Cape Canaveral, Titusville metropolis halls air SpaceX Starship considerations to FAA

Add Titusville and Cape Canaveral metropolis officers to the checklist of entities and residents involved about potential damaging impacts from future SpaceX Starship-Super Heavy mega-scale launches and landings on Florida’s Space Coast.

SpaceX seeks Federal Aviation Administration environmental and licensing approvals to start out launching as much as 44 Starship-Super Heavy rocket-booster tandems per 12 months from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

If that happens, the FAA conservatively estimated the massive rocket system’s launch-day hazard zones might shutter entry to Playalinda Beach the equal of 60½ days per 12 months at Canaveral National Seashore. This information has generated opposition among Titusville-area residents — and Titusville Mayor Andrew Connors is apprehensive about “repeated and extended closures, especially those with little notice or uncertain timelines.”

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“While the City fully supports scientific advancement and recognizes the national security importance of the space industry, including the role SpaceX plays in that effort, we believe there must be a better balance between innovation and environmental/public interests,” Connors stated in a Sept. 11 letter to the FAA.

“The scale and frequency of Starship related closures go beyond previous norms and raise serious questions about long-term public access and the preservation of this protected area,” Connors stated.

The Titusville City Hall letter was submitted as public touch upon the FAA’s Starship-Super Heavy draft environmental affect assertion. This 420-page doc tasks native Starship-Super Heavy ramifications, starting from Playalinda closures to air pollution to sonic booms to airspace closures.

Now, the FAA has prolonged its Starship-Super Heavy public-comment interval one extra week, till Monday, Sept. 29. Cape Canaveral City Manager Keith Touchberry submitted a letter on Sept. 22 on behalf on his barrier-island metropolis, asking that the company strengthen its environmental affect assertion in a number of key areas:

• Potential impacts on timing, value or feasibility of seaside renourishment tasks by the federal authorities.
• The roar of heavy-lift Starships and sharp sonic booms from returning Super-Heavy boosters, as town lies 14 miles south of pad 39A — and greater than 70% of metropolis residents are age 50 are older.
• Cumulative publicity to nitrogen-oxide emissions, particularly when mixed with different launches from the Cape.
• Impacts of vibrations and overpressure on Cape Canaveral’s growing old municipal infrastructure and housing.
• Clear communication about potential highway, maritime and airspace delays.
• Playalinda Beach closures; impacts on sea turtles, dolphins and critically endangered North Atlantic proper whales; and seaside particles washing ashore on town’s two-mile shoreline.

In a lengthy online update released last week, SpaceX officers stated the corporate’s non permanent closure areas round launch pads will be dramatically decreased over time whereas sustaining security requirements. Example: Falcon 9 flight hazard and warning areas for launches and landings shrank considerably since 2015 throughout Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

“This shrinking of clear areas over time extends not just to the immediate area around the launch pad, but also to the air and sea space along planned flight trajectories, where today Falcon 9 has a minimal impact on air traffic for most flight trajectories,” the updates stated.

“The duration of area clears associated with Starship will also be low, as the vehicle and its associated ground systems have been designed to complete propellant loading in under an hour,” the replace stated.

What’s extra, SpaceX reported its Falcon 9 air-traffic hazard areas for Starlink missions have diminished about 66% since 2022

“Continuously challenging the status quo will enable U.S. providers to launch at previously unimaginable rates, without compromising safety, while being good stewards of the environment and ensuring America’s place at the forefront of space exploration,” the SpaceX replace stated.

The FAA is scheduled to launch a remaining Starship-Super Heavy EIS and report of determination this winter on SpaceX’s proposed KSC launches and landings.

How to submit written Starship feedback to the FAA

• The draft EIS is accessible for public overview at https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship_ksc.
• Go to laws.gov, then seek for Docket No. FAA-2024-1395-0075.
• Click the “Comment” button, enter your data, then click on “Submit Comment.”
• Or, mail feedback to Ms. Eva Long, FAA Environmental Protection Specialist c/o Leidos, 2877 Guardian Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.

For the most recent information from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, go to floridatoday.com/house. Another straightforward approach: Click here to sign up for our weekly Space newsletter.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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