SpaceX Starship Launch Approved As Elon Musk Aims To Update Mars Plan

SpaceX has received the thumbs up from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the next test flight of Starship from Starbase in Texas, expected sometime next week after the Memorial Day holiday.

“With the Starship vehicle return to flight determination, Starship Flight 9 is authorized for launch,” the agency said in a statement. “The FAA finds SpaceX meets all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements.”

The announcement from the FAA Thursday morning clears the way for Starship flight 9, which is expected to be preceded by a presentation from Elon Musk, who will provide an update on the company’s plans to reach Mars.

Flight 9 had been delayed pending a mandatory FAA investigation into flight 8, which ended in a “mishap” with Ship 34 running into engine troubles shortly after separating form the Super Heavy booster and breaking up over the Atlantic Ocean.

The probe and event the fiery end of flight 8 are both somewhat routine for a development program of the stage that Starship is at. SpaceX has long made such dramatic “rapid unscheduled disassembly” events and expected and even celebrated part of its testing regime.

SpaceX’s Bigger Safety Buffer for Starship

Nonetheless, the FAA it “is expanding the size of hazard areas both in the U.S. and other countries based on the updated flight safety analysis and because SpaceX intends to reuse a previously launched Super Heavy booster rocket for the first time.”

This hazard area extends east from Starbase on the south point of Texas towards Florida, the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands, nearly doubling the size of the hazard area compared to the space included for flight 8.

SpaceX Mars Plans for Starship Moving Forward

The new clearance from the FAA comes one week after the agency approved changes to the company’s launch license increasing the allowed number of Starship launches out of Starbase per year from five to 25. Starbase itself was also recently incorporated as a new city in Texas by a public vote earlier this month.

The boost in allowed launches is key to the company’s plans to press Starship into service, both for NASA Artemis missions to the moon and for Musk’s own grand designs on Mars.

Musk has said the update he plans to give before flight 9 will outline a plan to send Starship on its first mission to Mars by the end of 2026, carrying a robot dubbed Optimus.

“If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely,” Musk said previously on X.

Musk has previously hoped to make it to Mars by 2022, but numerous setbacks including the Covid-19 pandemic made this impossible, and the controversial entrepreneur has often admitted to being “ambitious” when setting timelines.

The 2026 timeframe takes advantage of the next Earth-Mars transfer window, when the journey between the two planets is shorter.

An updated target launch window for flight 9 has not been announced by SpaceX, but it is expected to be no earlier than Tuesday.