SpaceX received key U.S. regulatory approval on Tuesday to increase the annual rate of Starship rocket launches from Texas and booster landings in various bodies of water, allowing Elon Musk's space company to significantly expand development of its giant Mars rocket.

The Federal Aviation Administration will allow SpaceX to perform as many as 25 Starship launches a year from its Texas site, five times the previous limit.

The report grants SpaceX's request to boost the number of Starship launches from Starbase per year by a factor of five, to 25. It also allows up to 25 landings at the site annually by each of Starship's two stages, the giant booster called Super Heavy and the upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, or simply Ship.