18.08.2021
Brand new rocket facilities near a sleepy beachside city historically unfamiliar with all things space. Hundreds of workers rushing around production sites to meet the latest deadlines. The sounds of heavy machinery, chatter through hip-mounted radios, and trucks slowly navigating potholed roads reminiscent of the lunar surface.
And, on launch days, even the occasional explosion that scatters a test vehicle into countless pieces.
To some, all this might sound familiar, like a flashback to Florida's Space Coast in the 1960s when thousands descended on cities like Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral to make the Apollo program a reality. But this isn't Florida.
Welcome to Starbase, Texas.
There's a camaraderie and sense of mission here – and a casualness – that resembles what life on the Space Coast was like nearly 60 years ago. One test at a time, the impossible is being made into the possible, and the workforce is growing. But it's not just the fortunes of directly employed workers and the community that are being changed – almost anyone can drive up to flight-ready hardware and experience the thrill for themselves.
"I truly believe in five, 10, 20 years, they're going to be making documentaries about this just like they make documentaries about Cape Canaveral," said Nic Ansuini, an audio engineer and podcaster, who braves stifling heat to create content mere feet away from rocket hardware that compelled him to move hundreds of miles away from home.
A thousand miles west of Florida near the city of Brownsville is Starbase, an untamed area reminiscent of the nature preserves that dominate a swath of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Much like the Space Coast, satellite imagery paints the picture of a flat region dominated more by water features than usable land.
Here, SpaceX founder Elon Musk operates in full-steam-ahead-mode. Not only does he visit often to oversee significant operations, but he has already kicked off a legal process to get the area officially renamed Starbase. One day, a small city – well, more of a spaceport town – could take shape from the wilderness and join Brownsville on this southernmost tip of Texas.
Musk and his teams are assembling, testing, and launching the future of his company, a two-stage stainless steel vehicle known as the Starship system. There are security guards and fences, but no one stops the curious from wandering over to get a closer look at Starship and its Super Heavy booster, both of which tower nearly 400 feet in height and were stacked for the first time last week. The promised 16 million pounds of liftoff thrust is more than twice that of the Apollo era's iconic Saturn V rocket.
Those willing to put up with the overwhelming humidity and pockmarked roads can get surprisingly close to hardware that Musk says will someday take humans to the moon, Mars, and beyond. The area is often referred to as Boca Chica, Cameron County, or the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site, but Starbase has taken over as the name of choice lately.
Fans, journalists, and those simply looking to document Starship happenings are flocking here to see it for themselves. And they get support directly from SpaceX employees who wave, honk, and thank them in person for getting the word out about their accomplishments.
Ansuini, a self-proclaimed "indoors person," moved here from Missouri in mid-July and made a nearby beach his home so he could document Starship happenings.
"I'm not an outdoors person. Hate dirt, hate sweating, hate the outside. But here I am, sweating away," Ansuini told FLORIDA TODAY just outside the front gate to the launch pad. "But you know what? It's worth it. When you have a goal that's so inspiring and so exciting, you'd be a fool not to drop everything you're doing to pursue that. And I felt that way."
The 22-year-old said he had planned on booking a hotel when he first arrived, but saw people camping on nearby Boca Chica Beach, so he used the opportunity to save on costs. Now he's apartment hunting in the area to continue producing podcasts, YouTube videos, exclusive content for subscribers, and more.
"There's so much to see down here, so much to do, so much to capture. Yes, plenty of people have tons of fancy camera equipment, so what can I bring?" he said. "Well, I'm an audio engineer, so I brought some microphones. I think it's so important to preserve archival-level audio quality of what's happening here."
The 'Starship Surge'
In Brownsville, country music wafts from bar radios. Hand-drawn signs in hotel lobbies welcome SpaceX employees. The intense humidity, much like South Florida, hits you like a wall when you step outside and soaks through clothes after just a few seconds.
Before SpaceX came, this city of roughly 175,000 on the border with Mexico was best known for its role in international trade thanks to the Port of Brownsville. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has a campus here, too.
Last week, a 400-foot accomplishment helped bring another sense of pride to this community that a few years ago likely never would have dreamed it would be involved in cutting-edge space technology: SpaceX teams stacked Starship for the first time.
The combined vehicle – 230-foot Super Heavy booster below, 164-foot Starship above – stood on a platform at the launch pad and gleamed in the sunlight as dozens of visitors clapped and cheered just outside the gates.
Aside from previous test launches, most of which ended in fireballs, the stacking marked the most visual milestone to date for Starship and paved the way for a full-fledged orbital test flight.
"Dream come true," Musk, who was here in person and helped direct the operation, said last Friday. "An honor to work with such a great team."
When assembled, Starship stands as the tallest and most powerful rocket in the world, though it will have to fly a demonstration mission before truly claiming those titles. That could come as soon as next month depending on readiness and regulatory approval from agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration.
