Category Archives: Boca Chica Texas

This is the new Master Update Thread. Please note, updates only in this thread.

Discussion Thread 22

SpaceX BFS : Phase 2 - Starship Orbital Prototype(s) - Photos and Updates -3 (Previous)

SpaceX Boca Chica - Production Updates - MASTER Thread (4) (New/Current) - You're in it!

---

Follow NSF Twitter:https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight

---

NSF Youtube Channel with hundreds of original Starship videos:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSUu1lih2RifWkKtDOJdsBA

Members of Red Team or higher get early clips pre-edit and more. Capcom and higher get access to our team Discord.

Subscribe and hit notifications for instant alerts of new videos as that'll be the first you'll see for a new video going live.

---

L2 Boca Chica (intense level updates - Master Thread from Day 1 to today)Now with advanced clips from Mary's videos and unique content.

Numerous vehicle specific L2 threads for Starship vehicles.

Store, with Boca Chica merch:

https://shop.nasaspaceflight.com/

--

Remember, updates only. Images to be credits and not cropped, etc. By the same token, do not reproduce content in this thread on other sites without credit and a link and no cropping etc. If you see people hotlinking images here on social media sites and Reddit etc, ask them not to. We're not an image server for other sites. They are one click away with a link to the post.

See the original post:

SpaceX Boca Chica - Production Updates - MASTER Thread (4)

With closures of State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach becoming more frequent due to activity at SpaceXs Starbas production complex and launch site, Cameron County officials are mulling ways to restore access to at least part of the beach even during closures.

One possible solution would entail digging a tunnel from the south end of South Padre Island to a point on the north end of Boca Chica Beach, an idea proposed by the Boring Co., owned by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

The Boring Co. has dug one tunnel, in Las Vegas, and the companys representatives responsible for that project met with county administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr. and county engineer Benjamin Worsham about a month and a half ago.

So far, the idea hasnt gone further than a presentation by the Boring Co., Sepulveda said.

From what we understand from SpaceX is there is a good portion of the beach that can remain open if there was access to it, even though the road is closed and even though a portion of the beach is closed, Sepulveda said.

A tunnel would provide access to Starbase for SpaceX personnel who live on the island or in the Laguna Madre area, and allow the public to access the portion of Boca Chica north of State Highway 4, though the Boring Co. would have to find a way to pay for it, he said.

The 1.7-mile tunnel known as the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop cost $52 million to build. The distance between the southern tip of Isla Blanca Park and the northern tip of Boca Chica Beach is about a third of a mile.

[Paying for it] is not something that the county would be interested in, Sepulveda said. That would be prohibitive for us. We really didnt get into those details, but once we do we wouldnt be able to participate with any type of funding.

The proposal is just a concept for now; an in-depth study would be needed to determine whether a tunnel is even feasible or not, he said.

Keep in mind that the ship channel goes by there, so that depth would have to be pretty far down, Sepulveda said.

Boring Co. presenters seemed quite confident they could tackle the project, he added.

They did to me, Sepulveda said. Thats way above my understanding, but with technology today you can get pretty creative.

The next step would be to sit down with the Boring Co. for more specific discussions, he said, noting that the county is also exploring the possibility of a ferry service between the Island and Boca Chica Beach. Building a new road to Boca Chica is another potential solution, though Sepulveda said it would be tough to accomplish.

Understand the sensitivity of the environment in that area, he said. Perhaps doing a tunnel is one way to impact the environment a lot less than doing a surface-level road or bridge. Again, the whole gist of it is what are our options to provide access to the north end of Boca Chica Beach.

With activity at the SpaceX site continuing to pick up in preparation for the first orbital flight of a Starship prototype and closures becoming more frequent, theres plenty of impetus for the county to find some way to restore access to at least part of the beach.

I think were willing to work with SpaceX just to look at what options, solutions, are out there, Sepulveda said. Im not sure what amount, if any, we can bring to the table financially.

Steve Clark,

The Brownsville Herald

(Tribune News Service)

See the article here:

A tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach? Elon ...

