SpaceX’s Plans With Starship Rocket Revealed By FAA Document

(Correction: This article was edited to remove claims the FAA document was leaked. The FAA said it is a public document released upon the request of the author. It is now available on the agency's website. )

A document from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed SpaceX’s various plans for its Mars-colonizing rocket Starship. The bulk of the document discussed the company’s three-phase plan for the commercial space vessel.

The document now posted on FAA's website is 23 pages long and was drafted as part of the FAA’s reevaluation of SpaceX’s launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Back in 2014, SpaceX said that the Boca Chica site would serve as a commercial spaceport primarily for its Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 rockets. However, through the years, the company’s plans for the site changed. Currently, the Boca Chica facility is being used for the construction and launch tests for the Starship prototypes.

Despite changing the function and purpose of the site, the FAA ruled that SpaceX is still operating within its original proposal. The agency reported that the site’s safety and environmental impact is still the same.

Aside from a reassessment of the launch facility, FAA’s document also detailed SpaceX’s three-phase plan for Starship. According to the document, Phase 1 involves carrying tests on ground and fueling systems.

Phase 2, which is where SpaceX is at right now, is all about conducting “small hops” or launches for Starhopper, a Starship prototype. For this stage, SpaceX will work on launching the prototype 492 feet off the ground and eventually increasing it to 1.9 miles.

Phase 3 would serve as the definitive stage for Starship’s development. Here, SpaceX intends to launch the rocket 62 miles above Earth. Aside from this, the company plans to execute various maneuvers including flips, reentries and landing.

According to SpaceX, the various test phases of Starship are necessary for achieving the company’s goal of sending a human expedition to Mars.

“SpaceX remains committed in its mission to colonize Mars,” the company stated. “To achieve this mission, SpaceX is developing a new rocket called the Starship and Super Heavy. A key part of the mission is developing the Starship spacecraft.”

“In order to fully develop the vehicle, an experiment test program is needed,” SpaceX added. “The proposed experimental test program involves testing a spacecraft – the Starship – which would serve as the second stage of the rocket.”