SpaceX needs to overcome a series of bureaucratic obstacles to maintain its planned schedule to reach Mars, the latest statement from the FAA indicates that it will not be easy at all.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the body in charge of regulating all aspects of air transport in the US, recalled in a recent statement that SpaceX will not be able to launch its Starship and Super Heavy into space until its authorization process is completed. This could twist Musk’s plans to reach Earth orbit later this year and produce a disastrous chain reaction for the goal of establishing a permanent colony on Mars by 2050.

The FAA statement invites citizens to comment on the draft environmental assessment they have been developing on SpaceX’s launch base in Boca Chica, Texas. It adds: “SpaceX cannot launch the Starship/Super Heavy vehicle until the FAA completes its licensing process, which includes the environmental review and other safety and financial responsibility requirements.”

The FAA announced in November 2020 that it was going to begin that environmental assessment process. According to what a former employee of the American agency told Business Insider at the time, it is normal for this process to last between three and four months. But the American agency has just shared the draft now, ten months later.

The twelve Asterix tests Musk faces begin with the public’s review of the draft. They will be able to give their comments in the virtual public hearings that will take place on October 6 and 7. If SpaceX continues to develop its program, the FAA statement says, the agency will have to evaluate future activities, although it can rely on the current draft. Finally, the FAA will evaluate the comments and draft to decide if the environmental impact is significant. If so, the public body will make an Environmental Impact Statement.

Luckily for Musk, the draft considers that his company’s activities are not likely to have much effect on the close environment of his base. Despite this, and although nothing new emerges that reopens the process, the delay that has already occurred makes it almost impossible for Musk to keep his word and perform his orbital test in the remainder of the year.

What remains for Musk to reach Mars in 2050

Musk’s Starship still has to pass many tests and finish fine-tuning its technology in order to start caressing the dream of being an interplanetary species.

After successfully completing the orbital test, the next major mission for SpaceX will be the ‘Dear Moon’ project. This mission is planned for 2023 and has been funded and conceived by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as an artistic project. The Starship will take Maezawa and 8 other civilians on a journey around the Moon.

A year later, in 2024, the Starship should be ready to land on the Moon with NASA’s Artemis mission. If they are able to complete the mission, it will be the first time an astronaut has set foot on lunar soil since the Apollo 17 crew in 1972. That is if the Chinese do not get ahead first, of course.

Musk declared last December that he “is very confident” that they will be able to send an unmanned mission to Mars in 2024. Followed by another, two years later, with the first humans to set foot on the Red Planet.

In the coming years, SpaceX would have to be able to build the 1,000 Starships needed to get a million people to Mars and establish a city there as Musk wants.

“The important thing is that we establish Mars as a self-sufficient civilization,” he said. We’ll see if luck and bureaucrats don’t get in their way.