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) The Federal Aviation Administration says it is tracking SpaceX and environmental concerns regarding the companys desire to launch its massive Starship Spacecraft from its launch facility on the southern tip of Texas.

SpaceX cannot launch the Starship/Super Heavy vehicle until the FAA completes its licensing process, which includes the ongoing environmental review and other safety and financial responsibility requirements, an FAA official wrote in an email Tuesday to Border Report.

As part of this process, analyses are being conducted that determine collective risk, individual risk and hazard areas on the ground, sea and in the air. SpaceX would not receive a license if it cannot meet FAA safety regulations, the FAA wrote.

The statements came in response to an article by Border Report on Thursday in which local environmentalists sent the federal agency a letter demanding data and information on the risks to border communities and wildlife from ongoing rocket testing and launches at SpaceXs facility near Boca Chica Beach, Texas.

The nonprofit organization Save RGV on Aug. 30 wrote the agency saying the massive Starship Spacecraft poses an unacceptable risk of harm to the nearby communities as well as wildlife, parks and surrounding fragile tidal wetlands that are home to many endangered species, such as sea turtles. And they want more oversight since this spacecraft is far bigger and more powerful from what SpaceX initially had proposed and gotten approval from the FAA to test and launch when it first built the launch facility in 2014.

SpaceX wants to launch the the Starship to Mars, and on the companys website says Starship will be the worlds most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.

Jim Chapman, a board member with Save RGV and president of Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, reacted with optimism upon hearing that the FAA had issued a response to Border Report. But he said they, as a group, still have received no formal reaction from the federal agency to their Aug. 30 letter.

Its nice to see that in writing, Chapman said. At least now they put that on paper to essentially to the public that they are taking responsibility and laying out the requirements so I would term that as a positive response.

Chapman still wants to know, however, when the FAA will release information from the safety studies to the public.

The FAA in January briefly grounded SpaceX from launching in South Texas after the private company launched its SN8 rocket prototype in December without the FAAs permission. However, the company in February was allowed to begin tests launches again after the FAA determined it had met safety and related federal regulations in accordance with its launch license, the FAA said in an email to Border Report.

Chapmans group says given several fiery test launch explosions at the Boca Chica Beach site, the FAA should be tougher on SpaceX in order to safeguard border communities and border wildlife.

He also criticized the recent construction by SpaceX of a 480-foot launch tower, and he says until the company gets permission to launch the Starship, the launch tower that was built in June should be ordered taken down.

The FAA in July warned SpaceX that its environmental review of the new rocket assembly integration tower was incomplete and the federal agency could order it to be removed.

The FAA chided them for doing that without FAA approval and even mentioned its possible that they would make them take it down but no one believes they will make them take it down. Its basically there to launch Starship Super Heavy, Chapman said.

An FAA spokesman told Reuters the company is building the tower at its own risk.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has criticized the FAA via social media and in May the company told the FAA they did not believe an environmental review was necessary because the tower is to be used for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or permitted launches, Reuters reports.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at Ssanchez@borderreport.com.

View original post here:

FAA says it's keeping tabs on SpaceX over environmental concerns in South Texas - Border Report

Yang Tang, the author of this piece, left Silicon Valley for Texas. Yang Tang

Texas is poised to outpace California in industrial innovation.

There is a reason venture capitalists are pouring millions of dollars into tech innovation in Texas.

Texas is home to incredible diversity, a spirit of ingenuity, and major industries that need innovation.

Yang Tang is the chief technology officer at Houston-based GoExpedi.

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.

See more stories on Insiders business page.

Heres something you already know: California-based businesses Tesla, Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and many others have made Texas the state of choice when it comes to relocating headquarters and opening satellite offices for several years now.

The reasons? Its cheaper to operate a business; there is no state income tax; there is an abundance of land, pro-business policies, lower cost of living, significant talent pool for hiring; and the list goes on and on.

But lets discuss something that may boggle some minds at least for those who are out-of-state looking in. Why are tech executives leaving Silicon Valley? Its easy to understand why an oil and gas company would relocate to Texas Houston is the energy capital of the world or even healthcare startups the city is home to some of the worlds premier medical centers, but why would technology companies leave the reigning epicenter of the tech universe for the Lone Star state?

