Elon Musk's Mars Ambitions Take Flight As SpaceX Gets FAA Approval For Texas Starship Launches

Elon Musk's SpaceX has received approval from the U.S. Government's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to scale up launches of the company's Starship rockets — a key component in the billionaire's plans to travel to Mars.

What Happened: The regulatory approval, which followed a year-long review, means that SpaceX can now increase the number of launches in Texas from 5 to 25, as well as use the water bodies for its booster landings, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The agency reiterated that increasing Starship launches, as well as booster landings or any potential explosions, would not pose a significant threat to the water bodies like the Gulf of Mexico or the surrounding environment.

However, the report suggests that the FAA has outlined some conditions for SpaceX, including beach cleanups, donations to environmental organizations, water testing around the launch sites and more.

Why It Matters: The news comes in as NASA faces over $6 billion in budget cuts from the Trump administration in what could be described as the space agency pivoting to Mars-focused initiatives — something Musk is aspirational about.

This is also in line with Trump's pick for NASA's Chief, Jared Isaacman, who doubled down on Mars. "We will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars," Isaacman said 

Musk reiterated the company's plans to set up a city on Mars in a recent interview. Interestingly, SpaceX's Starbase HQ was recently successfully incorporated as a city in Texas's Cameron County.

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