WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 -- Boca Chica, Texas, is licensed for three Starship launches a year after dark. A federal environmental review opened this week assumes that half of all launches would happen at night, and it sets a ceiling of 456 launches a year.

That implies about 228 night launches at the ceiling, a figure TEH calculated from the agency's planning assumption, not one the agency published. The Federal Aviation Administration is studying a proposal by SpaceX to raise Starship-Super Heavy operations at the site and to expand where Starship can land or be expended.

The step matters because the cap has climbed quickly. Under the agency's 2022 review, SpaceX could fly up to five a year. A 2025 decision raised the limit to 25 launches a...