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After a fiery end to the first Starship test flight in April, SpaceX has not submitted an accident report to the FAA. The report is necessary as part of the agency's process to determine if any systems, procedures or other aspects of the Starship launch program that led to damage to the pad are suitable for an orbital launch. An FAA spokesperson shared these details with San Antonio Express-News and added that "actions taken by SpaceX will dictate the timeline." An approval from the FAA, especially since both the agency and SpaceX are facing a lawsuit from nonprofits, will determine when the firm can launch the rocket again.

SpaceX Speeds Up Progress On Second Starship Flight And Tests Two Super Heavy Boosters On Launch Pad

SpaceX has been developing the Starship rocket for five years now, and in this time, it has come from flying a 65 feet tall test article to launching a 300 feet tall rocket. Eight Starship rockets have flown since then, with most tests flying and sometimes landing the second stage Starship rocket. However, the centerpiece, or the most important portion of the rocket, its huge Super Heavy booster, has only flown once in April, where it successfully flew to the point of stage separation - leaving the window open for speculation that the first stage might even have landed had the second stage successfully separated during SpaceX's Starship test flight in April this year.

SpaceX has started the initial phase of tests for the second Starship orbital flight attempt after repairing the pad. The firm has also received communications authority from the FCC for testing. However, according to the FAA spokesperson quoted by Express-News, the agency has not received an accident report from SpaceX. Without this report, the FAA stresses that it will be unable to decide whether to let the company fly its rocket again. SpaceX had received the FAA's first approval after waiting for months, and the license was limited to the first test flight only.

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These tests are crucial considering the size and scope of the rocket. Starship is the largest rocket in the world, much bigger than the Space Launch System (SLS) that launched NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon late last year. The rocket is designed for missions to Mars and uses six more engines on the first stage than SpaceX's largest operational rocket - the Falcon Heavy. However, each of Starship's engines is more than twice as powerful as the Merlin engines powering the Falcon. And these engines have been crucial in prolonging Starship's development time before SpaceX could test the rocket's most important piece, the booster.

SpaceX built the first booster in December 2020, but it took the company more than two years to fly the first one. This was the seventh iteration in booster design, and to start things off with a heavy note, the firm decided to try to fly the second stage to orbit in the first test flight attempt of the Starship Super Heavy booster.

For its part, the FAA is clear that it will not grant another launch license until it is sure that public safety or other 'aspects' of the "operator's license" are not affected by procedures that led to the Starship mishap. The agency spokesperson's statement to Express-News reads:

The FAA will not allow a return to flight operations until it determines that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety or any other aspect of the operator’s license. The mishap investigation is ongoing.

Rapidly conducting Starship tests and then iteratively upgrading each rocket provides SpaceX with the momentum to make the rocket operational quickly. It allows the firm to gather a treasure trove of data for Starship's numerous systems, and the booster that will fly in the next Starship test features more than a thousand upgrades, according to Elon Musk, who has also provided a short timeline for the second test flight.