SpaceX seeks approval to turn Texas Starbase site into new city
Starbase serves as the main production and testing site for the Starship moon, Mars rocket
Elon Musk is attempting to turn the Starbase site in Texas where SpaceX builds its Starship rockets into a new city and officially move his space company there.
SpaceX's headquarters are currently in Hawthorne, California, but the company has over the past few years been building out a massive facility in Texas in an area on the southern tip of the US state near the Mexican border. The site in Boca Chica is the primary location where SpaceX builds and launches its huge Starship rocket system, and it recently added a large warehouse known as the Starfactory, which replaced many of the site's production tents.
Starbase, as SpaceX refers to it, now serves as the main production and testing site for the Starship moon and Mars rocket, and SpaceX's operations in the area have created more than 3,000 jobs, according to a 2024 economic impact report.
Despite Musk's post, there are several steps that need to occur before Starbase can actually be created as a new city in Texas, including permission from local authorities.
"To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community," SpaceX said in a petition addressed to a Cameron County judge.
"That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley," it continued. "Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world class place to live."
SpaceX didn't respond to a request for a copy of the letter.
Musk's move to relocate the headquarters for SpaceX - and social media company X - to Texas, something he initially announced back in July, adds additional fuel to the billionaire's efforts to align himself with the political right and distance himself from left-leaning California.
SpaceX has roughly 13,000 employees. Its Hawthorne facility has been the primary location for production and processing of the company's Falcon 9 workhorse rocket, as well as the larger, more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket.