FAA just declared ""Starship's new Trajectory'' to Return Starbase Pad Shocked whole Industry...

This is amazing. SpaceX has just submitted a proposal to the FAA for a new Starship trajectory. A first hint that we may soon witness the Starship upper stage landing on Make a Zilla for the very first time. Meanwhile, NASA has puzzled the space community by reviving the previously canceled Viper project and awarding hundreds of millions to Blue Origin. Not to be outdone, Europe is also making progress with reusable rockets, aiming to compete directly with the US. Let's dive into this breaking news in today's episode of Alpha Tech. In early 2026, SpaceX is set to attempt a major milestone, launching a Starship to low Earth orbit, then bringing it all the way back down to Bokeh Chica, Texas for a precision landing at the launch tower caught by Meazilla's giant chopsticks. Achieving this would be a critical step toward Elon Musk's goal of full and rapid reusability, cutting costs, and boosting launch cadence. But pulling this landing method won't be easy. It's not just about the rocket or the launch site. It also comes down to the trajectory and the permissions behind it. Unlike Superheavy boosters, which only need a short hop before returning to the pad within minutes, the Starship upper stage faces far tougher hurdles. Any orbital return from Texas has to pass through a narrow corridor avoiding populated areas while coordinating with the FAA and even international neighbors to secure airspace and meet strict environmental regulations. And as Starship's flight rate grows in the future, those challenges will only intensify. So far, all 10 test flights have followed a safer path, launched from Texas, but targeting splashdowns in the Indian or Pacific oceans. On those trajectories, Starship never completes a full orbit, instead tracing a long arc through space before Earth's gravity pulls it back down. That's why SpaceX has formally requested FAA approval for new Starship launch and landing trajectories out of Starbase, Texas before attempting such a precision landing. Following this request, on September 19th, the FAA released a 19-page draft document with a long technical title. In short, the draft outlines SpaceX's proposal to update its government license for new Starship launch and re-entry trajectories. While it has not been approved yet, the FAA published it to gather public comments, a required step under NEA and FAA rules, but if approved, it would be a huge win for SpaceX. Why? FAA rules are extremely strict. If for every commercial launch or re-entry, the chance of causing harm to anyone on the ground must be extremely low, less than 1 in 10,000, for any single individual, the risk must be even smaller, far less than 1 in a million. To make this more visual, let's look at the proposed Starship landing path that SpaceX submitted for approval. It passes over northern Mexico. That means SpaceX has to ensure that residents along this corridor will not be affected by any launch or re-entry, even if Starship breaks apart in the atmosphere. Any debris falling back, like what happened earlier this year over the Turks and Cikos Islands, must not endanger people on the ground. Only after demonstrating this safety can the FAA approve the trajectory. One way to reduce risk is to avoid large cities. And that's exactly what SpaceX and the FAA are proposing for these early orbital return attempts. The notional trajectory shows Starship descending over the Pacific, crossing Baja California, then flying inland above regions near Hermosio and Chihuahua, each with around a million residents. From there, Starship's path takes it north of the Mterrey Metropolitan area, home to over 5 million people, before crossing the Rio Grand Valley near Macallen and Brownsville, Texas. In the final phase of its return, Starship will descend vertically towards Starbase, slowing down so that the launch tower's mechanical arms can catch it in midair. Because these routes pass over populated areas, careful coordination with the FAA is essential to manage both safety and air traffic. The proposed launch and re-entry trajectories would require temporary airspace closures, potentially delaying or rerouting anywhere from 7 to 400 commercial flights per mission. Airspace closures are already mandatory for Starship test flights, but the new return paths over Mexico could involve shutting down more than 6,600 km of airspace, affecting up to 200 additional commercial flights. While these restrictions might inconvenience airlines or passengers, FAA reports from 2022 and 2025 confirm that the plan is not expected to impact employment, income, taxes, population, public services, or other social conditions. In fact, each Starship launch draws crowds of spectators, providing a boost to the local economy, another factor in SpaceX's favor for receiving approval. This environmental assessment also examines potential impacts from the temporary airspace closures, including aviation emissions, air quality, hazardous materials, noise, and socioeconomics. Other factors such as wildlife, cultural resources, water, or children's health and safety are not affected and therefore were not considered. Mitigation measures from previous assessments ensure that SpaceX's launch program does not cause significant environmental impacts and the company continues to comply with all these measures. Regarding noise, airspace closures may cause flight delays or rerouting temporarily increasing noise at affected airports. However, because aircraft follow existing flight paths and these effects last only 40 minutes to 2 hours, average sound levels do not change significantly. Therefore, these activities are not expected to have major impacts on the environment or surrounding communities consistent