The SpaceX Starship Hopper test vehicle is under construction near Boca Chica, Texas.
Photographer: Austin Barnard / Bloomberg
Photographer: Austin Barnard / Bloomberg
Elon Musk is watching a name change for Boca Chica, Texas, the Gulf Coast community where his Space Exploration Technologies Corp. builds its futuristic deep-space rocket.
“The creation of the city of Starbase, Texas,” Musk tweeted Tuesday. “From there to Mars, and from there the stars.”
A SpaceX representative recently conducted a ‘random investigation’ into the requirements to take up Boca Chica and rename it the city of Starbase, Cameron judge Eddie Trevino said. In a statement, he said commissioners had been notified of discussions about Boca Chica, a small castle near the Mexican border, where SpaceX’s new Starship prototypes dominate the beach’s skyline.
“Sending a tweet doesn’t make it that way,” Trevino said in an interview. “There are a lot of rings and obstacles to go through before they can get it right.”
The renaming of Boca Chica would further deepen Musk’s imprint on Texas. In addition to SpaceX’s activity, its automaker, Tesla Inc., is building a massive factory in East Austin for its upcoming electric pickup. The private Musk Foundation moved from California to Austin, and Musk himself said he moved to Texas, although he still spends time in the Golden State.
SpaceX is also testing rockets in McGregor, Texas, near Waco. The prototypes of Starship that it develops in Boca Chica are one day meant for humans to fly to the moon and to Mars.
Separately, SpaceX posted engineering positions at Starlink for a ‘new, modern manufacturing facility’ he was building in Austin. Starlink is the company’s spatial internet service, available in parts of Canada, the American and British television station KXAN previously reported on the new post.
As far as Boca Chica is concerned, the incorporation process is handled under Texas law by Cameron County commissioners. The process will also include utilities in the city, which do not have a public water system. Water is transported by truck from nearby Brownsville and stored in tanks at every home.
A SpaceX lobbyist in Austin referred all calls to the company, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Judge Trevino added: “I think they might be a little ahead of themselves.”
– With help by Joe Carroll and Dana Hull
(Updates with provincial declaration in third paragraph)