The primary reason, in my opinion, is because of the opportunities to apply new technologies in our countrys largest industrial sectors. I am Texass latest Silicon Valley transplant and am witnessing this firsthand.

Like many other tech executives, I think Texas is positioned to outpace California due to its proximity to the worlds top companies in energy, healthcare, and aerospace, to name a few, and its willingness to innovate with technology in those industries.

Thats why Im here, leading the technology operations for an emerging e-commerce company for industrial businesses like oil and gas, manufacturing, and others. Before I dive into the immense opportunities for enterprises driven by the state, Id like to quickly share my journey so you can better understand why theres no place like Texas.

Story continues

My father grew up in communist China in tenement housing. Living with his family of 12 in a single room, he was the only child to attend college. He knew it would be nearly impossible to be successful through hard work alone given various cultural shifts by the country following his graduation. Therefore, he moved to the US a few years later and built a career in astrophysics and data mining. He eventually landed a rewarding financial services career in Boston where Im from.

I graduated from universities on the East and West coast most recently the MIT Executive MBA program and worked most of my career for companies with footprints in Silicon Valley, from Accenture to eBay to Walmart to ABInBev. During my time in that area, I personally witnessed what works and what can be improved upon in an increasingly digital world.

Dont get me wrong. Silicon Valley has and will continue to pave the way for some of the worlds most forward-thinking companies, supported by its specialized tech workforce, concentration of capital, and world-class educational institutions. However, in todays world, I believe the innovation stemming from this region is incremental compared to what Ive observed in Houston.

Out of all the major and booming markets of Texas that house various large industries I chose Houston as my new hometown for its diversity of people and thought. The citys major port, healthcare systems, and energy sector have had a significant effect on the local, state, and national economies and have set Houston apart from the rest of Texas. Additionally, as the most diverse city in the country, Houston presents endless opportunities and is a melting pot for new ideas and the spirit of ingenuity the same spirit and community that created Viet-Cajun Crawfish.

Thats what makes Houston a prime location for the next wave of innovation. Industrial companies in the region are securing millions of venture capital dollars annually $2.6 billion in total over the last five years and are allowing engineers, like myself, to do what they do best: use their tech, resources, skills, and knowledge to solve unique and complex issues out in the field. Thats where the true power of technology takes shape and allows us to grow economies, attract more jobs and talent, improve lifestyle and beyond.

Prime examples are the revitalization of the aerospace industry from Elon Musks SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas, and Houston-based biopharma company Nanospectra, which is spearheading a patient-centric use of nanomedicine for the removal of cancerous tissue.

The same yearning for opportunity and innovation my father experienced can now be found in Houston not just on the East and West coasts. If folks looking in still dont see Houston and Texas as the next technology mecca, they soon will.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Read the original here:

I'm a tech executive who moved from Silicon Valley to Houston. I know firsthand why the tech industry is packing up and hightailing it to Texas. -...

Here's something you already know: California-based businesses Tesla, Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and many others have made Texas the state of choice when it comes to relocating headquarters and opening satellite offices for several years now.

The reasons? It's cheaper to operate a business; there is no state income tax; there is an abundance of land, pro-business policies, lower cost of living, significant talent pool for hiring; and the list goes on and on.

But let's discuss something that may boggle some minds at least for those who are out-of-state looking in. Why are tech executives leaving Silicon Valley? It's easy to understand why an oil and gas company would relocate to Texas Houston is the energy capital of the world or even healthcare startups the city is home to some of the world's premier medical centers, but why would technology companies leave the reigning epicenter of the tech universe for the Lone Star state?

The primary reason, in my opinion, is because of the opportunities to apply new technologies in our country's largest industrial sectors. I am Texas's latest Silicon Valley transplant and am witnessing this firsthand.

Like many other tech executives, I think Texas is positioned to outpace California due to its proximity to the world's top companies in energy, healthcare, and aerospace, to name a few, and its willingness to innovate with technology in those industries.

