/sci/ - Science & Math

> SpaceX pushing forward hard on Starbase. The Orbital Index newsletter has a good roundup of activities happening at the Starbase facility in South Texas a little more than a month after Starship's debut flight. Work on the launch site has included the addition of a water-cooled steel flame plate, repairs needed to fill in the crater dug by Booster 7’s launch, and upgrades to the orbital launch mount and propellant tanks. The company also recently confirmed that Booster 9 and Ship 25 are the test articles intended for the next launch. The launch site and rocket will probably be ready to go in about two months.

>The bigger issues are regulatory ... The hardware is only one side of the coin, of course. Approval to launch still relies on a few factors outside the direct control of SpaceX, including a lawsuit in which environmental groups are suing the FAA for what they claim was a cursory environmental review of the launch site’s impact on the surrounding wildlife areas. SpaceX has joined the case as a defendant since it feels that the impact on Starship’s development timeline will hugely affect the company’s financial future. The FAA is also looking into the delayed action by Starship's flight termination system. So fall, maybe?

https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2023-05-31-Issue-220/