Ultimately, Musk sees Starship as the vehicle that will take thousands of people to the moon and Mars for the establishment of self-sustaining colonies. Current plans include launching the system from both Texas and Florida, the latter of which will be hosted by KSC's historic pad 39A. Starbase isn't necessarily a threat to Florida, but it will certainly be the more customized of the two options considering SpaceX ultimately controls its own spaceport in Texas.
The massive rocket is also capable of more traditional missions like satellite launches, but its new architecture has several organizations studying other uses.
The Department of Defense, for example, is looking into using rockets like Starship to launch troops into areas of operation, a move that could drastically cut down on transit time. More recently, NASA announced the Starship platform will be used to take Artemis program astronauts from lunar orbit – delivered there from Florida by NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule – down to the surface. That Human Lander System contract is valued at around $3 billion so far.
On future missions, Starship and Super Heavy will launch from Starbase, fly east over the Gulf of Mexico and reach orbit before returning to the pad for landing (both launch and land vertically). Starship could deliver a payload to orbit and then return for landing, or it could depart Earth orbit altogether and target a farther destination. Missions launching from Florida would look similar, though most of the details have not yet been made public.
Today's heavy-lift rockets, most notably NASA's in-development Space Launch System, are made for several different purposes. Starship's architecture, for example, includes the possibility of in-orbit refueling after liftoff, whereas SLS is a straight shot to the destination after launch from Kennedy Space Center. But measured strictly from the perspective of liftoff thrust and the ability to take payloads to Earth orbit, Starship appears to be unmatched for now.
Major milestones like the first stacking are why Stephen Marr, a Space Coast resident who has photographed launches for several different outlets and his subscribers, came to Starbase for his first visit in July. Just a few years ago, he moved from Tennessee to Florida specifically to chase rockets and deliver pizzas on the side; now he's standing just a few feet away from the most massive of them all.
"It's been such a dream," he said during a recent visit to the area. "It's all gone sort of according to plan, if I had a set plan. Just go out there, do your best work, and keep doing it."
As SpaceX workers huddled around the launch pad for the next big operation, Marr and Ansuini focus on something else: spreading the word.
"The goal is I just want to be able to pay the rent and do what I love. I don't need to get rich doing this," Marr said. "All the while, I get to experience all of it."
The future of Starbase
Over the long term, SpaceX's operations in Texas have one major advantage over those in Florida: access.
Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station split the Eastern Range, but both are secure federal facilities that require proper access credentials. Starbase, meanwhile, is entirely owned by SpaceX and is free of military bases, federally restricted areas, and other hurdles. It gives Musk a nearly unfettered ability to make changes and push for faster or different types of production.
For nearby communities like Brownsville, the full-force entry of SpaceX into the area is critical to their future.
"They definitely put Brownsville on the map," said Ramiro Gonzalez, Brownsville's director of government and community affairs. "We're proud to be a home for SpaceX and we appreciate all the attention."
Much like the Space Coast of the 1960s through today, Gonzalez said his community sees influxes of visitors and a steady stream of workers who are directly and indirectly supported by SpaceX activities. Launches are especially important since visitors typically choose to book more than one day in the area in the event of delays or scrubs.
"Hotels are happy, restaurants are really happy," Gonzalez said. "The economic ripples of not only employment from SpaceX but also visitorship are palpable. People can really put their hands on it and prove it."
But all that doesn't mean SpaceX hasn't faced issues with Starbase. Before stainless steel rockets towered over the landscape here, a small unincorporated community known as Boca Chica Village was home to a few dozen people.
A May report by the Wall Street Journal chronicled frictions between SpaceX and residents, many of which rose to the surface when owners refused to sell their homes to the company. There have also been accusations of property theft and general "bullying" as the pressure to sell increases, but the report indicates that at least seven residents are still holding onto their homes as of three months ago.
The scuffle presents yet another parallel between Florida and Texas: what is now the Space Coast wasn't barren when engineers and officials from all walks of life descended on the area and decided to build a spaceport. Sleepy fishing villages dotted the area and farmers worked land that space shuttles would traverse decades later. In fact, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is still home to a small cemetery that had been there before launch complexes were even an idea.
Frictions aside, Starbase has generally been a boon for the area. Gonzalez said Brownsville is even trying to get ahead of the curve by becoming not only a hub for SpaceX, but all types of commercial space companies.
"Honestly, our major focus right now is developing this commercial space ecosystem business-wise. We think we have several advantages here and we have a place people want to come to," he said.
The openness of SpaceX facilities and the founding of what will eventually be a company town of sorts means future astronauts, space tourists, and officials have a unique opportunity to carve out amenities for these types of travelers. Catering to these groups will be quite different from what the Space Coast – or perhaps anywhere – has seen before.
"We're a very welcoming community," Gonzalez said. "If you go to space from here, we'll accommodate."
Quelle: Florida Today