Falcon 9 to be deprecated

The Falcon 9 uses kerosene. Kerosene is a high-carbon fuel. When this burns, not all of its carbon becomes carbon-dioxide (or monoxide). Some of it becomes carbon non-oxide: soot, in short. That's a problem. h/t ScienceDaily

SpaceX already know soot is a problem - for their rockets. So Starship uses liquified high-pressure methane. Replacing the Falcon 9 with the Starship should be our goal anyway.

I dislike this last paragraph: There is still a lot we need to find out about the influence of rocket launch and re-entry emissions on the atmosphere - in particular, the future size of the industry and the types and by-products of new fuels like liquid methane and bio-derived fuels. My concern is that they have given to regulators, already hostile, another excuse to do what they do best, which is to stop a product and knock off work early for donuts.

SECOND OPINION 6/28: Zimmerman doesn't like it. I don't go as far as he does but I agree NOAA's overall argument was structured for FUD.