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by dragontamer 1710 days ago
The FAA document is pretty clear on this subject.

SpaceX is building a 1MW solar plant and a 250MW natural gas plant. See the document in question: https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_star...

Just Ctrl-F on "250 MW", to find page 130/131, which discusses the 1MW solar + 250MW natural gas plan.

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As such, we know how they're planning on powering the rocket. With traditional natural gas methodologies: a 250MW natural gas power plant, as well as this liquid-natural-gas processing plant.
1 comments
Ericson2314 1710 days ago
Oh thought they were burning the gas for more base electricity.

This does make sense, but it is odd that the existing gas market is not sufficient.

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dragontamer 1710 days ago
> This does make sense, but it is odd that the existing gas market is not sufficient.

Its not very clear why the PEA is setup in this manner at all. We know that SpaceX wouldn't ask for something from the regulators unless they had a plan for it, but that's about it.

I think it would have been reasonable to just pipe 99.9% pure methane from some other producer (it is Texas after all, surely there's a supplier out there willing to sell a bunch of methane to SpaceX??).

What's absurd is that the PEA calculations seem to be calculated from the standpoint of a raw-mining operation, and not pre-treated methane. This implies that SpaceX is planning on purifying its own methane, instead of buying it up from a large market that already exists in the area.

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I'm sure rocket fuel needs more treatment steps than commodity natural gas. But starting from commodity natural gas probably would have been easier, rather than starting from a well?

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