A Spacex Falcon 9 rocket is launched by the Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in November 2021. (For kindly concession: Joshua Conti/Space Launch Delta 45)
Spacex, the provider of launching dominant commercial spaces in the world, is trying to increase the activity of its rocket at the horseback rocket.
On Friday the FAA issued a draft environmental evaluation (EA) which analyzes the company’s proposal more than double the number of Falcon 9 launches from the space launch complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Space Force Station of Cape Canaveral in Florida, from 50 to 120. To facilitate the increase in the cadence, Spacex offers the construction of a new Falcon 9 Stage.
Falcon 9 returns to about 230 feet, produces over 1.7 million pounds of drip at take -off and has a success rate of more than 99 % in over 450 missions since 2010. During the civil year of 2024, Spacex has launched it 132 times, beating its one -year global launch record in a year of banner for orbital activities. Of the 261 orbital launching attempts of last year, Falcon 9 represented just over half. The rocket is used by a variety of private and governmental customers and is responsible for the NASA astronauts of Astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
But Spacex aims higher. Monday, Stephanie Bednarek, vice -president of the company for the commercial launch and crew sales, has projected that it would be launched 170 times in 2025, SpaceNews reported. They are about 14 times a month.
Cape Canaveral is essential for these goals. According to the data on the commercial space of the FAA, 59 of the 132 Falcon 9 missions that flew in 2024-circle in 45 percento-si freed from SLC-40. Many of the boosters of the first stadium that launch from the Land to Lz-1 and Lz-1 site, a pair of spacex bearings built on the website of the former launch complex 13.
But according to the draft EA, Space Launch Delta 45, which supervises all the launching operations of the East Coast space, does not plan to renew the Spacex license to land in Lz-1 and LZ-2 when it expires in July. After a recent change of rule, now it also imposes that the landings must occur on the launch site. So, Spacex proposes to build and manage a new LZ directly adjacent to SLC-40. The company has already requested a real estate agreement, which would allow the beginning of the construction, from the Air Force Department (DAF).
The draft EA indicates the environmental impact from the increase in the number of Falcon 9 launches to SLC-40 from 50 to 120 and any closure of the related airspace, as well as building the new LZ. It represents 34 first stadium annual landings, with the rest that a downrance occurs or on a floating droneship.
At the same time, NASA is evaluating a proposed Falcon 9 LZ at the launch complex of the Kennedy Space Center 39a, one of the two launch sites owned by the Spacex government. The company is looking for 36 launches and 20 landings a year in Kennedy and a draft EA is scheduled at the beginning of this year.
Spacex is also trying to speed up the Falcon 9 launches at the Vandenberg Space Force base in California. In December, the DAF released a notice of intent to prepare a declaration of environmental impact (EIS) around the redevelopment of the Vandenberg 6 spatial launch complex, which would double the Falcon 9 cadence from 50 to 100 launches per year.
Note of the editor: a version of this story appeared for the first time Fly.
