Elon Musk might like to talk about building a city of the future on Mars, but he’s building a city of the past down in Texas. On Thursday, Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX filed paperwork to turn Starbase , its launch site located in Southern Texas, into a company town. SpaceX and its employees, currently stationed down around Brownsville, Texas submitted a petition to Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño seeking approval for Starbase to be incorporated as a new city.
In typical Muskian fashion, the CEO tweeted that “SpaceX HQ will now officially be in the city of Starbase, Texas,” which is not how petitions work, you don’t just immediately get the thing you asked for. But this effort has been in the cards before SpaceX even broke ground down near the Southern border. Musk first pitched the idea of the city of Starbase in 2021.
Since then, more than 3,400 SpaceX employees and contractors have set up shop around the base, according to a June report from Judge Treviño’s office . And the company has steadily been creating the conveniences of a town to keep the occupants around. Earlier this year, SpaceX announced plans to open a $15 million shopping center and restaurant.
In the petition, Starbase General Manager Kathryn Lueders argued that incorporating would make it easier for SpaceX to perform “civic functions” including “management of the roads, utilities, and the provision of schooling and medical care for the residents.” Of course, if you ask the peopl.