That's why I'm here, leading the technology operations for an emerging e-commerce company for industrial businesses like oil and gas, manufacturing, and others. Before I dive into the immense opportunities for enterprises driven by the state, I'd like to quickly share my journey so you can better understand why there's no place like Texas.

My father grew up in communist China in tenement housing. Living with his family of 12 in a single room, he was the only child to attend college. He knew it would be nearly impossible to be successful through hard work alone given various cultural shifts by the country following his graduation. Therefore, he moved to the US a few years later and built a career in astrophysics and data mining. He eventually landed a rewarding financial services career in Boston where I'm from.

I graduated from universities on the East and West coast most recently the MIT Executive MBA program and worked most of my career for companies with footprints in Silicon Valley, from Accenture to eBay to Walmart to ABInBev. During my time in that area, I personally witnessed what works and what can be improved upon in an increasingly digital world.

Don't get me wrong. Silicon Valley has and will continue to pave the way for some of the world's most forward-thinking companies, supported by its specialized tech workforce, concentration of capital, and world-class educational institutions. However, in today's world, I believe the innovation stemming from this region is incremental compared to what I've observed in Houston.

Out of all the major and booming markets of Texas that house various large industries I chose Houston as my new hometown for its diversity of people and thought. The city's major port, healthcare systems, and energy sector have had a significant effect on the local, state, and national economies and have set Houston apart from the rest of Texas. Additionally, as the most diverse city in the country, Houston presents endless opportunities and is a melting pot for new ideas and the spirit of ingenuity the same spirit and community that created Viet-Cajun Crawfish.

That's what makes Houston a prime location for the next wave of innovation. Industrial companies in the region are securing millions of venture capital dollars annually $2.6 billion in total over the last five years and are allowing engineers, like myself, to do what they do best: use their tech, resources, skills, and knowledge to solve unique and complex issues out in the field. That's where the true power of technology takes shape and allows us to grow economies, attract more jobs and talent, improve lifestyle and beyond.

Prime examples are the revitalization of the aerospace industry from Elon Musk's SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas, and Houston-based biopharma company Nanospectra, which is spearheading a patient-centric use of nanomedicine for the removal of cancerous tissue.

The same yearning for opportunity and innovation my father experienced can now be found in Houston not just on the East and West coasts. If folks looking in still don't see Houston and Texas as the next technology mecca, they soon will.

See the article here:

Executive Who Left Silicon Valley: Why Texas Is Future of Tech Industry - Business Insider

In Brief After a year off due to a certain virus, the Black Hat and DEF CON security conferences returned to Las Vegas last week, just in time for the US government's attempts to foster more collaboration across the infosec industry.

The newly appointed Security Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency Jen Easterly took to the virtual Black Hat stage last week (although there was a limited and well-spaced physical conference this year) and announced the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), which she claimed would be a true public/private partnership to try to lock down security incidents by sharing data and skills.

Microsoft, AWS, Google and several US telcos have signed up, but Easterly's keynote was particularly aimed at bringing in independent talent. Among the suggestions were increasing public sector salaries and taking a more flexible approach to hiring.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also gave a keynote speech along the same lines, saying his agency stood ready to do its bit.

"We're really hard at work and we have no illusions about the road ahead," he said. "There is nothing simple about the cybersecurity challenges we face, and we need your help to get this right. We need your expertise to inform our policies and the future of our critical mission."

We've all had the hotel trip where someone's being too noisy. When a fellow traveler in a capsule hotel got on his nerves, a security consultant for Lexfo named Kyasup decided to hit back.

The hotel allowed guests to control aspects of their room using an iPod Touch with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Kyasup found [PDF] that the iPod connected to a Nasnos CS8700 router. By chaining together six vulnerabilities and forcing a reboot of the iPod touch, Kyasup found he could control any capsule in the hotel.

Kyasup had asked one guest, called Bob for anonymity, if he could be quieter at night, since the person was prone to loud 2AM phone calls. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to sort this out, Kyasup simply programmed the man's bed to convert into a couch and back again and flashed the room lights every two hours.

