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Blue Origin logs SpaceX Starship concerns as it preps for 1st New Glenn launch

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on

Published in Science & Technology News

As Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin prepares for the first launch of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral this year, the company has taken time to voice concerns over future launches of competitor SpaceX’s massive Starship and Super Heavy, also planning to launch from the Space Coast.

Elon Musk’s company continues development of the most powerful rocket ever to reach orbit from its test site in Texas, but has plans for launch pads at both Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and neighboring Kennedy Space Center.

The Department of the Air Force is the midst of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the new rocket to launch from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 37 aiming to take over the space that was used by United Launch Alliance until its final launch of the Delta IV Heavy earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration is performing a similar environmental impact assessment on a Starship launch pad from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A where SpaceX currently flies its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The period for public comment on the FAA’s assessment continued through June 24 before the EIS moved into its next phases.

Blue Origin took the opportunity to log its concerns and among its suggestions were limiting the number of launches SpaceX can perform from Florida.

 

Noting its more than $1 billon investment at Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 36, Blue Origin points out it employs 2,7000 full-time employees in Brevard County including 449 at Canaveral “that are directly impacted by local launch activities.”

Blue Origin’s interests in the FAA’s assessment include “the safe and effective preservation and transportation of real and personal property and personnel that will be impacted” by the introduction of Starship launches, which produce around 17 million pounds of thrust on launch — more than twice the power of the Saturn V rockets from the Apollo program.

Among the concerns from launching such a large rocket are launch pad anomalies, debris dispersion, blast overpressure, sonic boom overpressure, explosion, fire, air quality, noise or other effects during launch, landing or other operations.

Blue Origin also raised concerns over “the preservation of historical and environmental resources at or around KSC under Blue Origin’s control, includingthose owned by USSF, NASA or other U.S. government entities.”

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