SpaceX wants to pilot its gigantic starship directly on Florida

SpaceX is getting closer to the sending of its starship rocket in low terrestrial orbit. A newly proposed flight trajectory for the upper stage would see it pass through the sky of Florida – an unusual route which would seriously disturb air traffic and increase the risk that the debris fall on the areas populated below.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) examines the SpaceX request for the new launching and reintegration flight trajectories that would see its Starship rocket at a higher stage on Florida while it goes to space and would come back to return for an landing for the Boca Chica launch mount of the company in Texas.

The agency is considering the safety risks of new launch trajectories, as well as closing airspace on part of Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and the United States

New flight paths, new risks

Last month, Starship finally broke his sequence of consecutive defeats passing through his 10th test flight. After its flawless launch, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, explained that an improved version of Starship will soon reach Orbit by next year and will demonstrate a complete reusction by winning both the super heavy booster and its upper stadium.

Until now, starship test flights have taken the Megarocket on the suborbital trajectories. SpaceX is preparing its rocket to reach the low terrestrial orbit and finish a complete trip around the planet before returning to an attempt to land on its launch site in southern Texas.

In its request, the company proposed two different routes: one which would fly the rocket to the Cayman Islands and another which would make it fly directly above Florida. The FAA examines the potential environmental impact that the new flight trajectory would have with regard to emissions, air quality, noise pollution and the potential of dangerous materials that fall on populated areas.

The effect of these over-florida flights would be non-trivial for commercial airlines. “The launch and AHA of the super heavy booster landing (aircraft danger zone) could affect a minimum of 10 commercial planes per hour, during the lowest period of midnight hours, or up to a maximum of 200 commercial planes per hour, during the daily travel periods”, according to the FAA assessment. The plan supposes up to 22 sparse launches per year.

A number of starship test flights ended with the arugula that separates and rains the debris on certain parts of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In June, Mexico threatened to continue on a possible contamination of SpaceX rocket launches which, sometimes pieces of debris across the neighboring border. The local conservation groups of Boca Chica have also criticized SpaceX, arguing that the Starship rocket is a threat to the surrounding fauna habitat.

In its recent report, however, the FAA concluded that there would be “no significant impact” of the new starship launch trajectories. The agency has still not made its final decision; Instead, he will hold a public meeting on October 7 and gathered the comments until October 20 before he made a decision on SpaceX’s proposal.