FAA clears the way for SpaceX to hold Starship launch on Sunday

Washington: The Federal Aviation Administration issued a new license Saturday allowing Elon Musk's SpaceX company to launch its Starship rocket again from South Texas, and it included new requirements to limit the harm to birds' nests and other wildlife in an adjacent state park and National Wildlife Refuge.

The action by the FAA, which came after weeks of pressure by Musk on the agency to speed up its latest review, allows Musk to go ahead with his next test of Starship, with a launch now set to take place as early as 8 am Eastern time Sunday.

So far, SpaceX has been required to obtain a license for each launch. With the latest license, the FAA is allowing the company to launch more than once, unless it modifies its procedures.

Starship, the largest rocket ever built, has not yet carried humans into space, as its reliability is still being assessed. But this is the spaceship that Musk is under contract to use to land NASA astronauts on the moon -- and that he hopes to someday use to take humans to Mars.

But as prototypes and full-scale versions of the rocket have been tested at the company's launch site at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico near the Mexican border in South Texas, there has been widespread evidence of environmental consequences to the region, as detailed in a New York Times investigation in July.

The report in the Times examined, in part, damage that a Starship launch in June caused to the fragile migratory bird habitat surrounding the launch site, including destroying eggs in nearby nests.

After the story was published, Musk made fun of the findings. "To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week," he wrote in a social media post.

But the FAA announced Saturday, as it issued the launch license, that SpaceX had agreed to conduct studies, beginning with this next launch, of the plume of pea-sized gravel the rocket sends out into the adjacent state park "to determine the distance of the gravel plume and methods for protecting nests during launch events."

SpaceX will also use drones with infrared cameras -- which can detect animal nesting sites -- during launches, and it will deploy environmental engineers before and after the launches to look for any harm to these birds and their nests.

The company may also be asked, if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approves, to install temporary shelters to protect the nests during launches, the FAA environmental report released Saturday said.

The planned Starship launch Sunday will be its fifth full-scale test. For the first time, there is a plan to have its lower stage, known as the Super Heavy booster rocket, return to the Texas launch site and be grabbed in midair by moving arms at the launch tower that SpaceX calls "chopsticks."

SpaceX also plans to drop a 20,000-pound, 30-foot-by-6-foot stainless-steel heat shield from the rocket at some spot at least about half a mile up to 250 miles from the Gulf Coast, near the landing site, a location that is much closer to shore than had been previously allowed. The shield will hit the water and then sink, according to the plan.

This newest launch -- because it will include a rocket both taking off and landing at the site -- will cause louder and more far-reaching noise, as well as more intense air pressurization in surrounding communities, the FAA concluded in the documents it released Saturday.

The agency reasserted that animals "may exhibit a brief startle response" to the disruptions, but that "direct physical injury or death of wildlife" is not expected.

The fish and wildlife agency, in a separate letter released Saturday, concurred. But it asserted that "the new sonic boom information may affect but is not likely to adversely affect, the species and critical habitats."

The Environmental Protection Agency separately moved last month to fine SpaceX $148,378 for improperly disposing of water discharged from a system intended to muffle noise and prevent fires during the launch. SpaceX has disputed the allegation, calling it "disagreements over paperwork," but agreed to pay the fine. "We chose to settle so that we can focus our energy on completing the missions," the company said.

Lawsuits filed by local community groups and national environmental associations, asserting that the FAA and SpaceX have violated rules or laws intended to protect the area's environment and wildlife, are pending. Local activists said they remained unsatisfied with the latest moves by the agency.

"These are token measures to make it look like they are serious about environmental protection," said Jim Chapman, a member of the board of a local group, called Save RGV in reference to the Rio Grande Valley, that filed two of the lawsuits. "It's all a way to not slow SpaceX down."

Separate from Saturday's action, the FAA is still considering a request by SpaceX to allow it to increase launches from the Texas site from five a year to 25.