New Delhi: SpaceX wants to launch up to 120 times a year from Florida, which is causing concern among its competitors. The company plans to launch its Starship rocket up to 44 times a year from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and aims to use a second site, Space Launch Complex (SLC)-37 at Cape Canaveral, for up to 76 more launches. This means SpaceX could launch up to 120 times annually within a small area on the Florida coast.
Competitors like Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are worried about these plans. They have asked regulators to make sure other launch providers aren’t disrupted, with Blue Origin suggesting that SpaceX’s operations be limited to certain times and that other companies get priority for launch times if there’s a conflict. These concerns were raised during public meetings in March.
The U.S. Space Force is preparing a draft environmental assessment, which is expected this winter, to outline SpaceX’s final launch schedule. The exact number of launches might change based on Starship’s development progress and environmental considerations, such as the presence of threatened scrub jay nests.
SLC-37, a historic site previously used by NASA’s Saturn rockets and ULA’s Delta IV series, is now inactive. The Space Force announced in February the start of an environmental impact study for Starship launches from SLC-37, while the Federal Aviation Administration is doing a separate study for launches from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A. Both studies will look at the environmental effects of these launches and the returning boosters.
An alternative plan is to build a new launch pad, SLC-50, which would require significant construction. These Florida launch sites would join SpaceX’s existing facility in Texas, where a second Starship launch tower is being built.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has big plans for Starship, aiming to make it key for colonizing Mars and expanding human presence in space. He wants to launch Starship multiple times a day, each time carrying hundreds of tons of cargo to low Earth orbit or beyond. The company also aims to produce one Starship second stage per day.
In response, Blue Origin and ULA have voiced strong concerns about how frequent Starship launches could affect other launch providers at Kennedy and Cape Canaveral. ULA highlighted that frequent launches would disrupt other operations and cause significant environmental impacts. Blue Origin suggested measures like requiring SpaceX or the government to compensate other companies for any disruptions caused by Starship operations.
Public comments on SLC-37 are still to come, but the comments on pad 39A show the competitive tensions and environmental worries about SpaceX’s ambitious plans.
