SpaceX is approaching the first launch of Starship in 2024 from its Starbase facility in Texas, probably in three weeks. However, the company is already pushing regulators to increase the number of test flights.
During a press conference, Kelvin Coleman, the head of commercial space transportation at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), stated that the agency is working with the company to try to facilitate the licensing process for launching Starship, as reported by ArsTechnica.
They are considering a fairly aggressive launch schedule for this year. I believe they are planning at least nine launches this year. That is a lot of launches. If you are creating new modifications and doing them one after another, it is a lot of work. We are constantly communicating with SpaceX, gathering together and trying to figure out how to make it happen.
After SpaceX decided about five years ago to launch and attempt to land its Starship spacecraft in Texas, the company had to undergo an extensive environmental review of the site. As part of this process, the FAA completed its final programmatic environmental assessment in June 2022. Following this, SpaceX was granted permission to conduct up to five Starship launches from South Texas annually. An FAA representative confirmed that the company is seeking to change this limit to five launches to enable a higher flight frequency.
In April 2023, SpaceX launched its first Starship rocket, the largest rocket ever built and designed for full reusability. This flight caused significant damage to the launch site in Boca Chica and raised concerns among environmentalists after large chunks of concrete and dust were thrown onto the surrounding marshy lands. Coleman said that the anomaly investigation and regulatory review process after this flight took about six months, which, in his opinion, was proportional to the amount of work that was done.
The second launch attempt in November was more successful, as the first stage of the Super Heavy booster rocket made an almost nominal flight, and the Starship booster separated from the booster rocket before encountering an anomaly and being lost. This time there was no damage on the ground. According to Coleman, the FAA's work to analyze this anomaly was about a third less.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk stated that his company plans to make a third Starship launch attempt in early to mid-March. According to Musk, this highly experimental spacecraft has a high chance of successfully reaching orbit.
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