Elon Musk plans to use Texas natural gas for his starships

Photographer: Austin Barnard / Bloomberg

Elon Musk has become the richest man in the world thanks to Tesla Inc.’s enthusiasm for elegant electric cars. – and the stratospheric price of the company’s share. But while Musk is probably the best-known clean energy CEO, SpaceX, his other company, will likely rely on natural gas drilling to power Starship, the new spacecraft and rocket designed to transport humans to the moon. , Mars and beyond.

Musk’s SpaceX aims to use a site in South Texas to launch rockets to transport people and cargo to the moon and Mars. To do this, the company plans to drill gas wells to produce its own fuel and electricity, according to a Federal Aviation Administration document seen by Bloomberg.

Musk has ridiculed the oil industry, promoting renewable energy and electric vehicles as the keys to avoiding a climate catastrophe. But the FAA document and SpaceX’s comments to Texas regulators show that, at least in the short term, some of its goals will depend on fossil fuel extraction plans that are already attracting criticism from environmental groups.

While Musk said he is finally aiming to extract carbon from the atmosphere to produce fuel, a cost-effective way to do so has not yet been developed. The billionaire is donating $ 100 million to a award for “best carbon capture technology”.

The Texas SpaceX site will be supplied by at least five nearby gas wells, along with two gas-fired power plants, according to the FAA. The purified gas from the wells will be pumped into refrigeration equipment that turns it into liquid methane, the document states. Methane can be combined with liquid oxygen and other compounds to produce rocket fuel.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. But in a hearing last week with The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas in the state, said the company’s lawyers said the gas from the wells would be used for “missile plant operations.”

The document, seen by Bloomberg, appears to be an unfinished environmental analysis project, an FAA spokesman said. A public comment period ending last week will be used to finalize the official draft assessment. Once completed, the project will be posted on the agency’s website for another round of public comment.

The company is also seeking FAA permission to add a gas treatment plant and equipment that will convert methane to its liquid form and plans to expand a nearby solar farm and build a water desalination plant, agency records show.

SpaceX originally built the coastal site for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missiles, which are used to deploy satellites, but never used it for this purpose. The company is now seeking permission to use it as a launch pad for spacecraft that will carry people and cargo to the moon and Mars, FAA records show.

Vertically integrated

A potential motivation for SpaceX’s plans to produce gas: vertical integration. Musk is a longtime fan of the strategy, which he has used to keep control of his companies’ supply chains. By drilling the gas, SpaceX would avoid paying a third party to produce it and drive it to the launch site.

Depending on the liquid-oxygen-methane fuel ratio, a single launch would require tens of millions of cubic meters of gas.

Even without considering the need for gas to power the SpaceX power plants at the Texas site, a minimum of 10 launches a year would require about half a billion cubic meters. This would cost about $ 1.37 million, based on current reference gas futures trading in New York.

To secure that gas, SpaceX launched a subsidiary called Lone Star Mineral Development in June. The company wasted no time in buying mineral rights in the area, as well as an 806-acre lease originally drilled by the Houston oil company. Sanchez Energy, which renamed itself Mesquite Energy after coming out of bankruptcy last year.

However, it is not clear how much gas it will be able to extract from the site. Cameron County, where the launch site is located, is not a prolific source of fuel. Sanchez’s lease, put into production in 2011, produced about 536 million cubic meters of gas during the first year, according to the railway commission. But after that, production continued to decline until decommissioning in March 2014.

Geology is not the only obstacle to SpaceX’s gas production plans. The company faces legal challenges for a plot of land that is a small corner of the drilling contract. Closely owned manufacturer Dallas Petroleum Group LLC says it has paid property taxes on two wells there and is asking the Railroad Commission to resolve a dispute over control of the wells with Lone Star. He previously sued Sanchez for access to the wells and amended the process on Friday to add SpaceX and Lone Star as defendants.

Lone Star also bought two offshore platforms from drilling contractor Valaris Plc last year. They will likely be used as landing platforms for reusable SpaceX missiles, FAA records show.

Environmental opposition

A coalition of a dozen environmental groups is already sounding the alarm about SpaceX’s expansion plans. The missile launch site has far exceeded the scope of its initial authorization, and the company’s plans threaten an ecologically sensitive wildlife corridor along the US-Mexico border, according to the coalition.

At the launch site last year, “there were at least three explosions, some of which led to several fires that burned smaller areas” of public land, EJ Williams, vice president of the American Bird Conservancy, said in an e-mail. mail. “These explosions have had a direct impact on the designated critical habitat, used by federally listed species and other declining species.”

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More traffic on the highway leading to the launch site has dramatically increased the number of animals killed by vehicles, and roadblocks to launch missiles have prevented biologists from studying endangered migratory bird species nesting nearby, according to David Newstead, a director. bird conservation projects for the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries program, based on Corpus Christi.

The FAA initially allowed SpaceX for 12 launches a year and 180 hours of road closures, but Newstead said its group documented more than 1,100 hours of highway closures last year.

Due to changes in the SpaceX plans for the Texas site, environmental groups want the FAA to use a stricter and more transparent process to review the company’s proposals. E.g, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is urging companies looking to build new gas pipelines or export terminals to submit regular public updates, while the FAA does not require the same level of disclosure, said Patrick Anderson, president of the lower Sierra Rio Valley chapter. .

Although SpaceX is requesting permission to produce gas in the short term, the Texas launch site could eventually promote Musk’s zero carbon ambitions. Gas drilling could be part of gaining longer-term experience with the use of in situ resources or ISRU, the practice of generating products with local materials. Although there are no fossil fuels on Mars, those who land there may need to drill for water or minerals.

Musk could also use drilling to gain experience in developing carbon storage wells. SpaceX will likely have to use carbon capture on Mars to produce fuel for the journey back home, which makes it crucial to have the right technology.

Historically, liquid hydrogen was the fuel of choice for early space missions, while a rocket loaded with kerosene and liquid oxygen sent Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins to the moon.