Up until now, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX was under review in order to determine if Falcon 9 should be cleared for more flight tests.
After the U.S. regulators had finished their review of Falcon 9, they decided that this skyroocket should have more SpaceX launches from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It seems that the U.S. regulators gave the American aerospace manufacturer the opportunity to have more than double the SpaceX Starship launches.
If, up until now, the aerospace manufacturer has been allowed to have 50 SpaceX Starship launches, now the regulators have increased this number to 120. It seems that this is not the only great news that SpaceX received, because the FAA, also known as the Federal Aviation Administration, has also approved a new landing zone that can handle about 35 booster landings every year.
If you don’t know what boosters are, they represent the reusable first-stage portions of the Falcon 9 rockets. These boosters are used by SpaceX, and after every test, they are refurbished in order to be used in future flight tests.
The U.S. regulators' review was finalized this Wednesday, and the reason why SpaceX will benefit from an increased number of tests is that the FAA found that the changes to Falcon 9 will not have a serious impact on the quality of the human environment. According to different sources, this review is also known as “Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact,” an official description that the Federal Aviation Administration gave to the SpaceX review.
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But the FAA also imposed some protective measures that SpaceX must follow. To make sure that SpaceX will receive permission for future flight tests, the aerospace manufacturer must obtain additional environmental permits to open new facilities, and also ensure to use at night different lights that are safe for sea turtles. Even more so, SpaceX needs to pay extra attention to ensure wildlife protection at the landing spaces.
The water management was also part of the FAA review, but the U.S. regulators found that it is very unlikely that the industrial water that is discharged during SpaceX launch will reach nearby waters.
It should be mentioned that the FAA approval represents just a single step in this process, because the aerospace manufacturer needs many more licenses in order to be able to have a higher SpaceX launch number. The Department of the Air Force also needs to be involved so that they can also approve some of the changes because the official SpaceX launch pad for Falcon 9 is mounted on the property of the Space Force.
Stay tuned for more!
If you don’t know what boosters are, they represent the reusable first-stage portions of the Falcon 9 rockets. These boosters are used by SpaceX, and after every test, they are refurbished in order to be used in future flight tests.
The U.S. regulators' review was finalized this Wednesday, and the reason why SpaceX will benefit from an increased number of tests is that the FAA found that the changes to Falcon 9 will not have a serious impact on the quality of the human environment. According to different sources, this review is also known as “Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact,” an official description that the Federal Aviation Administration gave to the SpaceX review.
Subscribe to our newsletter
But the FAA also imposed some protective measures that SpaceX must follow. To make sure that SpaceX will receive permission for future flight tests, the aerospace manufacturer must obtain additional environmental permits to open new facilities, and also ensure to use at night different lights that are safe for sea turtles. Even more so, SpaceX needs to pay extra attention to ensure wildlife protection at the landing spaces.
The water management was also part of the FAA review, but the U.S. regulators found that it is very unlikely that the industrial water that is discharged during SpaceX launch will reach nearby waters.
It should be mentioned that the FAA approval represents just a single step in this process, because the aerospace manufacturer needs many more licenses in order to be able to have a higher SpaceX launch number. The Department of the Air Force also needs to be involved so that they can also approve some of the changes because the official SpaceX launch pad for Falcon 9 is mounted on the property of the Space Force.
Stay tuned for more!
