The world’s most covered rockets could begin flying more.
US regulators have completed a critical environmental review that opens up a way to pave the way more than twice the number of Falcon 9 launches from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
In addition to increasing from 50 launches each year to up to 120, the Federal Aviation Administration Environmental Review has also approved a new on-site landing zone that can accommodate up to 34 booster landings per year. These boosters are the first reusable part of the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX will land and renovate for future flights.
Confirmed Wednesday, the review discovered what is known as “mitigated findings with no significant impact.” This means that the proposed changes “have no significant impact on the quality of the human environment under federal law,” and the impact was reduced by certain protective measures.
These measures include obtaining additional environmental permits prior to the construction of new facilities, using nighttime sea turtle-friendly lighting and conducting pre-construction surveys of Florida’s Scrub Jay and East Indigo Snake populations to ensure wildlife protection.
Regarding water management, this review concluded that industrial wastewater, particularly large amounts of water that have been discharged during launch, are very unlikely to be discharged into nearby water bodies.
The flood system, which blows large amounts of water into the launch pad during lift-off to absorb heat and sound from the rocket engine, was controversial. On SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in Texas, environmental groups sued local regulators over approval that allows the company to drain industrial wastewater from PADs.
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Wednesday’s environmental approval is just one step in the process. SpaceX still requires the FAA to officially change its launch license to allow higher launch numbers. The Air Force division must approve the changes as the launch pad is in Space Force Properties.
This approval paves the way for SpaceX to continue its trend of increasing Falcon 9 launches each year. The release frequency has risen sharply in recent years, starting from 60 launches per year in 2022 to 132 in 2024.
Even the world’s most released rocket, SpaceX still has a busy manifesto. It is available for commercial customers, the Department of Defense, and its own StarLink Internet satellites. An increase in startup should facilitate this bottleneck. A dedicated landing zone may also reduce the turnaround of the booster, as it does not have to rely on drone ship booster offshore landings.
The decision is part of SpaceX’s much broader multi-site push, increasing the cadence of launches. The company is also considering expanding the West Coast, with plans to launch Falcon launches as many as 100 people a year from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Meanwhile, regulators are also reviewing proposals from both Texas and Florida that will allow for much larger rocket growth in SpaceX, designed for Moon and Mars missions.