with earlier assessments. And here's the key takeaway. In the conclusion of the draft, the FAA clearly stated that no significant impacts would occur as a result of the proposed action. This serves as a partial green light in the NEPA environmental review process, signaling that the FAA is paving the way for SpaceX to move forward with final approvals and future Starship launches from Starbase. Now, just as SpaceX is waiting for the final approval from the FAA, Blue Origin has unexpectedly received a rare boost from NASA's just recently NASA's official X account announced after exploring innovative and cost-effective approaches. NASA has selected Blue Origin to deliver the Viper rover to the moon. This surprised the entire space community as NASA had originally selected and begun developing Viper in 2019 as a direct agency project. However, in July 2024, the mission was cancelled, even though the rover had been fully assembled and passed rigorous environmental tests. The primary reason was a projected 1 billion cut to NASA science programs in 2025, forcing the agency to prioritize other critical projects. Development costs had also surged from the initial $250 million to $450 million, far exceeding the original estimate. Launch schedules were repeatedly pushed back from 2023 to 2024 and then to 2025 due to technical issues with Astrobotics Griffin lander and broader supply chain challenges. Continuing Viper at that time also risked disrupting other projects under NASA's commercial lunar payload services program, including flights by Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace, which play a key role in the AY's lunar exploration plans. Now Viper is back, set to ride aboard Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark1 lander, a vehicle that has yet to fly. NASA awarded the company a $190 million contract for this mission, marking Blue Origin's second CLPS project. According to the agency, the first MK1 lander is still scheduled to deliver two NASA payloads to the moon's south pole on a new Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral later this year. Viper will head to the moon's south pole, aiming to map potential resources such as ice and gather scientific data for future lunar and Martian exploration. Acting NASA administrator Shaun Duffy said, "NASA is leading the world in exploring more of the moon, and this delivery is just one of the ways we leverage American industry to support a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. Unlike Mars rovers, NASA has managed over the past three decades, Viper must withstand extreme temperature swings of up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit between sunlit and shadowed regions. To accomplish this, it will be the first rover equipped with headlights to explore permanently shadowed lunar craters. Duffy added that the rover will navigate these harsh environments in small obscured areas at the South Pole to provide critical information for future astronaut landing sites and better understand lunar conditions. Knowledge crucial for sustaining human life during longer missions. The mission is currently planned for late 2027 using the second MK1 lander, which Blue Origin has stated is already under production. This raises even more questions since the MK1 will eventually be launched on Blue Origin's new Glenn rocket, the company's most advanced launcher, which has so far only flown once and ended with a failed landing. Will Blue Origin be able to meet the requirements for the NASA assigned mission in the coming years? Or are we looking at yet another delay? If the company succeeds and Viper reaches the moon, the rover is set to undertake a 100-day mission covering a distance of 12 miles spanning three full lunar dayight cycles. According to published information, Viper is equipped with a 1 m drill and three science instruments to detect the distribution, physical state, and composition of ice layers. Communication with the rover will be easier and more real time compared to Mars missions. And its design allows it to both roll and crawl at a maximum speed of 0.5 mph over truly unknown terrain. As the customer, NASA will rely on Blue Origin to provide the ride, handle payload integration, manage planning and support, supply communications, and deploy the rover. NASA will take over control of the rover once it leaves the lander. The rover's goal of searching for volatiles is meant to support NASA's Aremis missions. Locating frozen water, which could be separated into oxygen and hydrogen for breathable air and potential fuel, has been a primary driver behind NASA's moon plans. In this way, Blue Origin could still compete directly with SpaceX in the future. While SpaceX is known for its hls lander, Blue Origin contributes to lunar surface exploration through its rover. Both companies play important but different roles in supporting moon missions. It's not just American companies making progress. Space competition in Europe is heating up rapidly as well. This week, the French aerospace company Aryani Group announced that it is completed integration of the Theis rocket, a reusable prototype designed to test various landing technologies on a launchpad in Sweden. Theis will undergo lowaltitude hop tests, laying the groundwork for developing a first stage capable of vertical landing after orbital launches. These tests are expected to begin later this year or early next year, marking a significant step forward for Europe after a slow response to the reusable rocket trend over the past decade. With the prototype in place, Oriani Group will conduct integrated testing to ensure compatibility between the pads mechanical, electrical, and fluid systems. This phase will culminate in a full cryogenic test before progressing to lowaltitude hop tests.