The project of Elon Musk to have its own city that serves as a nerve center to Spacex in the south of Texas It was completed this Sunday. After obtaining approval in a referendum, the magnate and advisor of the president of the United States, Donald Trumphe achieved the official recognition of Starbase as a city in that state.
The territory of the Starbase city, of barely 4 square kilometersis next to the Boca Bay Chicain it Cameron Countyon the border with Mexico.
Texas recognized Starbase and Elon Musk will have his own city
The petition underwent a referendum, in which the option for the positive project of the Musk project beat. Now, the tycoon can build a new municipality in Texas and will be called Starbase, with the objective will be to host all employees and people related to Spacex.
The vote made this Saturday served to formally give Starbase as a city was approved by an overwhelming margin among the small group of voters who live there and are mostly Musk employees in Spacex. With all the votes counted, The result was 212 in favor and 6 againstaccording to the results published online by the Cameron County Elections Department.
It was also voted to First Mayor of Starbase. On the ballot is only Bobby Pedencurrent Vice President of Tests and Launch of the company. The multimillionaire Musk Figure in the electoral roll.
What is Starbase, the city of Elon Musk in Texas
Starbase is the installation and launch site for the Spacex rocket program that is under contract with the Department of Defense and NASA, and who hopes to send return astronauts to the moon and someday to Mars.
Musk first proposed the idea of Starbase in 2021 and the approval of the new city was almost a fact. Of the 283 eligible voters in the area, it is believed that most are Starbase workers.
The electoral success was personal for Musk. The popularity of the billionaire has decreased since it became the public image – with everything and chainsaw in hand – of the federal cuts of employees and expenses of the government of President Donald Trump, and the profits of his Tesla Automobile Company have fallen into mince.
Spacex has received broad support from local authorities for its jobs and investments in the area. But the creation of an official city of the company has also raised concerns about the expansion of the personal control of the technological tycoon on the area, with the potential authority to order the closure of a popular beach and a state park to make launches.
The complementary efforts to the city’s vote include bills in the state legislature that will transfer the authority to order County closures to the city of Starbase.
Starbase.jpg
All these measures occur at a time when Spacex has asked the federal authorities for a permit to increase from 5 to 25 the number of launches from southern Texas per year.
The city is located at the southern far of Texas, near the border with Mexico, it has only around 3.9 square kilometers (1.5 square miles), is crossed by just some paths and has several trailers and modest houses in the middle of the century.
Critics point out that the power to order a closure must continue to be the county government, which represents a broader population that uses the beach and the park. The Cameron County Judge, Eddie Treviño, Jr., has said that the county has worked well with Spacex and there is no need to change.
Another proposed bill will turn the breach of an evacuation order of the beach into a minor class B punishable crime up to 180 days in jail.
Starbase’s goal, Elon Musk’s proposal
The proposal could represent a political and business relief for Musk, who is going through difficult moments for criticism of his performance in the Government Efficiency Department (Doge)an office created by the administration of Donald Trumpand for the recent millionaire losses of your company Tesla.
The name Starbase was suggested in 2020 by Musk itself, sharing a photograph during a visit to the facilities. In December 2024, the General Manager of SpaceX, Kathryn Luederssent a letter to the county judge, Eddie Treviñorequesting the formal incorporation of the town as a city.
In that letter, released by local media, Lueders said that Spacex already assumed basic functions in the community: “Including the administration of roads, public services and the provision of education and medical care for residents.”
He also assured that the transformation of the area into a city would not interfere with the company’s efforts by mitigate its environmental impact.
Tension for public access to Starbase
Tensions also revolve around public access to the beach Boca girlin front of the Gulf of Mexicoto which Trump renamed as “Gulf of America” Space ports.
For HinojosaSpacex now He restricted for years the entrance to the coast And he fears that, if Starbase obtains city status, the community can “completely lose access to the beach”, to which their families came for generations.
In parallel, the Comcrudo Carrizo tribeoriginally from the region, he also expressed his rejection. In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency sanctioned Spacex for spills and dumps in wetlands connected to the Rio Grande. Faced with complaints about damage to wild birds for rocket tests, Musk ironized in networks: “I will not eat egg tortillas for a week.”
If the votes accompany, Starbase could be transformed into the Civil and Space Base dreamed by the businessman, from which to boost his ambitious plans to conquer Mars.
Source: Ambito
