Raster Based GIS Conference

Exploring the Draft Environmental Assessment at Starbase, Texas

This project involved using a suitability analysis to examine issues connected to the Environmental Assessment currently being carried out in Boca Chica Texas to determine the impact of the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy vehicle testing and flights. While Starship has the potential to be a significant step forward in spaceflight and the development of Starbase to bring positive effects to the area, the unintended negative environmental impacts also need to be considered. The publicly available Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment incorporates areas of study such as impact on endangered species, people in the area, public parks, and other concerns.  The specific goal here was to compare the actual site of Starbase with other theoretical locations in the county to see how it compared in terms of meeting the needs of SpaceX and potential negative impact.  Some things considered were habitats of impacted animals, proximity to cities, and preferable locations for testing/launches.  While an output was produced, it did not provide much useful information.  However, some of the intermediate steps taken, such as those which produced a map of habitats that were mentioned in the Draft Environmental Assessment and some of the distance calculations, were useful individually in terms of visualizing the issues brought up by the Draft Environmental Assessment and public commentary around it.

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