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SpaceX Chooses Texas Site For Private Spaceport

Posted by Unknown on from the to-the-moon dept.

AcidPenguin9873 (911493) writes Today, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that SpaceX has chosen a site at Boca Chica Beach, Texas, as the location where SpaceX will build its rocket launch facility. The Boca Chica site, at the southern tip of Texas near Brownsville and South Padre Island, had been competing with sites in Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico, but had been named the frontrunner to land the site by Musk when he testified to the Texas state legislature in 2013. The spaceport will be the first privately-owned vertical rocket launch facility in the world, and will target commercial customers. State and local governments have pledged to provide a total of about $20 million in incentives to attract SpaceX to the site.

6 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Port facilities + cheap land by tomhath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And about as close to the Equator as he could get in the Continental US.

  2. And minimum regulations ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... as well.

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    1. Re:And minimum regulations ... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      $20M isn't all that much when you're talking about the costs of building a space center. The savings from not having to jump through neverending bureaucratic hoops probably far exceeds $20M.

      And not just monetary savings, but the cost of delays, probably more significantly.

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  3. How much cheaper would a a puerto rico launch be by Eravnrekaree · · Score: 3, Insightful

    For a while i suspected he would choose Puerto Rico for the extra benefit of being a little closer to the equator. How much of a difference in the cost of launching exist between these two locations?

  4. Re:Why the "incentives"? by Calinous · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Over the long term, they hope that the company will pay more than 20 millions back in taxes. And they'll also add local jobs (probably by the hundreds), attract (or supply) highly paid workers, maybe improve tourism in the area and so on.
          They hope that, long term, it will be better for them than if Tesla built the spaceport in a different state.

  5. Re:Port facilities + cheap land by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Which, presumably, is why OP mentioned CONTINENTAL United States.

    Note also that "most southernmost" is redundant. You don't want to be referred to the Department of Redundancy Department, do you?

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