Elon Musk plans to use Texas natural gas for his starships

Photographer: Austin Barnard / Bloomberg

Elon Musk became the richest man in the world thanks to his enthusiasm for the stylish electric cars of Tesla Inc. and at the price of the company’s stratospheric shares. But while Musk is perhaps the best-known clean energy CEO, SpaceX, his other company, is likely to rely on natural gas drilling to power Starship, the new spacecraft and rocket designed to carry humans. on the Moon, on Mars and beyond.

Musk’s SpaceX intends to use a site in South Texas to launch rockets to transport people and payloads to the Moon and Mars. To do so, the company intends to drill gas wells to make its own fuel and electricity, according to a Federal Aviation Administration document seen by Bloomberg.

Musk has long mocked the oil industry, making renewable energy and electric vehicles the keys to preventing a climate catastrophe. But the FAA paper and SpaceX’s comments to Texas regulators show how, at least in the short term, some of its goals will depend on fossil fuel extraction plans that are already being criticized by environmental groups.

Although Musk has said he ultimately aims to extract carbon from the atmosphere to produce fuel, a cost-effective method of doing so has not yet been developed. The billionaire is giving $ 100 million to award for “best carbon capture technology.”

According to the FAA document, the Texas SpaceX site will be supplied by at least five nearby gas wells, along with two gas power plants. The purified gas from the wells will be pumped to refrigeration equipment that converts it into liquid methane, the document shows. Methane can be combined with liquid oxygen and other compounds to make rocket fuel.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. But in a hearing last week with the The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas in the state, said the company’s lawyers used the gas from the wells for “rocket operations.”

The document seen by Bloomberg appears to be an unfinished draft environmental review, an FAA spokesman said. A public comment period ending last week will be used to complete the official draft assessment. Once completed, the draft will be posted on the agency’s website for another round of public comment.

The company is also seeking permission from the FAA to add a plant and gas treatment equipment that will convert methane to its liquid form and plans to expand a nearby solar farm and build a water desalination plant, according to records from the agency.

SpaceX originally built the coastal site for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which are used to deploy satellites, but were never used for this purpose. Now, the company is requesting permission to use it as a launch site for spacecraft carrying people and payloads to the Moon and Mars, according to FAA records.

Vertically integrated

One of the possible motivations for SpaceX’s plans to produce gas: vertical integration. Musk has been a longtime follower of the strategy, which is used to keep track of the supply chains of his companies. By drilling gas, SpaceX would avoid paying a third party to produce it and drive it to the launch site.

Depending on the liquid-oxygen-methane fuel ratios, a single release would require tens of millions of cubic feet of gas.

Even without considering the need for gas to power the SpaceX power plants at the Texas site, a minimum of 10 launches a year would require approximately half a billion cubic feet. This would cost approximately $ 1.37 million, based on current reference gas futures traded in New York.

To insure this gas, SpaceX launched a subsidiary called Lone Star Mineral Development in June. The company wasted no time in buying mineral rights in the area, as well as an 806-acre lease originally bore by the Houston-based oil company Sanchez Energy, which became Mesquite Energy after coming out of bankruptcy last year.

It is unclear, however, how much gas Lone Star will be able to extract from the site. Cameron County, where the launch site is located, is not a prolific source of fuel. Sánchez’s lease, put into production in 2011, produced approximately 536 million cubic feet of gas during this first year, according to data from the Railway Commission. But after that, production continued to decline until in March 2014 it went out of service.

Geology is not the only obstacle to SpaceX’s gas production plans. The company faces legal challenges for a plot of land that is a small corner of the drilling lease. Proximity producer Dallas Petroleum Group LLC says it has been paying property taxes on two wells there and is asking the Railroad Commission to resolve a well control dispute with Lone Star. He had previously sued Sanchez for access to the wells and modified the lawsuit Friday to add SpaceX and Lone Star as defendants.

Lone Star also bought two offshore platforms from drilling contractor Valaris Plc last year. They will likely be used as a landing pad for reusable SpaceX rockets, according to FAA records.

Environmental opposition

A coalition of a dozen environmental groups is already raising alarm over SpaceX’s expansion plans. The rocket launch site has gone far beyond the scope of its original permit and the company’s plans threaten an environmentally sensitive wildlife corridor along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the coalition.

At last year’s launch site, “there were at least three explosions, some of which caused more fires that burned smaller areas” of public land, said EJ Williams, vice president of the American Bird Conservancy in an email. “These explosions directly affected the designated critical habitat used by federally listed species and other declining species.”

To explore From Bloomberg ESG statistics, click here

More traffic on the road leading to the launch site has drastically increased the number of animals killed by vehicles and the closure of roads for rocket launching has prevented biologists from studying endangered migratory bird species nesting nearby, according to David Newstead, director of bird conservation. projects for the Coastal Bend Bend & Estuaries program based in Corpus Christi.

The FAA originally allowed SpaceX for 12 launches a year and 180 hours of road closures, but Newstead said his group documented more than 1,100 hours of highway closures last year.

Because of changes in SpaceX’s plans for the Texas site, environmental groups want the FAA to use a stricter, more transparent process to review the company’s proposals. For example, the file The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires companies wishing to build new pipelines or export terminals to submit regular public updates, while the FAA does not require the same level of disclosure, said Patrick Anderson, chairman of the chapter of the Rio Grande Valley of the Sierra Club.

While SpaceX is requesting permission to produce gas in the short term, the Texas launch site could ultimately favor Musk’s zero carbon ambitions. Gas drilling could be part of gaining long-term experience with the use of on-site resources, or ISRU, the practice of generating products with local materials. Although there are no fossil fuels on Mars, those who land there may have to drill water or minerals.

Musk could also use drilling to gain experience in the development of carbon dioxide storage wells. SpaceX will likely have to use carbon capture on Mars to make fuel for the trip back home, which makes it crucial to hit the technology right.

Historically, liquid hydrogen was the preferred fuel for early space missions, while a rocket loaded with kerosene and liquid oxygen sent Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins to the moon.