As part of a federal review process for its plans in south Texas, details of the spaceport proposed by SpaceX have been made public. They were posted late last week in a public notice from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is requesting public comment on the changes.
Most notably, the new documents include a detailed architectural design of the multi-acre site in the southern tip of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. The main hardware that exists or will be built includes:
- Two orbital launch platforms, one of which is already under construction
- Two suborbital launch platforms, one of which already exists
- Two airfields, one of which already exists
- Two structural tests represent Starship and the Super Heavy booster
- A large “tank farm” to provide ground support equipment for orbital flights
- A permanent position for the totemic vehicle Starhopper at the entrance to the site
What is striking about this architectural design is its compact nature, largely because SpaceX has limited land to work on the installation and must include rainwater ponds to prevent flooding. All of these facilities will be concentrated on a couple of dozen acres, which is in stark contrast to the more extensive launch sites in Florida, the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
However, SpaceX seems confident that it can control the launch and landing of its vehicles so that any setback does not 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 further evidence that the company’s founder, Elon Musk, is determined to bet on SpaceX’s future in Texas. These four launch platforms, in conjunction with the acquisition of two oil platforms called Phobos and Deimos, provide an idea of the company’s operational capabilities.
The plan is likely to conduct launches from southern Texas and land vehicles on these modified platforms and fly starships in suborbital jumps from southern Texas to these platforms for orbital launches. This effectively provides the Starship Launch System with four orbital launch platforms – and possibly a fifth, if SpaceX continues to work on site modifications at Kennedy Space Center.
The review of the US Army Corps is not the only regulatory process underway in South Texas. In addition to satisfying the Army Corps of Engineers, SpaceX is also undergoing an environmental assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration. Since the acquisition of the launch site in South Texas in 2014, the company’s planned scope of activities has grown dramatically, from about 10 launches of Falcon 9 a year to the launch of the massive Starship vehicle. SpaceX is working to provide the FAA with an updated environmental assessment that the federal agency will assess.
Musk also proposed incorporating the neighboring village of Boca Chica into a new city, called Starbase, Texas. This city would need to have at least 201 residents and follow state rules for incorporation. Prior to SpaceX’s arrival, the small community of Boca Chica consisted of several dozen houses. In a somewhat controversial way, in recent years, the company has sought to buy or remove residents to gain more control over nearby launch activities.
This story originally appeared in Ars Technica.
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