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SpaceX Set To Create 300 New US Jobs and Expand Facilities

Posted by timothy on from the even-leases-are-bigger-in-texas dept.

littlesparkvt writes The SpaceX manufacturing plant in McGregor, TX is set to spend $46 million on an expansion that would create 300 full-time jobs. SpaceX is proposing to invest $46.3 million in the site during the next five years. They will spend $32.4 million in real property improvements and $13.9 million in personal property improvements.

25 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. nonsense, only the gov't can create jobs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    And money.
    Besides, $34M is puny even by Texas standards. Here in N.Y. that can't even buy an election.

    1. Re:nonsense, only the gov't can create jobs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      I agree .... we need about 500,000 per month of new jobs for roughly a year to get to employment levels of 2007 or get the unemployment rate back down to 3%.

      But, these are SPACE jobs dude! I envy today's first graders because in high school on career day, they'll actually have a realistic option of a career in the space industry without NASA.

      And here is where my optimism - somewhat realistic - kicks in; maybe this is the industry that will soak up all the displaced workers from automation in other industries. Because while a "tech" business like Google can generate the revenues of big manufacturing companies with less than a tenth of the workers that they needed*, as it matures, I think the space industry is going to need a lot of skilled labor at all levels for quite a while.

      *Today's "tech" companies like Amazon and Google can generate more revenues with ~30,000 people than an old industry like auto manufacturing could do with a ~million. It's not efficiency, it's just that they don't need that many people.

    2. Re:nonsense, only the gov't can create jobs. by SpankiMonki · · Score: 4, Funny

      $34M is puny even by Texas standards. Here in N.Y. that can't even buy an election.

      I've got news for you, sonny...*New York* is puny by our standards. Yee Haw!!! [gunshots]

    3. Re:nonsense, only the gov't can create jobs. by LifesABeach · · Score: 2

      We had those same concepts in the 1960's; then some dumb ass said, "feed the poor, first." Then some other dumb asses said, "we'll start some wars." If the same amount of money spent on these projects were spent on Space, we'd be disucssing this issue; in space.

      Administrative Note: Giving a person a job results in that person being able to obtain food. As more Solar, Wind, and Fuel Cell systems go up, even with post production problems, the cost of obtaining energy is going down.

  2. It is not a manufacturing plant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    McGregor facility is a testing facility - it is used to test rocket engines and complete stages. ...unless they are adding manufacturing to the site. I doubt they will, considering that the site expansion is mostly about adding SpaceX-controlled area around the test stands so they do not need to warn & clear those areas of local people - farmers mostly - before each test. Same reason (risk of testing Kaboom always present for such test facilities) would probably mean that one wouldn't set up expensive manufacturing machinery right next to the potentially explosive test stands...

    New staff = more stages and engines to be tested as launch rate goes up, nothing more. So far SpaceX hasn't yet managed to launch even once a month but their schedule for next year is already getting close to one launch every two weeks. To keep engines and stages flowing through the testing requires more staff. Duh.

  3. So... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is this the local-chamber-of-commerce estimate for 'job creation', to be totted out when whoring for subsidies, or the actually shows up in the 'help wanted' section number?

    I have nothing against SpaceX in particular; but it is not exactly a secret that "Will create(or, sometimes, if you are a horrible human being 'grow') eleventy-zillion jobs!!!" is the earliest and most ubiquitous claim for any and all plans looking for tax breaks and zoning variances. Hell, when assorted professional sports teams are demanding that taxpayers build their stadiums because, um, reasons, they invariably manage to produce numbers alleging that a few janitorial and hot-dog seller positions will somehow be god's gift to the local economy, and totally worth the several hundred million dollars.

    1. Re:So... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      One cannot help but wonder how many will be harvested using H1B visa method.

