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SpaceX’s Starship Takes a Major Step Toward Florida Launches · Elon Musk Podcast

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  now would help the show tremendously.
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  Thank you so much. The Federal Aviation
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  Administration in the Department of the Air Force have released
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  the final Environmental Impact Statement, or the EIS, for
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  SpaceX is Super Heavy and Starship operations at Cape
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  Canaveral Space Force Station, marking a major milestone for
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  Elon Musk's push to launch the world's most powerful rocket
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  from Florida's Space Coast. Now, the document spanning
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  thousands of pages, outlines how the federal government plans to
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  support Spacex's request to operate from Launch Complex 37,
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  which is the same site once used by NASA's Saturn and D4 rockets.
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  And if approved, SpaceX would be permitted to conduct up to 76
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  launches and 152 landings per year.
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  That's Booster and Starships. That's a cadence that would
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  eclipse any previous US rocket program, including the Falcon 9.
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  Now, the EIS makes clear that the federal government sees
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  Starship as more than a commercial venture.
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  The stated purpose of the project is to ensure access to
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  space for national security and scientific missions.
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  And in other words, Starship isn't just about Mars anymore
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  and sending something living to Mars.
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  It's about maintaining American dominance in Spain's launch
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  capabilities. And we're going to talk about
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  that right after this short break.
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  Welcome back. Now, by leveraging Spacex's
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  reusable Super Heavy boosters and fully integrated Starship
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  system, the Department of the Air Force hopes to modernize its
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  aging infrastructure and increase capacity for both
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  Department of Defense and NASA missions.
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  Now, that report describes Starship's heavy lift potential
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  as critical to delivering large payloads, including satellites,
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  lunar modules, and possibly interplanetary cargo on
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  timelines. So let's talk about why Cape
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  Canaveral and why now. And after evaluating multiple
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  potential sites, the Air Force and FAA selected Space Launch
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  Complex 37 for its combination of existing infrastructure,
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  safety buffers and eastward trajectories that minimize
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  overflight risks to populated areas.
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  And the site's proximity to Space Force Range assets and
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  integration facilities made it the most practical choice to
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  handle Starships unprecedented size in volume of launches.
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  Still, this EIS underscores that this isn't a small operation.
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  A typical launch could involve both a 400 foot tall rocket and
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  dozens of support systems, from cryogenic fuel lines to massive
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  water deluge infrastructure. And this analysis projects up to
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  76 launches per year, potentially creating an almost
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  weekly cadence on the Eastern Range.
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  Now, among all categories studied, air quality stands out
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  as a potential environmental flashpoint.
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  For this. And the EIS calculates, the
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  Starships methane and oxygen engines could produce around 570
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  tons of nitrogen oxidizer NOx annually, more than double the
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  Air Force's significant threshold of 250 tons per year.
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  And while the agency stopped short of labeling it
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  definitively significant, they acknowledged the potential for
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  adverse impacts and recommended adaptive management, including
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  monitoring and mitigating to keep emissions within acceptable
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  limits. Now, the issue is especially
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  relevant as Florida's coastal regions already contend with
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  dense industrial and vehicle emissions.
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  Local environmental groups are expected to push for stricter
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  monitoring, particularly during back-to-back launch campaigns.
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  Now, if there's one thing Cape residents may notice
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  immediately, it's the sound. The EIS notes the Sonic booms
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  from booster and ship landings could reach 4 to 6 lbs per
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  square foot. Or PSF of overpressure powerful
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  enough to rattle windows and startle wildlife.
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  Now, this document, the EIS, concludes that these noise
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  levels would have a significant impact on community annoyance,
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  particularly in areas along the Space Coast and barrier islands.
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  We've seen it at Starship launches, at Texas, at Star
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  Base. We see birds flying all over the
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  place. We see other animals on the
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  ground running away. When this thing starts up, it's
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  just going to happen. It happens with every rocket
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  though. Rattle windows start a wildlife.
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  The rattle window things might be a little bit different.
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  This thing is massive, 400 feet tall is the most powerful rocket
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  ever produced by humanity. Nothing's we've never seen
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  anything like this before. So I think it might rattle some
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  windows and particularly impact some animals in the area now.
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  Spacex's proposed operations plan includes measures to limit
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  late night launches, refine landing trajectories and notify
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  local communities ahead of major test flights.
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  Still, with 76 launches a year, residents could experience Sonic
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  booms several times a week. Elon stated on Twitter recently
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  that he can't wait for Starship to have multiple launches per
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  day. Is that a possibility with this
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  flight cadence? Maybe.
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  If there are two towers it's possible. 2-3 flights per day
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  maybe. Probably not though.
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  As we can see, the turn around for Falcon 9 is about 24 hours.
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  We have had two launches in one day before, but mostly 24 to 48
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  hours before You can launch another Falcon 9 now.
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  Starship is different. They have, they're going to have
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  two towers in Texas and two towers in Florida.
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  So if he's meaning that they can launch two Starships from each
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  site, that'd be 4 flights per day.
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  How incredible would that be? Even if you do 1 flight from
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  Texas, one flight flight from Florida, that's two launches in
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  the same day. Now mind you, the one could be
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  for Department of Defense, one could be for NASA, another one.
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  If they do a third one, it could be for a Starling launch or
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  another SpaceX mission, maybe to the moon, maybe to Mars.
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  So they have all of the fields covered here and SpaceX could do
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  a lot of launches per day. Now, will they be able to?
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  That's the question. We've only seen single flights
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  so far up to this point, but if they have 76 launches per year,
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  there is the capability in the books that this is this might be
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  a thing now. Perhaps the most sobering take
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  away from the EIS is not environmental, but it's
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  logistics. The Eastern Range was manages
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  all rocket traffic out of Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space
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  Center is already busy, very busy with Falcon Islands, UL as
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  Vulcan and upcoming Artemis missions.
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  And the report warns of a potentially significant impact
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  on range management. The Starship's launch cadence
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  conflicts with other missions. They have to work around other
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  missions and work with other providers in order to get these
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  things flying. And to address this, SpaceX and
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  Space Force have been developing digital scheduling tools such as
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  the Stargate web platform, designed to streamline
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  coordination between launch operators.
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  And if that's successful, the system could become a model for
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  high frequency spaceport operations worldwide, basically
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  a calendar system for launchers. That makes sense, right?
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  Why don't we have one of those right now?
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  I mean, we've, we've been in the digital age for a while now.
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  They should have had a scheduling tool such as
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  Stargate's web platform for a very long time, possibly a
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  decade. We all have Google Maps, right?
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  We all have Google scheduling. We all have Gmail.
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  I mean, I think they could share a calendar.
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  Now, the road ahead here is interesting.
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  The EIS does not grant SpaceX immediate permission to begin
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  operations. They'll come later through an
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  FAA launch license in a property agreement with the Department of
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  the Air Force FAA. It's going to take a little
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  while, but the environmental review represents A crucial step
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  toward integrating Starship into America's busiest spaceport.
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  For SpaceX, it's another sign of how quickly the company's
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  ambitions are expanding beyond Texas Star Base.
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  For Florida Space Coast, it's a reminder that the next chapter
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  of Space Flight louder, larger, and more frequent is about to
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