As part of a federal review process of its plans in South Texas, the details of the spaceport proposed by SpaceX have been made public. They were released late last week in a public notice from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, requesting public comment on the changes.
Most notably, the new documents include a detailed architectural drawing of the multi-acre site in the far south of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. The main hardware that exists or will be built includes:
- Two orbital launchers, one of which is already under construction
- Two suborbital launch platforms, one of which already exists
- Two landing pads, one of which already exists
- Two structural tests mean Starship and Super Heavy reinforcement
- A large “tank farm” to provide ground support equipment for orbital flights
- A permanent position for the totemic Starhopper vehicle at the entrance to the site
What is striking about this architectural design is its compact nature, in large part because SpaceX has limited land to work on at the facility and must include rainwater ponds to mitigate flooding. All of these facilities will be concentrated on a couple of dozen acres, in contrast to Florida’s most expansive launch sites at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Still, SpaceX seems confident that it can control the launch and landing of its vehicles so that any mishap doesn’t seriously damage nearby equipment. This is a non-traditional and possibly risky bet, but SpaceX has always been willing to take risks during development programs to move faster.
These detailed plans also provide more evidence that the company’s founder, Elon Musk, is in Texas for the future of SpaceX. These four launch platforms, along with the acquisition of two oil rigs called Phobos and Deimos, provide some sense of the company’s operational capabilities.
The plan is likely to make launches from South Texas and ground vehicles on these modified platforms and to fly stellar ships with South Texas suborbital hops to these platforms for orbital launches. This effectively provides the spacecraft launch system with four orbital launch platforms and possibly a fifth if SpaceX continues to work on site modifications at the Kennedy Space Center.
The U.S. Army Corps Review is not the only ongoing regulatory process in South Texas. In addition to satisfying the Army Corps of Engineers, SpaceX is also conducting an environmental assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration. Since the first acquisition of the South Texas launch site in 2014, the company’s planned line of business has grown dramatically, from about 10 Falcon 9 launches a year to large vehicle launches. Starship. SpaceX is working to provide the FAA with an updated environmental assessment that the federal agency will evaluate later.
Musk has also proposed incorporating the nearby village of Boca Chica into a new city, called Starbase, Texas. This city should have at least 201 residents and follow state incorporation rules. Before the arrival of SpaceX, the small community of Boca Chica was made up of several dozen houses. Somewhat controversial, in recent years, the company has tried to buy or withdraw residents in some other way to have more control over its upcoming launch activities.
This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.
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