(Ed.'s Note: Before we start getting measured for spacesuits for the trip to the planet Mars from Boca Chica, let's be clear-eyed on this latest pronunciamiento from eccentric billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk. Musk told Brownsville and Texas officials that he needed them to close Boca Chica Beach periodically to launch satellites into suborbit starting in 2013. He also said there would be about 12 launches a year.
So far, six years later, not one rocket - not even a bottle rocket at New Year's - has been launched from the "only commercial vertical takeoff launch pad' in the United States. The latest manifestation of musk's Laika -and-pony show is a Buck Rogers retro-rocket sculpture SpaceX says it want to test for manned space flight to Mars.
Where are the 600 jobs starting at $75,000 a year promised by Elon's rocket boosters? The only semi-firm commitment is a potential "launch and landing" test sometime in a month or more. Manned space flight to Mars from Boca Chica are nothing more than a pipe dream. There isn't even any running water out there. Given the euphoria at this latest pronouncement, it seems like Musk isn't the only one smoking wacky tobbacky.)
By Samantha Masunaga
Los Angeles Times
JAN 16, 2019 | 2:30 PM
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A motorcyclist rides near the SpaceX prototype Starship hopper vehicle at Boca Chica Beach, Texas, on Jan. 12. (Miguel Roberts / Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES - In a reversal of a deal local officials had touted as a win for Los Angeles tech, SpaceX will no longer be developing and building its Mars spaceship and rocket booster system at the Port of Los Angeles. Instead, the work will be done in south Texas.
SpaceX said in a statement Wednesday that the decision was made to “streamline operations.”
SpaceX has completed assembly of a prototype of the Starship hopper vehicle at its Boca Chica facility in south Texas, where it also plans to conduct tests in which the prototype will launch and go up in the air briefly before returning to Earth.
Company Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the first of these tests could occur as soon as next month, though he hedged that “due to unforeseen issues” it could also happen two months from now.
A SpaceX spokesperson released a statement saying the Starship decision “does not impact our current manufacture, design, and launch operations in Hawthorne and Vandenberg Air Force Base” and that the company will “continue recovery operations of our reusable Falcon rockets and Dragon spacecraft at the Port of Los Angeles.”
Before the deal for Starship and Super Heavy booster development, SpaceX leased about eight acres at the Port of L.A. that it used for recovery of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters and Dragon capsules, which arrive at shore via droneships.
The new deal, approved last year, would have given SpaceX use of a 19-acre site on Terminal Island. A now-former SpaceX official told the L.A. Board of Harbor Commissioners last year that production and fabrication of the Mars rocket could begin in two to three years.
(So far there is no word about jobs coming to Boca Chica or whether any jobs will be created here.)
The move comes just days after SpaceX, saying it needed to get “leaner,” announced that it would lay off about 10% of the company’s more than 6,000 employees. About 577 employees in Hawthorne are affected, according to a state WARN Act notice dated Friday.
Though Port of L.A. officials are “disappointed that SpaceX will not be expanding their operations at the Port of Los Angeles, we are pleased that they will continue their recovery operations here,” spokesman Phillip Sanfield said in a statement.
Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino was told of the decision by company officials in a conference call late last week, said Branimir Kvartuc, a spokesman for the councilman.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, Buscaino said: “While I feel crushed about SpaceX pulling the Super Heavy out of the Port of L.A., I feel confident that other innovators will see the huge value they get in San Pedro.”
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said last year that SpaceX told the city of L.A. it preferred to build its Mars rocket and spaceship system close to its facility in Hawthorne. A port official told commissioners last year that SpaceX had also been looking at potential sites in Louisiana and Texas.
Other commercial space firms have operations in Texas. Blue Origin tests engines and its New Shepard rocket and capsule system at its west Texas facility, and SpaceX already has a rocket development facility in McGregor, about 18 miles west of Waco.
So far, six years later, not one rocket - not even a bottle rocket at New Year's - has been launched from the "only commercial vertical takeoff launch pad' in the United States. The latest manifestation of musk's Laika -and-pony show is a Buck Rogers retro-rocket sculpture SpaceX says it want to test for manned space flight to Mars.
Where are the 600 jobs starting at $75,000 a year promised by Elon's rocket boosters? The only semi-firm commitment is a potential "launch and landing" test sometime in a month or more. Manned space flight to Mars from Boca Chica are nothing more than a pipe dream. There isn't even any running water out there. Given the euphoria at this latest pronouncement, it seems like Musk isn't the only one smoking wacky tobbacky.)
By Samantha Masunaga
Los Angeles Times
JAN 16, 2019 | 2:30 PM
A motorcyclist rides near the SpaceX prototype Starship hopper vehicle at Boca Chica Beach, Texas, on Jan. 12. (Miguel Roberts / Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES - In a reversal of a deal local officials had touted as a win for Los Angeles tech, SpaceX will no longer be developing and building its Mars spaceship and rocket booster system at the Port of Los Angeles. Instead, the work will be done in south Texas.
SpaceX said in a statement Wednesday that the decision was made to “streamline operations.”
SpaceX has completed assembly of a prototype of the Starship hopper vehicle at its Boca Chica facility in south Texas, where it also plans to conduct tests in which the prototype will launch and go up in the air briefly before returning to Earth.
Company Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the first of these tests could occur as soon as next month, though he hedged that “due to unforeseen issues” it could also happen two months from now.
A SpaceX spokesperson released a statement saying the Starship decision “does not impact our current manufacture, design, and launch operations in Hawthorne and Vandenberg Air Force Base” and that the company will “continue recovery operations of our reusable Falcon rockets and Dragon spacecraft at the Port of Los Angeles.”
Before the deal for Starship and Super Heavy booster development, SpaceX leased about eight acres at the Port of L.A. that it used for recovery of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters and Dragon capsules, which arrive at shore via droneships.
The new deal, approved last year, would have given SpaceX use of a 19-acre site on Terminal Island. A now-former SpaceX official told the L.A. Board of Harbor Commissioners last year that production and fabrication of the Mars rocket could begin in two to three years.
(So far there is no word about jobs coming to Boca Chica or whether any jobs will be created here.)
The move comes just days after SpaceX, saying it needed to get “leaner,” announced that it would lay off about 10% of the company’s more than 6,000 employees. About 577 employees in Hawthorne are affected, according to a state WARN Act notice dated Friday.
Though Port of L.A. officials are “disappointed that SpaceX will not be expanding their operations at the Port of Los Angeles, we are pleased that they will continue their recovery operations here,” spokesman Phillip Sanfield said in a statement.
Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino was told of the decision by company officials in a conference call late last week, said Branimir Kvartuc, a spokesman for the councilman.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, Buscaino said: “While I feel crushed about SpaceX pulling the Super Heavy out of the Port of L.A., I feel confident that other innovators will see the huge value they get in San Pedro.”
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said last year that SpaceX told the city of L.A. it preferred to build its Mars rocket and spaceship system close to its facility in Hawthorne. A port official told commissioners last year that SpaceX had also been looking at potential sites in Louisiana and Texas.
Other commercial space firms have operations in Texas. Blue Origin tests engines and its New Shepard rocket and capsule system at its west Texas facility, and SpaceX already has a rocket development facility in McGregor, about 18 miles west of Waco.