FAA Opens Environmental Review of SpaceX Plan to Raise Starbase Starship Launches From 25 to as Many as 456 a Year
BOCA CHICA, Texas — The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice of intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for SpaceX's proposal to sharply increase Starship operations at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, raising annual launches from the currently authorised 25 to as many as 456, with annual landings rising from 50 to as many as 912.
Under the two-phase plan described in the Federal Register notice (docket FAA-2026-12808), Phase 1 would allow up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year on any day and at any hour. Phase 2, which the FAA says would arrive within several years as the vehicle matures, would lift the ceiling to 456 launches and 912 landings a year, with liftoffs limited to Monday through Friday though still possible around the clock. The landing cap counts Starship and Super Heavy vehicles returning to Starbase even when a flight originated elsewhere; boosters could alternatively splash down in the Gulf of America or be intentionally expended.
The current limits of 25 launches and 50 landings a year date to a 2025 FAA environmental assessment. The new review will examine potential effects on wildlife, air quality, noise, coastal resources and surrounding communities. Public scoping meetings are scheduled in Brownsville on November 17 and Port Isabel on November 19, with an online session on November 18; written comments are being accepted through November 30, 2026.
Starship has launched three times from Starbase so far this year; its 14th flight, on September 28, was the first to reach orbit, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Chief Executive Elon Musk has said he hopes to return both the ship and the booster to Starbase by the end of the year. (GSM, via the FAA's Federal Register notice)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：SpaceX星舰在Starbase发射台点火升空（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 2.0。Photo: A SpaceX Starship igniting at the Starbase launch mount (file photo). Image: via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
