Starlink satellites.

NASA also plans to use Starship as part of its Artemis program to get astronauts back on the Moon this decade.

The Boca Chica site is located near an important area for fishing and wildlife species such as sea turtles and migratory birds. A coalition of 11 environmental groups signed a public letter on November 1 asking the FAA to thoroughly examine SpaceX’s proposed expansion in the area.

The groups said the site is adjacent to an ecologically unique region that includes a national wildlife refuge, swamps for various species of birds and beaches that sea turtles use for nesting.

The SpaceX facility in Boca Chica is a linchpin of Musk’s growing empire in Texas, which includes a new Tesla auto plant in Austin, Texas.