FAA confirms “no significant impact” to environment for Starship/Superheavy at Boca Chica
The FAA today released [pdf] its final environmental assessment reviewing SpaceX’s request to expand operations of Starship/Superheavy at Boca Chica, confirming that it has determined there will be “no significant impact” to environment.
The 2022 PEA and April 2025 Tiered EA examined the potential for significant environmental impacts from Starship-Super Heavy launch operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site and defined the regulatory setting for impacts associated with Starship-Super Heavy. The areas evaluated for environmental impacts in this Tiered EA include noise and noise‐compatible land use; aviation emissions and air quality; hazardous materials, solid waste, and pollution prevention; and socioeconomics. In each of these areas, the FAA has concluded that no significant impacts would occur as a result of the Proposed Action.
The approval will allow SpaceX to do 25 launches per year (three of which are at night). The approval also appears to lay the groundwork for bringing Superheavy back not only to Boca Chica, but to Florida. It also lays the groundwork for bringing Starship back to Boca Chica after completing an orbital flight, to be caught by the tower chopsticks.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The FAA today released [pdf] its final environmental assessment reviewing SpaceX’s request to expand operations of Starship/Superheavy at Boca Chica, confirming that it has determined there will be “no significant impact” to environment.
The 2022 PEA and April 2025 Tiered EA examined the potential for significant environmental impacts from Starship-Super Heavy launch operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site and defined the regulatory setting for impacts associated with Starship-Super Heavy. The areas evaluated for environmental impacts in this Tiered EA include noise and noise‐compatible land use; aviation emissions and air quality; hazardous materials, solid waste, and pollution prevention; and socioeconomics. In each of these areas, the FAA has concluded that no significant impacts would occur as a result of the Proposed Action.
The approval will allow SpaceX to do 25 launches per year (three of which are at night). The approval also appears to lay the groundwork for bringing Superheavy back not only to Boca Chica, but to Florida. It also lays the groundwork for bringing Starship back to Boca Chica after completing an orbital flight, to be caught by the tower chopsticks.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Very good.
I never did like the EPA over-reach…I am glad Trump went after that bunch.
The Fonz says Aaaaay!
Something that just popped up at phys-
“Rule breaking discovery reveals new way to strengthen metal in extreme conditions.”
This has it that heating can make metal *stronger*
I am starting to wonder if the re-entry process itself can be used somehow.
Also:
“Shaping carbon fiber with electricity: wireless voltage pulses drive reversible bending.”
In terms of ecology
//phys.org/news/2026-02-rethinking-climate-natural-variability-solar.html
Jeff Wright:
The article observes that the research may be of value in re-entry structure engineering; a conclusion supported by the data. The behaviour of the pure metals is described as ‘counterintuitive’; but it doesn’t seem so, if you consider how ‘temperature’ works. Energy in a homogenous form has some power; lasers, for instance. The study supports this by noting that a very small amount of impurities destroys the capability.
To Blair
Lenticular designs have long fascinated me. Pye-Wacket was a saucer shaped air-to-air missile to be carried by the XB-70
Lenticular Defense Missile (LDM) Program and by the project number WS-740A).
There is a nice paper called “Shuttle Variations And Derivatives That Never Happened -An Historical Review”
There was a Shuttle-C concept I hope gets brought back:
“Later in-house studies used the HLLV to show how very large diameter telescopes could be launched and
assembled in space. These ranged from 7.6 meters (Fig. 11) to 20 meters. The latter had a primary mirror that was
integral with a lenticular shell that was launched with an HLLV (Figs. 12 & 13).”
These were alo to be used for OMVs—and I could see some hypersonic TPS tests with something like that.
Big Onion was a capsule shapped HLLV, but a flat, wide Bono saucer would have even less wing-loading.