Is a world like Cyberpunk 2077 possible? Well, it just might be. In this video, you will find out
about Elon Musk’s dream city, Starbase, and his likely fallout with Texas municipal authorities.
On Tuesday the second of March,
the SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk revealed his intentions of building a city in Texas.
This was shown in a tweet, and what better name to give a futuristic city than Starbase?
Now, Elon hasn’t made any press statement on his intentions regarding the matter, but his one-liner
tweets appear to mean serious business. The tweet read: Creating the city of Starbase, Texas.
We know Elon intends to create a settlement on Mars using the Starship currently being built
at the Boca Chica SpaceX facility to launch us into Mars, and Starbase might play a key role.
So far, SpaceX has a facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The SpaceX South Texas launch site,
also known as the Boca Chica launch site, is a private production facility,
test site, and spaceport constructed by SpaceX. Its stated purpose was to provide SpaceX an
exclusive launch site that would allow the company to accommodate its launch manifest
and meet tight launch windows. Initially, the site was intended to support launches of the Falcon 9
and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles as well as a variety of reusable suborbital launch vehicles’
however in 2019, SpaceX announced a change of plans, stating that the launch
site would be used ‘exclusively’ for SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle, the ‘Starship’.
Musk’s subsequent tweets would confirm his intentions: From hence to Mars and thence
the stars. A later tweet revealed a photo of his girlfriend, Grimes, and his son,
X AE A-XII (pronounced X Ash A Twelve) out in the open somewhere at Boca Chica.
Although the specifics of his plans are rather unclear, the billionaire moved
from his home residence in California to Boca Chica, Texas, late last year.
Boca Chica is a small town along the gulf coast of Texas.
We know the area to be an unincorporated town on the state’s southern tip, near Brownsville.
There, SpaceX has been carrying out tests on prototypes of starship rockets since 2014.
In a subsequent tweet, however, tech billionaire Elon mentions that the
city would be built on an ‘area much larger than the plant at Boca Chica’.
Elon Musk is definitely a strategist. To have chosen Boca Chica as his city’s location,
then there must be something strategic about the small village. Given the fact that Boca Chica
lacks some basic amenities such as a potable water system, it would be surprising to some
that Elon Musk would decide to choose that same village as his proposed Starbase site.
Apart from the fact that his Starship rocket building and test-launching site is,
Musk chose Boca Chica because the area surrounding the village has methane-rich oil wells.
One of SpaceX’s Limited Liabilities Companies – Lone Star Mineral Development,
got an oil and gas lease for two of such previously inactive oil wells. While Lone Star
(SpaceX’s subsidiary) bought the lease for the oil wells from Sanchez Oil and Gas Corporation,
another oil and gas company – Dallas Petroleum Group claims ownership of
the wells and took Elon Musk’s Lone Star Mineral Development to court. While we leave the case to
lawyers and judges to settle, let’s examine the intended purpose of Elon Musk’s Starbase city.
Although not much has been heard from the billionaire about when the development would
commence and what Starbase City would cover, there have been speculations regarding why Elon wants to
have this sweet spot at Boca Chica renamed. Questions are popping everywhere with curious
media buzz: Is he building a colony? Would it be a futuristic city with high tech like
the cyberpunk 2077 game? Some might even believe the whole idea to be a rip-off from Star Wars.
Or could Elon be the real Darth Vader?
Our best guess is that Elon’s Starbase would be a megacity for the expansion of SpaceX operations.
It will probably be private property for SpaceX workers to do whatever it is
space engineers do. It might also include some sort of never-before-seen amusement
park featuring insane technology that should make life awesome for residents of the area.
Now about the Starship currently undergoing construction back at SpaceX facility, Boca Chica.
The Starship will be a fully reusable transport system capable of carrying up to one-hundred
people to Mars. On Wednesday, March 3rd, SN10 successfully completed SpaceX’s third
high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from their site in Cameron County, Texas.
So, Elon’s plans appear to be a pretty big deal. This is no mere fuss. It looks like
he does want to build a city that would launch humanity into Mars and thence…the stars. For
that to become a reality, though, there are a few things SpaceX would have to do.
There are procedures to be succumbed to if anyone would like to build a city or have one renamed.
To create a new city, SpaceX would have to get the local residents to sign a petition.
This petition would be submitted to the county judge, who would then order an election on whether
the municipality should be incorporated. If the election is successful, the city would
have the power to create its own laws and other ordinances. That would mean Starbase is a ‘go’.
Something not a lot of folks know is that when SpaceX first got to Boca Chica in 2014,
there were only six permanent residents due to the fact that many left the
community after it was seriously devastated by a hurricane in 1967.
However, as of June of last year, there were 600 SpaceX workers there. And, as of March this year,
SpaceX had about 1,800 resident workers in the area. What happened to the six permanent
residents? Well, SpaceX paid them off, making it possible for Elon to startup Starbase city.
Word on the net is that SpaceX representatives have reached out to the judge’s office in Cameron
County, somewhere around Boca Chica. There, Elon’s plans were made known, but here’s where things
get a little funny. According to Judge Eddie Trevino jr. of Cameron County, Elon’s tweet
came a few days after his office was contacted by SpaceX representatives. From the tone of things,
it looked like they were just asking casually. A statement from Trevino says: “If SpaceX and Elon
Musk would like to pursue down this path, they must abide by all state incorporation statutes.
Cameron County will process any inappropriate petitions in conformity with applicable law”.
We guess this is judge Trevino’s way of asking Elon not to get over himself.
Well, we’ll see how that turns out Judge Trev.
The idea of a futuristic city is pretty lit. From the Starship currently undergoing development
at the SpaceX, Texas, to the proposed Starbase city and a likely battle between Mr. Musk
and state authorities, it’s hard to say the billionaire hasn’t had his hands on a pretty
hot plate. But again, this is Elon we’re talking about here so; we’ll just have to wait it out.
To folks out there, what do you think Elon plans on doing with Starbase?
And for Star Wars fans, what are your thoughts about having a giant Starship being built?
That’s it on today’s video. Be sure to drop your thoughts in the comments.
Till the next video, thanks for watching.