said in early 2024 it would study converting SLC-37 into a Starship launch site<\/a>. Built in the 1960s for Saturn 1 rockets, the pad was later converted for United Launch Alliance\u2019s Delta 4. The final Delta 4 Heavy launched from the site in April 2024.<\/p>\nOriginal plans called for studying the conversion of SLC-37 for Starship, as well as construction of a new Starship launch facility at a location designated SLC-50, a greenfield site between SLC-37 and SLC-40, which SpaceX uses for Falcon 9 missions. However, SLC-50 was removed from consideration during the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile SLC-50 was under consideration during the early scoping phases of the EIS process, it was ultimately eliminated from detailed study after site archaeological surveys were completed and showed it was an area with high potential for archaeological sites and endangered species,\u201d the final EIS stated.<\/p>\n
The study found that building and operating a Starship launch pad at SLC-37 \u2014 including up to 76 Starship\/Super Heavy launches per year and 152 landings of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage \u2014 would generally have no significant environmental impact.<\/p>\n
One key exception was noise from launches and landings. \u201cLocal communities could be exposed to relatively high-level noise and overpressure environments from the launch and landings of Starship and Super Heavy boosters,\u201d the report stated. \u201cOperations would have significant impact on community annoyance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study concluded that zones of \u201csignificant structural damage\u201d from noise and overpressure would be contained within Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and neighboring Kennedy Space Center. However, unreinforced buildings within those areas could be vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile upgrades and renovations have been made to infrastructure within CCSFS, it is important to recognize that some buildings were originally constructed to support legacy launch programs and vehicles from an earlier era. Consequently, impacts to windows or other structural elements are possible,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
Parts of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach, Florida, would be within weaker overpressure contours generated by sonic booms from vehicle landings. The potential of damage to buildings, though, the study concluded, \u201cis generally between 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 100,000 which is considered extremely unlikely, though there is a higher potential to affect windows and bric-a-brac.\u201d<\/p>\n
SpaceX plans to build two Starship pads at SLC-37, along with supporting infrastructure. Those pads would join the two pads at Starbase, Texas, and another under construction at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith three launch pads in Florida, Starship will be ready to support America\u2019s national security and Artemis goals as the world\u2019s premiere spaceport continues to evolve to enable airport-like operations,\u201d SpaceX said in a statement<\/a> following the approval.<\/p>\nSpaceX said construction at SLC-37 has begun but did not disclose when it plans to complete the facilities or conduct the first launch from the site.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The Department of the Air Force has approved plans to convert a former Delta 4 launch…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":429957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[6754,159,16988,783,2527,14884,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-429956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-cape-canaveral","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-sn","11":"tag-space","12":"tag-spacex","13":"tag-starship","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115675638864839898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}