As SpaceX moves on, Space Coast will increase the launch of Falcon 9 and gain more rocket-sounding and sonic boom as new landing pads are built at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a 116-page draft environmental assessment on Friday for the first person targeting Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40, which SpaceX hopes to increase its releases from 50 to 120 a year.
The assessment rejected the proposal to build yet another new landing pad in Canaveral due to environmental concerns, but appears to set up SpaceX to advance this plan.
The FAA partners with the Air Force, Coast Guard and NASA for assessments, but NASA is the lead agency for the second evaluation of KSC’s launch complex 39-A, with SpaceX hoping to increase its 20-36 launches, including up to five Falcon Heavy Rockets each year.
The construction of a pair of new landing sites on the Space Coast provides immediate access to the reliance on two landing pads at Canaveral’s launch complex 13. That space is reserved by the Federal Spatial Forces as the future launch sites for two other commercial launch providers (Phantom Space and Vaya Space), but neither of them have yet to put rockets in space.
Space Force’s goal is to maintain landing sites in the same location where they were launched to SpaceX and other launch providers. Space Force is not planning to renew its SpaceX license to land on the LC 13 after it runs out this summer.
In the case of Canaveral, the final design built two landing pads despite SpaceX’s proposal.
The assessment declared that these proposals were unacceptable because they were so harmful to the habitats of Scrub Jay and Southeastern Beach Mouse in Florida, and overtaking the wetlands too much and flying safety concerns were too great for the SpaceX hangar on the property.
The final proposal is a 400-foot-diameter pad and gravel apron, and SpaceX will also build a new nitrogen gas line, a 30-foot pedestal for post-landing processing, and an area for crane storage, adding about 10 acres of development to the site.
“The FAA concluded in advance that the proposed behavior would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment,” the assessment said.
SpaceX wants to land up to 34 first stage boosters on the site every year. SpaceX performed 12 booster landings in Canaveral’s landing zone in 2024, and only six times in 2023.
The Canaveral assessment touched on the upcoming KSC assessment NASA is working on and evaluated the proposed landing zone of the Falcon 9 booster at launch complex 39-A. Both evaluations are necessary under the National Environmental Policy Act.
SpaceX aims to land up to 20 boosters on KSC.
A total of 54 landings is actually the same upper limit as for the two existing landing zones.
The FAA said the KSC’s draft environmental assessment is expected this spring, but said that a launch from KSC will only land at KSC, and a launch from Canaveral will only land at Canaveral.
SpaceX needs to do droneship landing in the Atlantic.
These two SpaceX requests are currently only available from Texas for potential launch and landing work for the large SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy Rocket, apart from the two other environmental assessments underway by the FAA and the Air Force.
As with all reviews, the FAA only issues a license if other factors are met, including safety, risk and financial liability.
For Canaveral ratings, the FAA will have a public comment period until April 24th, 2025. A virtual public meeting will be held on April 16th, and people will need to register to participate.
At the end of the public comment period, the FAA can issue a “discovery with no significant impact,” known as FONSI, or move forward with a more stringent environmental impact statement.
The Air Force has already issued a finding that there is no significant impact in a related document written by the Air Force’s Space Military Maintenance Director Marcia Kikuri.
She said the proposed actions “do not have a significant personal or cumulative impact on resources.”
This includes minor negative impacts on air quality, climate, health, cultural, water, biological, coastal resources, land use and socioeconomic resources, but SpaceX will implement “mitigation efforts” to limit the impact.
She said that alternative sites are also considered as SpaceX has a significant stake in the launch of its national security mission, but it violates guaranteed access to the needs of Space Force’s space program.
“We conclude that implementing proposed actions and related mitigation measures will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment,” she writes. “Therefore, no environmental impact statement is necessary. This FONSI is appropriate.”