He then went to the hotel's management team, who were surprisingly nice about it, and fixed the issue. The moral of the story? Politeness is important.

Web app scanner Punkspider has been controversial since its release in 2013, with critics saying it can too easily be abused.

The project went dark in 2015, but now it's back, say its creators, and it's nothing for folks to worry about. A presentation at DEF CON saw Alejandro Caceres, director of computer network exploitation at QOMPLX, and self-described hacker Jason Hopper, explaining.

"We got banned more than a 15-year-old with a fake ID trying to get into a bar. It became a pain and hardly sustainable without a lot of investment in time and money. Each time we got banned it meant thousands of dollars and countless hours moving sh** around," they said.

"Now we've solved our problems and completely re-engineered and expanded the system."

The proof of that pudding will be in the eating, however, and the team may find itself shut down again. Many fear that the tool will be abused again not just to expose vulnerabilities, but to exploit some as well. You can see the full talk here.

One disturbing talk [PDF] at Black Hat this year was from former NSA instruction specialist David Evenden, now running security shop StandardUser.

Evenden recounted how he and others were wooed by intelligence agencies around the world to work with a group called CyberPoint in the United Arab Emirates on a scheme named Project Raven. The work was supposed to be intelligence gathering and defensive security work, but Evenden said he was increasingly being asked to pull in more harmful data.

Evenden and others were being asked to spy on journalists, members of the local royal families, and he even found some of Michelle Obama's emails. Despite the generous tax-free salary he, and some others, decided to get out of the country while they still could.

Evenden warned that you should never lodge your passport with an employer and always have enough cash and a plan to get out if something looks too good to be true and to check a potential employer's history carefully.

Jeff Moss, AKA Dark Tangent and the man who founded the conferences, offered a sobering warning at the start of the show. He said the industry has lost good people this year and COVID-19 will be around for a while, it seems.

Reports on the ground suggest the conferences have been very sparsely attended certainly nothing like the mad crush of tens of thousands of visitors that's normal for the show. Most attendees wore masks, but more than a few maskless wandered about.

Las Vegas already has a big COVID problem, and events like this can act as superspreader events, as this hack found out to his cost at the RSA Conference last year. Let's be careful out there, folks.

See original here:

Black Hat security conference returns to Las Vegas complete with hacks to quiet the hotel guest from hell - The Register

Who, Me? The weekend is over and that means time for a nice biscuit, a hot beverage, and another tale from the vaults of Who, Me?

Today's story comes from "Thor" (obviously not his name and a sign the Regomiser has watched too many movies in lockdown), the solitary member of the after-sales department in one of a chain of stores that sold anything from dishwashers to external hard drives. His role also required him to repair customer computers and perform file transfer from the old and busted to the new and shiny.

Occasionally the customer didn't want their old computer back, and some of those the store turned into loaners. "The law dictates," explained Thor (and we'll leave it to you to guess the country), "that a consumer has the right to get a loaner product while his or hers is in for repairs."

So old machines were wiped, reinstalled, and made ready to hand out to customers in need.

Of course, eventually it occurred to the powers that be that this might not be the best thing to do considering the potential for personal information whoopsies. The chain therefore replaced the recycled computers for new units and issued a diktat that customers borrowing the kit should not store personal information on them.

Good luck with that.

But what to do with the old loaners? The answer was to scrap them. As the new machines arrived, the old ones were destroyed. On the final one, Thor yanked the hard drive and had at it with implements of destruction. He then gave the motherboard a mauling before putting the whole thing into the electronics recycling bin.

He thought no more about it until the day a customer came in with a broken desktop computer and, as was his right, wanted a loan machine while his was being repaired. Thor wasn't around when the salesperson dealing with the customer came to his office, looking for a loan desktop to hand out. All of the new machines were laptops, but that wasn't what the customer had.

But there, at the back of the office, was a desktop machine. Sure, it was in the recycle bin, but it was probably OK, right?

The salesperson proudly carried the loaner PC back to the customer and, because good service is what matters, fired it up in order to configure Windows.

