SpaceX gets Environmental Approval for Starship at SLC-37

Date:
Fri, 05 Dec 2025 19:59:41 +0000

Description:
After waiting the requisite time for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), SpaceX now has environmental The post SpaceX gets Environmental Approval for Starship at SLC-37 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

After waiting the requisite time for an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS), SpaceX now has environmental approval to build a Starship launch complex at SLC-37. Not much has changed between the draft and final EISs, but there is still tons of information about where the launch pads will be built, along with some new statistics on the tank farm.



SLC-37 Final EIS

The SLC-37 EIS will allow SpaceX to launch up to 76 Starship launches per year from SLC-37. In support of those launches, it also expects up to 76 static fires of ships and 76 static fires of boosters each year.

These numbers assume every vehicle will undergo a static fire before a
flight, which is unlikely later in the program, as the Falcon 9 program currently operates.

At the maximum under this EIS, that would mean 152 landings at SLC-37 each year between the ships and boosters. These launches and landings will be
split about evenly between day and night. SpaceX has also built in a 20%
scrub rate to account for weather, ground-side, or vehicle-side issues. Weve received approval to develop Space Launch Complex-37 for Starship operations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Construction has started. With three launch pads in Florida, Starship will be ready to support Americas national security and Artemis goals as the worlds pic.twitter.com/USgwNzwK8L

SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 1, 2025



This EIS also accounts for ship and booster landings primarily at the launch site; however, it also leaves open the possibility of expended missions and drone ship landings. Drone ship landings would be much rarer, as they would likely be for increased performance, and SpaceX currently has no drone ship
or oil rig capable of catching or landing a booster or ship.

The SLC-37 Final EIS marks only the second launch pad location that SpaceX has environmental approval to launch Starship from.

Currently, LC-39As newest EIS is still in the post-draft phase and will hopefully be completed early next year. SpaceX still needs to get the SLC-37 lease signed, if it hasnt already, to start construction. As well as a
vehicle operators license to actually launch from these pads. Starship SLC-37 EIS Launch Frequency (Credit: CCSFS)

And most importantly, SpaceX still has to build the entire launch complex. Currently, the demolition of the old SLC-37B used for Delta IV Heavy is more or less completed. With the old pad out of the way, the EIS signed off, and a lease either completed or coming shortly, SpaceX should start building the foundations for the two towers very shortly. This will likely begin with Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piles for the tower base and the flame trench.

Once those are in the initial pile cap for the towers can be poured. After the pile cap cures, SpaceX will likely use the same tower base design as the one built for Pad 2 at Starbase. This is a speed core design, which is hollow steel walls that will be filled with concrete to complete the base.

Once that is all built up, the tower can start being stacked. Based on timelines with Pad 2 at Starbase, it will likely still be several months before at least one of the towers starts to rise at SLC-37.

On the site plans, there are two launch pads with the associated water
deluge equipment, isolation and purging hardware, launch towers, launch mounts, and a stormwater pond per pad that SpaceX has to construct. SLC-37 Tower Segments and Chopsticks at Roberts Road (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)

Currently, one tower and its chopstick arms plus carriage are being built at Roberts Road. So far, all nine sections of the tower are structurally complete, with only the internal cryogenic propellant lines, high-pressure lines, electrical lines, etc., still to be installed. Next to the tower sections are the chopstick arms and carriage, which are all still under construction.

As for the tank farm, the final EIS stated numbers on how much propellant SpaceX plans to store at SLC-37. Liquid Oxygen (LOX) capacity is
approximately 16,500 tons, Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) capacity is 6,500 tons, and Liquid Methane (LCH4) capacity is 5,000 tons. This amount is about 2.5 launches worth of commodities, which is likely the same amount that SpaceX will place at LC-39A once the tank farm is finished. Of note this is about twice the storage capacity that SpaceX currently has at the Starbase launch site. Starship SLC-37 Launch Complex Site Plan (Credit: CCSFS)



See Also SpaceX Starship Program L2 SpaceX Section NSF Store Click here to Join L2

To help with propellant storage, SpaceX will be building a Methane Liquifier and Natural Gas area to condense and produce methane on-site rather than trucking it all in. The Natural gas area will be used to purify pipeline-quality natural gas, which will then be converted to gaseous
Methane. This gas will then either be used onsite for power generation or, as its most obvious purpose, be condensed into liquid methane and used to fuel Starship.

For other commodities such as oxygen, nitrogen, and even argon, SpaceX will build an Air Separation Unit (ASU) near the only horizontal integration facility at SLC-37. This ASU will take air from the atmosphere, separate the various gases, and, using a cooling tower, condense and purify them into liquids for cryogenic storage.

A notable omission from the proposed site plan are the catch towers, landing pads, and ship static fire stands. These will likely be added once initial construction of the current pads is well underway and SpaceX finds a suitable location within the pad perimeter for the towers. Starship SLC-37 Leased Land Areas (Credit: CCSFS)

A new addition in the final EIS was a mapped breakdown of the leased areas. SpaceXs lease would, of course, include the pad area, but also includes additional parcels around SLC-37s horizontal integration facility. In parcel C, to the north-west of the integration facility, will be the air separation unit, but parcel B doesnt align with any specific new infrastructure. SpaceX now has a lot of extra land at this new launch complex to house Starship infrastructure.

At this point, to move forward, its up to SpaceX and the Space Force to sign a lease if not already completed, and then SpaceX can start construction of the SLC-37. Now, the EIS states this construction will take 12 months, but based on Pad 2 at Starbase, which is currently around 20 months and still not finished, 12 months is pretty optimistic to build two full launch pads and a full tank farm.

These two pads are slated to be SpaceXs third and fourth time building this launch pad design, so things will likely go faster than at Pad 2 at Starbase. So, if construction starts in Quarter 1 of 2026, SpaceX could have four or five operational Starship launch pads by Quarter 2 or Quarter 3 of 2027. Then alongside those four to five launch pads, there are set to be two Gigabays
and two Starfactories, one set at Starbase and, of course, another set at Roberts Road.

Featured Image: SpaceX Render of SLC-37 (Credit: SpaceX)



The post SpaceX gets Environmental Approval for Starship at SLC-37 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/12/spacex-environmental-approval-starship -slc-37/


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