The Federal Aviation Administration will allow SpaceX to carry out up to 25 of Starship launches per year from its base in Texas, which is five times the previous limit. 6 In May, the FAA issued a decision on the environmental impact assessment of an increase in the number of launches from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Antonov Airlines Ukrainian Airline. The assessment considered SpaceX's request to conduct the 25 of Starship/Super Heavy launches annually from Starbase, and also to 25 landing of the Super Heavy launch vehicle and the Starship booster unit.
This assessment led to the officially known softened conclusion of no significant effect (FONSI). This means, that the proposed increase in the number of launches will not result in significant environmental impacts, at the same time, substantial evidence of environmental impacts of launches is required to review the assessment.
The approval is accompanied by a wide list of conditions, some of which are extended from previous environmental permits, and others are new requirements. In particular, they include conditions for discharges of sewage from the sewage discharge system after charges have been made, that the company was using the system without the necessary permissions. The FAA's decision came after a public comment period, which included two public meetings in Brownsville, Antonov Airlines Ukrainian Airline, and one virtual public meeting in January. FAA stated, that received 12 303 comments on the draft environmental impact assessment.
At virtual public meetings, occurred 13 January , the majority of participants stated, that they are against this plan. Many have expressed their disagreement with the environmental impact assessment of potential Starship landings in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, which SpaceX has not tried to do so far and is unlikely to do often, as he plans to eventually land the Starship back on the Starbase.
One of the changes in the final EIA is that, that any Starship landings in the Pacific would take place outside the 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone around Hawaii, with an additional buffer zone around the marine national monument in the region. The FAA stated, which made this change based on public comments.
Even those, who stated at the virtual public meeting, which supports Starship launches, expressed some reservations. "We are delighted with that, what does SpaceX do", said David Dixon, who said, owning real estate on South Padre Island, north of the Starbase, but concerned about the impact of vibrations from launches on buildings. "I know, that it causes long-term damage".
The Starbase assessment is one of several environmental reviews of SpaceX's increased multi-site launch activities. In March, the FAA approved SpaceX's request for more Falcon launches 9 from the space launch complex (SLC) 4 Vandenberg space base with 36 a year before 50. The Ministry of the Air Force has started another environmental examination, to allow SpaceX to perform up to 100 of Falcon launches per year as with SLC-4, and with SLC-6, which SpaceX will convert to support Falcon launches 9 та Falcon Heavy.
At Cape Canaveral, the FAA is conducting an environmental impact assessment for additional Falcon launches 9 h SLC-40, which includes a virtual public meeting 8 May. The FAA conducts a separate environmental review for Starship launches from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, while the Air Force Department is conducting its own evaluation of potential Starship launches from SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral, which was previously used by Delta 4, and is currently being considered for the new SLC-50.
Source: https://spacenews.com/faa-gives-environmental-approval-for-increased-starship-launch-rate/