At this point it is worth noting that Thor had also flicked a switch on the PSU from 230V to 110V. "Don't ask, I don't know why," he admitted. We suspect the fsck-up fairy was sat on his shoulder at the time and anyway this machine was destined for the recyclers.

The power lead approached the PC...

"Half of the store went instantly dark when he plugged the power cord into the PSU," said Thor, "but not before some heeeuuuge bangs and cracks came from the crippled computer. Black smoke poured from the innards, and the salesperson had to rush it outside before the smoke alarm went off."

There's no record of whether the customer required a change of undergarments, but Thor described the look on his face as "priceless." The moment had also been recorded on the in-store CCTV, much to the amusement of the store manager.

In the end the customer saw the funny side of things, doubtless helped by the arrival of a brand new loan laptop.

"Technically not my fault," insisted Thor, "as nobody should've taken anything from the recycling bin but I could've just removed and destroyed the hard drive. Oh well..."

Not my fault? Hmm. We're not so sure.

"I did, however, refer to my beloved colleague as 'Sparky' for some time..."

We imagine his co-worker had a ruder name for Thor.

Ever wondered what would happen if you flicked that switch? Or had a slightly too helpful colleague unleash chaos of your making? Share your story with an email to Who, Me?

See the rest here:

Electrocution? All part of the service, sir! - The Register

On the eve of Jeff BezosJeffrey (Jeff) Preston BezosIt's time for US to get serious about cleaning up space junk Press: Give those unemployed writers a job! Progressive group launches M ad campaign to call for tax hikes on the rich MORE triumphant launch into space, Berkeley economics professor and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich took to Twitter and offered a little snark.

No one needs Bezos to launch rockets into outer space. We need him to pay his fair share of taxes so people can thrive here on Earth.

The world is very fortunate that professor Reich was not around 100 years ago when Bill Boeing and Donald Douglas were vying to see who would be the first to use the then-new technology of the airplane to transport cargo and passengers around the world. Otherwise, millions of people might not be boarding airliners every day to visit relatives or attend business meetings in far-off destinations.

The suborbital jaunts accomplished by Richard Branson and Bezos were not just expressions of egos. They constituted the next steps in the creation of a brand-new industry, space tourism. Their main rival, SpaceXs Elon MuskElon Reeve MuskTesla's Musk voices support for Epic amid Apple lawsuit Tesla reports over 0M in energy business revenue in second quarter As inflation and government debt surge, Washington is ignoring our most critical economic crisis MORE, is already planning flights of his Crew Dragon with private passengers willing to pay lots of money for an out-of-this-world experience in low Earth orbit. The first of these missions, Inspiration4, is being mounted to raise money for St. Judes Childrens Research Hospital. Branson and Musk will charge a little less money for a few minutes of weightlessness and the best view of the Earth most have ever experienced.

While only the well-to-do will be able to afford private space travel, for the time being, that state of affairs will not last forever. Technological progress and economies of scale will combine to bring down the cost of a space vacation, bringing it into reach for more people. The same process that created the aviation industry will more than likely replicate itself with the commercial space sector.

Sometime in the future, people will be able to board a rocket ship and fly to a private space station for a week filled with experiences that currently only government astronauts and a few rich people have been able to have. A company called Axiom Space, which is partnering with SpaceX for private flights of the Crew Dragon, is already planning such an orbiting facility, which will primarily be for research and microgravity manufacturing. Interiors of the crew quarters are being designed by French industrial designer Philippe Starck. None other than former NASA Administrator Jim BridenstineJames (Jim) Frederick BridenstineThe day President Kennedy sent America to the moon Bill Nelson is a born-again supporter of commercial space at NASA Has the Biden administration abandoned the idea of a moon base? MORE suggested that private people will one day voyage to commercial space stations, according to CNBC. The future is going to be human space stations, commercially owned and operated, he said.

