The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given conditional environmental clearance to SpaceX to launch its latest and biggest spacecraft, the Starship, on its latest and biggest rocket, the Super Heavy, from the company’s Starbase test facility, at Boca Chica in the US State of Texas, Space News has reported. SpaceX was founded and is led by South African-born engineer and entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The FAA requires the company to implement more than 75 environmental and public impact mitigations. The company will not be allowed to start launches until after these mitigations have been implemented. It will also have to get a launch licence from the FAA. It is not known what the timescale for obtaining the launch licence is.

The environmental mitigations required include the use of shuttle vehicles to transport SpaceX personnel to and from the facility, and changes to the facility’s lighting. Further, a qualified biologist would have to monitor wildlife in the area. The company had already abandoned plans to build a power plant and a desalination plant at Starbase. SpaceX has stated that the power plant was no longer needed to support launches.

Regarding mitigations aimed at reducing the impact on the public, these included the company having to give earlier notice of road closures for test and launch operations. The road to Starbase also led to a public beach. Consequently, the FAA has forbidden SpaceX to close the road during the 18 annual public holidays, and it can close it on no more than five weekends a year. In total, the road can only be closed for no more than 800 hours a year, of which 500 hours will be for normal operations and up to 300 to deal with anomalies.

The environmental approval covers no more than five orbital launches, plus another five suborbital launches, each year, plus ground tests. The journal reported that SpaceX seemed to welcome the FAA’s determination, tweeting “One step closer to the orbital flight test of Starship” after the agency released its decision.

Environmental groups were less happy. They continue to express concern about the possible impact of Starship/Super Heavy launches on endangered bird species in the area.