Elon Musk’s SpaceX company no longer has environmental barriers to launching a rocket to Mars from South Texas. This was reported by US Federal Aviation Administration, writes NY Times.
Prior to that, the department conducted an environmental assessment and concluded that the orbital launches of the missile will not significantly affect the region along the Gulf Coast. However, SpaceX must take more than 75 measures to minimize the impact on the environment when the flights of Starship, a spacecraft that is central to NASA’s plans to return to the moon and in Mask’s dreams of colonizing Mars, begin.
In particular, Musk should warn of launches in advance, monitor the surrounding wildlife with the help of a biologist, coordinate with state and federal agencies to clean up debris left after launch, and adjust lighting, to reduce the impact on nature and the nearest beach.
In addition, SpaceX has limited the ability to close a nearby highway. However, according to some activists and community members, this is still not enough. They believe that the impact of the launch on the environment will still be huge and hope to file a lawsuit against SpaceX to delay the flight of the rocket.
Starship will be the most powerful rocket in history. Together with the booster unit, it will be more than 120 meters high, which is more than the Statue of Liberty. Unlike any previous orbital rocket, it will be completely reusable. This will significantly reduce the cost of delivering cargo into orbit.
An attempt at orbital launch can be made a couple of months after approval. Elon Musk spoke about this back in February, while awaiting approval in March.
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