    2. Re:So... by Teancum · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not too many. You have to be a U.S. Citizen to work for SpaceX due to ITAR restrictions, and pass a criminal background check too. It is possible to get hired if you aren't a U.S. Citizen, but that amounts to being something like a security clearance for classified work (which also must happen for much of what SpaceX does). It is a separate part of the Department of State that must issue the authorization for a non-citizen to work.

      It seems like I heard a SpaceX employee say that they didn't know of any H1-B visa holders that worked for their company... but I could be mistaken. They certainly aren't milking the visa system to get cheap workers. It is one of the restrictions when you make something that can be used with thermonuclear weapons that gets a whole lot more attention in terms of immigration and work status rules.

    3. Re:So... by tibit · · Score: 1

      Between an H-1 nonimmigrant and a citizen there's a permanent resident...

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    4. Re:So... by Teancum · · Score: 1

      There is also a step between permanent resident and somebody qualified to work on ITAR related projects. It takes special State Department investigations and approval to make that happens.... usually with a pile of money spent on lawyers to make it happen.

    5. Re:So... by tibit · · Score: 1

      Can confirm.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  4. They are also hiring a Farmer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    To make use of the land around the test site.

    I would have thought they would be better using a local farmer. Someone somewhere should have said "We make rockets, we're not farmers, sub-contract it."

  5. Re:They are also hiring a Farmer by Bob_Who · · Score: 1, Funny

    Cool. They ask for a video that shows them some skills, so I sent them some porn. I know how to make a rocket blast off.

  6. Re:TheErm did you miss ty are also hiring a Farmer by Provocateur · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did you read it as Space sex instead of Space X, that might explain the confusion, in your case

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  7. Re:They are also hiring a Farmer by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    Erm did you read the title as Space sex instead of Space X, that might explain the confusion, in your case.

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  8. Re:They are also hiring a Farmer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is actually part of the lease they signed - the land must be farmed, not allowed to "just rot unused". McGregor county required it to be farmed.

    Funnily the farmer they are seeking is required to be very flexible, effectively doing all the farming at night... because rocket testing comes first and farming work on those fields SpaceX now leases can only be done when no rocket testing is ongoing :)

  9. Tempting. Very tempting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I would be very interested in applying for something as cool as working for Space-X. I have experience in aerospace, software development, aerodynamics, cryogenics, embedded hardware development, and non-IP embedded network engineering.

    I would be. But.. Mcgregor, Texas? And are these jobs even real, or are they just ones that exist in the mind of PR-wonk? I'd have to relocate, learn a new language or two. I do not speak Texan, which might be a bit of a deal breaker. Would the benefits out weigh the costs?

    1. Re:Tempting. Very tempting. by orson_of_fort_worth · · Score: 1

      A lot of people put skins on the wall working in Los Alamos, NM.

  10. Nice to hear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    SpaceX is expanding, nice to hear. Now if they can just get an even shake at getting launch contracts I think we'll see more advancement in the next two decades then we've seen in the past four. Here's hoping that their coming reusability test flight (19th I believe) works out. If it works and they get enough launches a year out of Cape Canaveral they could probably buy an old oil rig and set it up permanently out in the Atlantic to recover first stages and ship them back to the cape for reuse.

  11. Here's what I don't understand by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 2

    I happened to watch the Barbara Walter albeit brief segment on Elon Musk last night and I was stunned that the mount of money he got not just for selling PayPal but for selling his first company to Compaq. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Not only have I never heard of that first company but Compaq doesn't exist anymore and who knows if HP is doing anything with what they acquired when the bought Compaq. I have the same questions about friggin' Instagram, Whatsapp, et al. Who decides what these companies are valued at and on what basis? It's clearly not based on company profits because many of them have no profits. In a lot of cases, the product or service that the company has isn't unique, is pointless fluff, or will be obsolete in short order. Or is it all about having representation, an agent or lawyer or whatever, that is able to convince others that their client is worth a lot like Hollywood agents do?

