| Project Detail |
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the environmental impacts of a proposed commercial space launch site (known as Spaceport Camden) in Camden County, Georgia. The Camden County, Georgia Board of Commissioners (the County) proposes to develop a launch site for the integration, test, and launch of vertical launch vehicles. Under the Proposed Action analyzed in the EIS, the County would construct and operate Spaceport Camden, a commercial space launch site consisting of a vertical launch site, a landing zone, a control center complex, and another facility that would include provisions for visitors and viewing launches. The County plans to offer the site for up to 12 vertical launches and up to 12 landings of associated launch vehicle first-stages per year. Other activities considered under the Proposed Action include recovering spent stages at sea that may be barged back to the site for rehabilitation and reuse; 12 static fire engine tests; and up to 12 wet dress rehearsals, which are a pre-launch test to simulate the countdown of a launch, per year.
The County will be required to obtain a Launch Site Operator License from the FAA for the operation of the proposed Spaceport Camden. The FAA is the lead Federal agency for preparing the EIS for analyzing the environmental impacts of the proposal. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Park Service (NPS) are cooperating agencies. The EIS will evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the proposal, including construction of launch site infrastructure, launch operations, offsite communication, control, and launch facilities, and provisions for visitors and viewing launches. The EIS will evaluate the Proposed Action along with the No Action Alternative, and other reasonable alternatives that may be identified during the scoping process.
The applicant will work together with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a Section 404 permit, as necessary, before constructing the proposed site. |
