Starbase: Boca Chica/Brownsville SpaceX Site

[scaesare]

Street name change near Starbase in Boca Chica. Was "Wemes St.", now:

 

[ecarfan]

NSF video shows suborbital stand A being scrapped, work done on booster and ship QDs, new methane tanks being plumbed into the tank farm.

 

[JB47394]

suborbital stand A being scrapped

This deserves a little bit of a retrospective. The really great thing about these videos is seeing the condition of the launch facilities about three years ago.

Though unrelated to suborbital stand A, here's Starhopper. Again, to show how primitive things were at the start. Starhopper was August 2019.

 

[ecarfan]

Though unrelated to suborbital stand A, here's Starhopper. Again, to show how primitive things were at the start. Starhopper was August 2019.

And less than 4 years later there was Starship IFT-1. Now that is what I call progress!

 

[JB47394]

And less than 4 years later there was Starship IFT-1. Now that is what I call progress!

It was still only 4 years and 3 months to Starship IFT-2, which was a bit more successful than the flame trench excavation project. It's amazing what an organization of dedicated people with enough financial backing can do in such a short time. I guess the steroids version of that is the US going from the second Gemini mission to setting foot on the Moon in the same timeframe.

In 2020 dollars, the US spent $280 billion on Gemini and Apollo over a roughly 13 year timespan. That's more than even Elon's net worth. SpaceX is supposed to get Starship flying for something around $10 billion, though I'm sure they're going to continue developing it for a long time to come.

 

[ecarfan]

San Antonio Express News reports SpaceX’s Starbase boss: South Texas to remain 'premier' Starship sited

A second orbital launch pad, a million-square-foot factory, more employee housing and office space are all in plans outlined this week by Starbase boss Kathy Leuders at a gathering of local officials in Brownsville.

And she discussed the importance of what it calls the Massey test site, which is about 5 miles from the Starship production facility. Situated on an old gun range, Leuders called the site “critical” because it allows the company to keep its test operations away from the beach.

 

[JB47394]

San Antonio Express News reports SpaceX’s Starbase boss: South Texas to remain 'premier' Starship sited

More quotes from that article to document some rarely-seen numbers.

In February 2022, he said Cape Canaveral eventually would serve as the craft’s “main operational launch site,” while the South Texas site — where it’s invested more than $4.1 billion — would be a “research and development location.”

According to Leuders, the site’s general manager and a former NASA administrator, the company now employs 2,100 full-time workers at Starbase, up from 1,700 in April, and is still growing. More than 600 more work at the company’s engine development site at McGregor outside Waco. SpaceX also has begun operations in Austin related to its Starlink satellite network.

Leuders also spoke of data suggesting the company in 2021 created $1.04 billion in economic output, generated 7,300 jobs in total and paid out $633 million in compensation to workers in the Rio Grande Valley.

 

[Grendal]

 

[ecarfan]

Interesting sighting. Some may be aware that at the SpaceX Roberts Road facility in Florida, multiple tower segments were assembled last year and then they just sat around. It appears possible that they are all going to be moved to Boca Chica and used to construct the second launch tower.

 

[JB47394]

Texas Is Considering a Controversial Land Swap Deal With SpaceX

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission could trade part of a state park to SpaceX, but critics say the move would put vulnerable species at risk.

gizmodo.com

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission is considering trading land with SpaceX; it would acquire approximately 477 acres near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge Bahia Grande Unit, and in exchange it would give SpaceX approximately 43 acres from Boca Chica State Park, Texas Public Radio first reported. SpaceX requested the land in order to increase the size of its launchpad, and the decision is up for a vote next week.

 

[JB47394]

From an article in the Houston Chronicle:

 

[ecarfan]

Texas Is Considering a Controversial Land Swap Deal With SpaceX

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission could trade part of a state park to SpaceX, but critics say the move would put vulnerable species at risk.

gizmodo.com

From that article:

“While still under consideration, the potential land exchange could provide mutual benefits by allowing [TPWD] to expand its management and protection of Texas’ natural resources and enhance recreational opportunity while allowing necessary expansion of SpaceX’s facilities and operations in Texas,” TPWD told Gizmodo in an email. “These conversations continue more than a decade of cooperative work with SpaceX to carry out our respective missions as neighbors.”

Sounds like TPWD wants the land exchange to happen. I hope it does.

 

[ecarfan]

NSF believes that a new static fire test stand with flame trench is starting to be constructed at the Masseys test site.

 

[Grendal]

Starbase sign:

 

[ecarfan]

Hilarious! Love the ”hive” reference. Obi-Wan speaking that classic line has been burned into my memory ever since I saw the film during its first run in the summer of 1977.

 

[scaesare]

Hehe... the QR code just goes to spacex.com

 

[JB47394]

SpaceX has gotten approval to incorporate Starbase, Texas from the state. It will include pretty much everything in that area, including the existing Boca Chica Village. The only step needed after this is federal approval.

Also, here's a video showing the placement of those new wall sections as well as nitrogen dump pipes that direct gaseous nitrogen over the wall and into the tower side area. The video suggests that it is being done to discourage accumulation of nitrogen gas (an asphyxiation risk) around the tank farm in case workers need to visit it when tanking operations have recently taken place.

Video link is to a specific timestamp.

 

[ecarfan]

SpaceX has gotten approval to incorporate Starbase, Texas from the state. It will include pretty much everything in that area, including the existing Boca Chica Village. The only step needed after this is federal approval.

Is federal approval required to incorporate a new municipality in this particular case because the city limits are directly adjacent to Boca Chica National Wildlife Refuge?

 

[JB47394]

Is federal approval required to incorporate a new municipality in this particular case because the city limits are directly adjacent to Boca Chica National Wildlife Refuge?

This article talks about the involvement of the US Postal Service and US Geological Survey. The new entity changes things around in the area. Apparently, Boca Chica Village isn't incorporated, and this new entity would be. It's probably just a federal process that they have to go through before it is treated by everyone as Starbase, Texas.

 

[JB47394]

https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/save-rgv-appeal-win-spacex-beach-closures-18642787.php

“We are now able to try our case again on the unconstitutionality of beach closures,” she said in an email.

Note that this is about the Texas state constitution. There is an Open Beaches Act, which grants the public free and unrestricted access to Texas beaches.

I wonder if people getting access to beaches could significantly impair SpaceX's operations. I also wonder if the state of Texas would amend their law to allow SpaceX to do their thing despite the proximity to Boca Chica Beach. I also wonder if this is nothing at all, and just another dumb lawsuit.

Here's the full text of the act, for you lawyers.