FAA Delays Starbase Texas launch as Work on Starship Continues
In today’s post, we’ve got word of the FAA pushing back Starbase’s environmental assessment again, Starship getting a specialized Starlink dispenser, and Booster 4 being officially removed from Starbase’s launch mount. Let's get into it.
Assessment Delays
The FAA (The US’s Federal Aviation Administration) recently announced that the environmental assessment (PEA) needed to approve SpaceX orbital launches from their South Texas Starbase site has been delayed to April 29th.
The FAA’s notoriously opaque procedures for approving new launch sites is nothing new for SpaceX. The launch site at Kennedy Space Center, already made for launching rockets, took almost a whole year to complete its assessment, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the PEA for Boca Chica would take more than the six months Elon seems to think it will.
This of course isn’t even the first time this specific evaluation has been pushed back. In December 2021, the original deadline, the FAA announced a delay until February 28th, 2022. Then part way through February, the FAA announced another delay until March 28th. And now, April 29th. It’s not clear at all as to why these delays are happening, but they’re certainly not out of the ordinary.
And while the FAA is notoriously tight lipped about their processes, information gained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests show that the real blocker might be the bureaucratic back-and-forth between the FAA and the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS), and the National Park Services (NPS). All of these organizations need to act together for an environmental assessment, and so it’s very normal for this process to face repeated - if not frustrating - delays.
But for right now, SpaceX has other blocks for their first orbital test to get over before the FAA certification becomes their main blocker. The recent announcements by Musk about the use of the Raptor 2 engine means several refits need to be completed. Ship 24 - the likely orbital candidate - is still in pieces for example. So just from testing alone, Elon may have to readjust his thoughts on a May orbital flight test.
Starlink Amenities for Starship
It seems that Starlink systems are being looked at along with the other preparations for orbital Starship launches, as a new Starlink dispensing device was spotted on what appears to be Starship S24’s nosecone.
Formerly, payloads carried into orbit would be deployed via full separation or via opening large doors along the hull. This dispenser seems to take a more slim and efficient approach. A slot on the side indicates that the small Starlink satellites could be actively or passively deployed mechanically, after being loaded in on a rail-like frame and stacked like pez candies. Once in orbit, they could be ejected sequentially without much need for complex mechanisms. @ErcXspace on Twitter posted this great visualization below:
Farwell, Booster 4
After a week of full stack cryogenic proof tests coupled with Starship S20, Super Heavy Booster B4 has been destacked and removed from the orbital launch mount.
Booster 4 and Starship S20 were loaded onto the Mechzilla launch platform last week for what would be full stack cryo-proof testing, and while there were several tests completed successfully, B4 was apparently never there for anything bigger, like wet dress rehearsals or test firing of its Raptor V1 arrays.
The reason why is likely down to Elon Musk’s announcement last Monday that the launch candidates for Starship orbital insertion would be fitted with the Raptor 2 engines - which Booster 4 noticeably did not have. So while B4 was very useful in testing and demonstrating a full stack test with cryo-proofing; it seems that’s all it was ever intended to do.
There’s no word yet on what, if anything, SpaceX plans to do with the booster now, as they turn their attention to Super Heavy B7, and Starship S24 testing.