SpaceX CEO Elon Musk details orbital refueling plans for Starship Moon lander In theory, with this barebones PEA approved, SpaceX would then be able to build off the foundation with additional environmental assessments вЂ“ like, for example, of expanding StarshipвЂ™s maximum launch cadence. Above all else, SpaceXвЂ™s slimmed-down draft PEA should be far easier for the FAA to approve than a PEA pursuing permission for StarshipвЂ™s ultimate ambitions вЂ“ dozens to hundreds of launches annually вЂ“ from the beginning. However, in terms of SpaceXвЂ™s prospects of developing Starship as quickly as possible, thatвЂ™s actually a good thing. Each HLS Starship Moon landing is expected to require anywhere from 10-16 launches to deliver a depot ship, HLS lander, and ~1200 tons of propellant to orbit. Perhaps most importantly, the draft PEA as proposed would unequivocally prevent SpaceX from performing the NASA Human Lander System (HLS) Moon landings it received an almost $3 billion contract to complete. However, as an example, a five-launch maximum would almost entirely prevent SpaceX from launching Starship to Mars, the Moon, and maybe even high-energy Earth orbits without using all of its annual launch allotments on a single mission.

At a maximum of 3-5 orbital launches per year, a PEA and subsequent launch license approved as-is would likely give SpaceX just enough slack to perform basic Earth orbit launches and no more than one or two orbital refilling tests per year. In other words, SpaceXвЂ™s initial draft PEA is extremely conservative, requesting permission for what amounts to a bare minimum concept of operations for orbital Starship launches.

SpaceXвЂ™s вЂњproposed annual operationsвЂќ under the initial PEA.

Once SpaceX has worked out enough kinks for slightly more confident Starship operations, the company would enter an вЂњoperational phaseвЂќ that would allow for as many as five suborbital Starship launches and five orbital Starship launches, as well as ship and booster landings back on land after all 10 possible launches. Along those lines, as part of StarbaseвЂ™s first dedicated environmental assessment, SpaceX has proposed a maximum of 23 flight operations annually while Starship is still in the development phase, including up to 20 suborbital Starship test flights and 3 orbital launches (or Super Heavy hops). Most importantly, that means that SpaceXвЂ™s Starbase PEA вЂ“ if approved вЂ“ will be more like a foundation or stepping stone that should make it easier to start small and methodically expand the scope and nature of the companyвЂ™s plans for Boca Chica. In a sign that SpaceX is taking a pragmatic approach to the inevitable environmental review and launch license approval hurdles standing in front of orbital South Texas Starship launches, the company has actually pursued what is known as a вЂњprogrammatic environmental assessmentвЂќ (PEA). On one hand, SpaceXвЂ™s draft EA вЂ“ completed with oversight from the FAA and help from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) вЂ“ gives a number of reasons for optimism. Reception and analysis of the draft and its timing have been mixed. The Boca Chica site SpaceX ultimately settled on for its first private launch facilities вЂ“ initially meant for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy but later dedicated to BFR (now Starship) вЂ“ is simultaneously surrounded by sensitive coastal habitats populated by several threatened or endangered species and situated mere miles as the crow flies from a city whose temporary population oscillates from a few thousand to tens of thousands. Set to be the largest and most powerful rocket in spaceflight history when it first begins orbital launches, the process of acquiring permission to launch Starship and its Super Heavy booster out of the wetlands of the South Texas coast was never going to be easy. In a rare sign of material progress, SpaceX and the FAA have finally released what is known as a draft environmental assessment (EA) of the companyвЂ™s South Texas Starship launch plans.

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