    1. Re:Here's what I don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Whenever someone with a whole lot of money spends a big chunk on a company, and it looks nonsensical to you, this is an indicator of class divide. They know something that you don't. Very large sums of money don't come about unless someone is good at identifying things that make money. Occasionally, you see a massive whiff from a company into a new space where they had no business trying to make a product (think the HP touchpad or blackberry playbook) but these are pretty desperate engineering efforts from failing/dysfunctional companies.

      You've shown a western bias by naming whatsapp.. a company with a huge potential in the other 2/3'rds of the world's population. Paypal, in particular, has a thriving ecosystem that has turned out to be a wildly successful investment. Who will create the paypal "killer" anytime soon? It's doubtful to appear. The market for payments still has a lot of room for more players.

      This isn't a reputation thing with these upstarts. The reputation thing only comes into play with the blackberry playbook, where they used their company name to get the bank loans needed to lay a turd into the market. As for instagram, facebook needed to buy it so it wasn't a threat. For the deal they got some great proprietary technology and an even larger user base, and continued relevance. Makes sense to me.

    2. Re:Here's what I don't understand by Teancum · · Score: 1

      Who decides what these companies are valued at and on what basis?

      It isn't magic. These larger companies like you mention who make these acquisitions make the decision to purchase the smaller companies because they think they can get even more money than the amount they are paying. It really is that simple.

      It certainly isn't some kind of grand conspiracy where a couple people in a smoke-filled room decide at random that somebody is going to become a billionaire or a millionaire like some sort of weird lottery system. These large companies also became large because they knew how to make a profit and how to continue making money even when seemingly every effort by the government tries to make sure they can't make a profit.

      As for the Hollywood agents for actors, I think you have some things messed up there too. There may be a few actors who are hyped up way beyond recognition and don't deserve the salaries they receive, but for the most part actors get paid pretty normal salaries even when they have agents... and often are hurting for work because there are far more actors than jobs to be had in the movie industry. At best a good agent will be somebody who gets your face in front of casting directors and makes sure you are made aware of potential auditions as they become available.

  12. Re:They are also hiring a Farmer by Teancum · · Score: 4, Informative

    SpaceX even tried to hire the previous lease holders to farm that land. The problem was that the additional terms of the contract (like you said.... farming at night and working around test schedules) were something those farmers didn't agree to doing. They also needed to go through a criminal background check and verify that they haven't been involved with international arms trades due to requirements of the ITAR laws and the Department of Defense contracts that SpaceX is signing.

    All told, bringing the position in-house sounds like a better way to get the job done.

  13. Re:300 Jobs for 320 Million by Teancum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't get your complaint. Are you really expecting Elon Musk to personally hire every American into one of his companies?

    Also, there aren't more astronauts in the NASA astronaut corps currently. A total in the entire history from the original Mercury 7 astronauts to right now is 339 candidates have "received their wings" to be certified as astronauts, and not all of them have even been into space. The current number is 43, and likely to go down in the near future.

    On the other hand, this is 300 new jobs for the people of central Texas, and I think they don't mind high paying industrial jobs that bring in money from outside of the immediate area, unlike new jobs that come from Wal-Mart of a Subway restaurant opening up. This is on top of other substantial moves that the companies of Elon Musk have been doing to hire literally thousands of new workers in the past couple of years.

    If only more entrepreneurs had this kind of vision to do something really unique and original.

  14. Re:They are also hiring a Farmer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I would think that space sex would be incredibly difficult and/or frustrating...

    When banging my girlfriend, I like to pound her hard and fast and deep, but this takes considerable traction and a bed that doesn't move much... Now imagine you JUST.DON'T.HAVE.ANYTHING.TO.PUSH.OFF.AGAINST ... This kind of sex wouldn't be as fun... Sure you could both be upside down or whatever but the sheer fun of going balls deep would require a lot of extra upper body strength and effort that I don't want to exert...

    It's worth a shot, but I'll take my full gravity sex anyday...