FAA Monitoring SpaceX’s Clean-Up After Starship Launch

[Elderberry]

https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/faa-monitoring-spacexs-clean-up-after-starship-launch/

Videos of the explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket over the Gulf of Mexico captured everyone’s attention yesterday, but today the focus is more on what happened to those billowing clouds of dust and debris that erupted from the launch pad four minutes earlier. Local residents are dealing with a layer of dust-like material. The FAA said there have been no reports of public damage or injuries, but it will ensure SpaceX complies with regulations developed through environmental reviews prior to launch.

SpaceX’s long-awaited Starship/Super Heavy rocket lifted off from Starbase at Boca Chica, TX at 9:33 am ET yesterday morning. All appeared to be going well until almost exactly four minutes later when it began tumbling and was destroyed by the onboard Automatic Flight Termination System.

The beginning of the flight was almost as dramatic as the end, however, as 33 methane-liquid oxygen Raptor engines generating 16 million pounds of thrust ignited on the launch pad. No rocket has ever had as many engines or as much thrust.

The FAA told SpacePolicyOnline.com today that SpaceX is required to have ongoing monitoring of vegetation and wildlife by a qualified biologist including a pre- and post-launch survey, as well as removing launch debris from sensitive habitats. The company was required to perform analyses to ensure the public was not exposed to unacceptable risks and, post-launch, must review the analyses to determine consistency with what actually happened. SpaceX is responsible for complying with federal, state and local requirements and “the FAA will ensure compliance with its regulations.”

“The Anomaly Response Plan referenced in the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment has been activated. In addition, other environmental mitigations require that SpaceX must have ongoing monitoring of vegetation and wildlife by a qualified biologist. This includes conducting a pre- and post-launch survey and submitting a report to the FAA and to the other involved state or federal agencies. There are also required mitigations specific to SpaceX coordinating with state or federal agencies to remove launch debris from sensitive habitats. The FAA will ensure SpaceX complies with all required mitigations. Furthermore, the FAA made compliance with the environmental mitigations a condition of the license.”


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[Elderberry]

SpaceX urges finders to report debris from first Starship test flight

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-042123a-spacex-starship-test-flight-debris.html

— Hours after the first test flight of SpaceX's Starship ended with the spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster tumbling until it was commanded to explode, possible debris from the colossal rocket began to wash up on the shores surrounding the company's Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Local county officials were quick to order temporary road and beach closures to aid in "anomaly clean-up efforts," but given that the vehicle was well over the Gulf of Mexico and reached an altitude of approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) before it broke apart on Thursday (April 20), the precautions only extended to a relatively small area of where fragments of the world's tallest and most powerful rocket could end up.

"Look what I found!" posted Joe Tegtmeyer to Twitter at 6:30 p.m. CDT (2300 GMT), about nine hours after the Starship launch, captioning photos of himself holding up what appeared to be roughly a half of one of the 18,000 hexagonal heat shield tiles that covered one side of the Starship. Had stage separation not failed, Starship may have used the tile and others like it to protect against the tremendous heat of reentry as it fell back through Earth's atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii.

More at link.