SpaceX's Loud, Dangerous Starship Tests in Texas Worry Environmental Regulators
SpaceX’s aggressive plan to test fly its Mars-colonizing spaceship, Starship, in the remote beach town of Boca Chica in South Texas is worrying environmental regulators.
In a new set of documents released by the Federal Aviation Association on Monday, the federal agency cited concerns raised by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department about SpaceX’s incessant and dangerous work in Boca Chica.
Critics were particularly worried about SpaceX’s excessive road closures to Boca Chica Beach, around-the-clock construction work that may disturb nocturnal species and potential prototype explosions, which have caused sprawling wildfires in the past.
SpaceX privately owns the launch and development site in Boca Chica. The company has been using the site primarily for testing Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rockets since 2014. However, as those two rockets enter commercial service, SpaceX in recent years has been gradually adjusting the Boca Chica site for its next big project, Starship.
https://observer.com/2020/11/spacex-starship-test-texas-worry-environmental-agency-faa/
---------------
The Boca Chica facility has never been used for testing the Falcon rockets.