Space X chooses Texas for Spaceport

[TowerSpotter]

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/business-headlines/20140804-billionaire-musk-chooses-south-texas-site-for-spacex-launchpad.ece

 

 

SpaceX has chosen a South Texas site to build its planned commercial rocket launch facility,Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office said Monday.

Texas is offering $2.3 million in incentives to SpaceX from the Enterprise fund, the governor's office said. The state is offering $13 million from the Spaceport Trust Fund to the Cameron County Spaceport Development Corp. The Spaceport Trust Fund is used to support the development of infrastructure necessary for establishing a spaceport.

Founded by billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX plans to build the world's first private, commercial vertical rocket launch site. The proposed South Texas site — which is at Boca Chica, a remote beach surrounded by wildlife areas about 20 miles east of Brownsville — had been competing with sites in Florida and Georgia for the launch facility.

SpaceX getting the state incentives money is contingent on approval of local incentives deal, the governor's office said. The facility is expected to create 300 jobs and bring $85 million in capital investment into the local economy.

"SpaceX is excited to expand our work in Texas with the world's first commercial launch complex designed specifically for orbital missions. We appreciate the support of Gov. Perry and numerous other federal, state and local officials who have partnered with us to make this vision a reality," Musk said in a written statement. "In addition to creating hundreds of high tech jobs for the Texas workforce, this site will inspire students, expand the supplier base and attract tourists to the south Texas area."

On July 7, SpaceX cleared a Federal Aviation Administration environmental review for the Texas site, which some experts had said was the final key hurdle for the Texas site.

SpaceX will continue its NASA-funded launches at Cape Canaveral in Florida, but Musk envisions a commercial spaceport focused on business from companies and foreign governments as well as space tourism.

SpaceX is expected to continue building its Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 Heavy rockets at its Hawthorne, Calif., plant, but Texas officials hope the next generation of larger rockets will have to be built closer to the launch site because they will be too big to transport long distances over highways.

In 2013, the Texas Legislature changed the law to make it easier for SpaceX to operate in Texas.

Under the new state law, SpaceX could launch rockets up to 12 times a year, mostly between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., but not on weekends or holidays unless the company can show local and state authorities that scrubbing a launch would cause significant business consequences. At least one nighttime launch would be allowed per year.

“Texas has been on the forefront of our nation’s space exploration efforts for decades, so it is fitting that SpaceX has chosen our state as they expand the frontiers of commercial space flight,” Perry said in the statement.

In the region near the proposed launch site, at Boca Chica Beach in the state’s southernmost tip, two of five residents live in poverty. Leaders of the border town are seeking to make it as well known for space travel as Houston, home of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

 

[august948]

I wonder why a location right on the Mexican border was chosen.

 

 

SpaceX is expected to continue building its Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 Heavy rockets at its Hawthorne, Calif., plant, but Texas officials hope the next generation of larger rockets will have to be built closer to the launch site because they will be too big to transport long distances over highways.

 

Might they really intend to build the rockets across the border in Mexico?

[mollusk]

I wonder why a location right on the Mexican border was chosen.

 

 

Might they really intend to build the rockets across the border in Mexico?

 

This is just a wild guess, but I suspect it's got something to do with a combination of decent accessibility by road and rail and the biggest available amount of open ocean within an easterly centered cone, with a soupçon of not a whole lot of locals to get upset.

[jgriff]

The launch site needs to be as close to the equator as possible to use the rotation of the earth for a boost. 

[Luminare]

My theory is that even though this is going to be a "spaceport" its going to be more of a Space X command center/ spaceport for their uses only. More for experiments and large launches. Its so far away from major population centers that I don't think it's the kind of spaceport we are thinking of. The one we are thinking of is the one which is being planned for Houston. However if you are doing a lot of large equipment launches or R&D launches you do what NASA does and have it as far away from population centers as you can in environments which aren't going to be environmentally damaging if something cocks up. There you have large expanses of flat desert or flat farmland and you have the large expanse of the Gulf of Mexico without it being near a major port. It's also probably going to be on major railroad lines that run from Mexico to Texas and other areas of the Southwest.

 

As far as I know the spaceport for Houston is still a go, but is more commercial in nature while this one is more for Industrial purposes (yes even though I know it says its going to be a commerical port, but I think maybe yall get the idea). Either way this makes Texas as a whole space central and with NASA in Houston I'm sure that's where more industries related to Aeronautics will move their headquarters and possibly laboratories. 

[august948]

My theory is that even though this is going to be a "spaceport" its going to be more of a Space X command center/ spaceport for their uses only. More for experiments and large launches. Its so far away from major population centers that I don't think it's the kind of spaceport we are thinking of. The one we are thinking of is the one which is being planned for Houston. However if you are doing a lot of large equipment launches or R&D launches you do what NASA does and have it as far away from population centers as you can in environments which aren't going to be environmentally damaging if something cocks up. There you have large expanses of flat desert or flat farmland and you have the large expanse of the Gulf of Mexico without it being near a major port. It's also probably going to be on major railroad lines that run from Mexico to Texas and other areas of the Southwest.

 

As far as I know the spaceport for Houston is still a go, but is more commercial in nature while this one is more for Industrial purposes (yes even though I know it says its going to be a commerical port, but I think maybe yall get the idea). Either way this makes Texas as a whole space central and with NASA in Houston I'm sure that's where more industries related to Aeronautics will move their headquarters and possibly laboratories. 

 

I hope you're right about Texas becoming space central in the future.  I'd love to see history show that the shuttle NYC got was just a consolation prize.

 

Thing is, though, sometimes launches go wrong and this location gives the strong possibility that it can go wrong and land in Mexico or in Mexican territorial waters.  Wouldn't that add extra aggravation if something goes awry?

 

[Subdude]

My guess is that this has to do with whatever incentives are on the table.  I understand that Brownsville might be closer to the equator or have more vacant land or whatnot, but one would think that the benefit of Houston's large base of local engineering and scientific talent would make a difference.

 

 

[jgriff]

I've always wondered why we didn't do launches from this location. It's just about as far South as you can get in the U.S. and the further South you go the less energy you need to get to orbit.