(dramatic music) (whooshing sounds)
- [Narrator] After months of delays,
SpaceX received word from regulators
about the fate of its Starbase launch site.
- It's a pretty big deal for the company.
And the FAA basically gave the company the green light
to move forward.
- [Narrator] On Monday, the FAA released
its final environmental assessment
of the company's south Texas location.
The assessment found that continued launches
at the Boca Chica would not significantly affect the quality
of the human environment.
- It was a big hurdle.
I mean, it created a fair amount
of I guess you'd call little a regulatory uncertainty.
It means that SpaceX has a pathway forward
to start the kind of testing
to show that this gigantic rocket really can work.
- [Narrator] The agency's assessment
also found that before it can start orbital launches,
SpaceX must carry out more than 75 actions
to mitigate the effects
of the launches on the surrounding area and environment.
These actions read from noise restrictions
to monitoring the lighting at the launch site
to preparing a report on historic events that took place
in the area during the Mexican-American War
and the Civil War.
So what does this assessment mean for SpaceX
and the Starship program going forward?
Moreover, what does it mean for NASA's plan
to get the US back to the moon by 2025?
(dramatic music)
Last year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced
that he was creating a new city called Starbase
at Boca Chica Village
in an unincorporated community of about 30 homes
located next to the southernmost beach in Texas.
- [Announcer] Lift off of the Falcon 9.
- [Narrator] SpaceX originally planned
to use the site for launches
of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets
but later, it decided to use Starbase
to develop its much larger Starship spacecraft.
SpaceX has been conducting suborbital Starship launches
at Boca Chica since 2019.
But for the spaceship's development to continue,
the FAA requires additional permitting.
- Starship is the biggest
and most powerful rocket system SpaceX has ever developed.
It's meant for some
of the company's most ambitious deep space missions.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Although many in the state welcomed
the increase investment and jobs,
some in south Texas are concerned
that SpaceX's expansion will come at a steep price
to the environment.
- One of the major concerns
is that the FAA hasn't done enough analysis
of what the effects
of operating Starship from this location would be.
- [Narrator] Boca Chica sits at the edge
of a national wildlife refuge
but since SpaceX began expanding its operations in 2019,
some conservationists worry
that the eventual environmental impact
will be devastating.
(booming sound)
The FAA's final environmental assessment
of the Boca Chica site
was expected last year.
However, the agency pushed back the deadline five times,
saying SpaceX made changes to its application
that required additional analysis.
- One of the big reasons
that this has been delayed multiple times
is because the FAA has said almost 20,000 people
have weighed in on this,
and provided public comment for, against,
and they had to go through those.
- [Narrator] The breadth of submissions range
from opposition by a wildlife biologist
to support from an engineer.
Others were submitted on behalf of groups
and many were pages long.
The completion of the assessment
does not guarantee that the FAA
will issue SpaceX a launch license.
SpaceX's application must also meet FAA safety,
risk and financial requirements.
SpaceX expects the first orbital launch
of its Starship spacecraft
to take place later this year.
Starship is designed for voyages to the moon and Mars
and NASA selected Starship
to return humans to the moon in 2025.
- They can't start launching immediately.
It's not quite that simple.
The company also has to make sure it's compliant
with all of these actions.
So they still have some steps
to go before they start launching.
- [Narrator] SpaceX did not respond
to multiple requests for comment
but shortly after the FAA's decision,
the company did tweet that Starship
was one step closer to its first orbital flight.
(dramatic music)
(whooshing sound)