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Elon Musk to deepen Texas ties with proposal for "City of Starbase" in Cameron County

By franzwalkerdw // 2021-03-11

SpaceX founder Elon Musk is proposing the creation of a city named "Starbase" in Texas, where the company could build rockets to launch its Starlink satellites and other space projects. "Creating the city of Starbase, Texas," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, March 2. "From thence to Mars, And hence the Stars." As part of this, a SpaceX representative made a "casual inquiry" about the requirements to incorporate Boca Chica and rename it the City of Starbase. According to Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino, county commissioners have been notified of the discussions about Boca Chica, the small, unincorporated community where SpaceX is building its Starship launch vehicles. "Sending a tweet doesn’t make it so," Trevino said. "They have a lot of hoops and hurdles to go through before they can make it so."

Musk deepening Texas ties following announcement of Starlink plant

Incorporating Boca Chica into a city would further deepen Musk's ties to Texas. SpaceX already has other facilities in the state, including a rocket test range in McGregor, Texas, near Waco. In addition, the company is also building "a new, state of the art manufacturing facility" in Austin to build more satellites for the company's Starlink space-based internet service. As part of this, the company has already posted new job openings for engineering positions at the factory. (Related: Musk claims SpaceX Starlink internet speed will double this year.) In addition to SpaceX, Musk's other company, Tesla, is building a massive factory in East Austin. The new factory is set to be used to build Tesla's Cybertruck, the automaker's futuristic electric pick up truck. The Musk Foundation has also moved from California to Austin. Since its foundation in 2002, the charity has made over 350 grants in support of renewable energy research, human space exploration and other causes. Musk himself has also said that he's moved to Texas, though he still spends time in California.

SpaceX investing heavily into Boca Chica

As for incorporating Boca Chica into Musk's proposed Starbase city, that process is handled under Texas law by Cameron County commissioners. As part of this, the process would include the creation of utilities for the town. Currently, the town doesn't even have a public water system. Instead, water for Boca Chica residents is trucked from nearby Brownsville and stored in tanks at each home. The effort required has caused some to state that Musk and SpaceX may be underestimating the effort needed to incorporate. "I think they may be getting a little ahead of themselves," stated Judge Trevino. But the process of incorporating Boca Chica and all of the steps needed to do so, such as the creation of utilities, could actually benefit SpaceX. The company is investing heavily into the town. It's bought dozens of properties in Boca Chica – specifically those surrounding the Starship factory – through two limited liability companies (LLC) it has created: Dogleg Park and Lone Star Mineral Development. In addition, Lone Star is also looking to lease two inactive gas wells outside Boca Chica to extract methane, one of the two propellants used to fuel Space's launch vehicles. With all this in mind, SpaceX's expansion plans in Boca Chica would likely have required the creation of the community's missing utilities in the first place. As such, incorporating the town into Musk's proposed "City of Starship" is likely just a natural extension of this, one that further cements his ties to the state. Follow ElonMuskWatch.com for more on Musk's investments in Texas. Sources include: CapacityMedia.com Bloomberg.com TheVerge.com

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