The billionaires space race has already been of enormous benefit to NASA. SpaceX is transporting astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station for far less cost than the space shuttle used to. The first American astronauts back to the moon will ride to the lunar surface on a specially outfitted SpaceX Starship rocket, currently being tested at Boca Chica, Texas. Bezos is developing the Blue Moon lunar lander to compete with SpaceX, now with billions in incentives. NASA has chosen the SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch the Europa Clipper for a savings of almost $2 billion over the Space Launch System.

Cheap access to space and returning to the moon are the keys to creating a space-based economy. Resources mined on the moon could be shipped to manufacturing facilities in Earth orbit. Space resource extraction is one of the projects being developed by Blue Origin. Space factories would use microgravity to create products that would be impossible to build on Earth. Combined with space tourism, space manufacturing would create immeasurable wealth.

The idea that two suborbital hops will lead to an Earth-moon economic sphere might seem like science fiction. However, a group of Japanese businesses, academics and elected officials recently proposed such a vision that they labeled Planet 6.0.

Boeing and Douglas might have shaken their heads at the idea of a world bound together by airliners. When they started civil aviation consisted mostly of barnstorming stunts at county fairs, the equivalent of Bransons and Bezos suborbital hops. Yet what was the future to them is our present. No reason exists to suppose that the realm of human activity cannot be extended to low Earth orbit, the moon and, perhaps in the fullness of time, beyond. Such a future would make better use of the billions held by people like Bezos, Musk and others than to be paid as part of their fair share of taxes.

Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently, Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times and the Washington Post, among other venues.

See the article here:

The billionaires' space race is just the beginning | TheHill - The Hill

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (KVEO) Development at the SpaceX Boca Chica launch site is ramping up under ordersfrom company CEO Elon Musk, in an effortto finish the orbital launch tower and stack thestarship and booster prototypesbefore launching into orbit. Musk has called on several hundred employees from otherSpaceX sites to temporarilyrelocateto thearea until the project is finished.

In the effort tolaunch thefully stackedStarship SN20 and Super Heavy B4 prototypes into orbit,Musk has calledon500employees fromSpaceX sites in Hawthorn, California, Cape Canaveral,Florida, and McGregor, Texas, torelocateto the Brownsville/Boca Chica area temporarily.

Musks ambitious goals to reach orbit by July have been delayed, but supplemental employees have been arriving in Brownsvilleto help finish constructing the orbital launch tower that will support the starshipand booster,as well as the vehicle itself.

While a date has not been set for the orbital launch, a source shared with KVEO that Musk gave them a short timeline of nine days, as of Friday,to have the vehicle stacked at the launch pad.

Employees have been arriving at the Brownsville South Padre Island International airport and booking rooms atnearbyhotels.

The hotels nearest to the site, the QualityInnandAmericas Best Value Inn on Padre Island Highway, told KVEO that they were nearing or atcapacitythis week because of the arriving SpaceX employees.

During the week we dont havethese kinds of numbers, said an employee at the Quality Inn as he explained that they areusually45% bookedduring theweek butare now at 90%.

An employee at Americas Best Value Inn told KVEO that they started seeingmoreguests three days ago and have reached capacity.

However, hotels farther away from the site are not seeing the same influx due to SpaceX employees butare seeing morepeopledue to the time of year and COVID-19 vaccine distribution, as well as migrants from detention centers.

A Twitter page following Musksprivate jets posted a photo of employees arriving at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport,last Saturday.

Recently the aerospace company came under scrutiny by the Cameron County District Attorneys office for unauthorized closure of county roads, SpaceX has since responded and opened the road in question.

Go here to see the original:

Hotels near capacity as several hundred SpaceX employees arrive in Brownsville in preparation for orbital launch - KGBT-TV

NASA never formed a plan to take humans to Mars. But Musk has since adjusted his hopes and dreams and SpaceX, the company he founded almost 20 years ago, has rocketed to the center of the modern-day space race with a long-term plan to colonize Mars by 2050.

What theyve done in the speed at which theyve done it is just incredible, Seedhouse said in an interview. Most of his achievements had only previously been achieved by countries and governments and the list of firsts that his company has racked up is quite incredible.

While Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson usher in a new phase of space tourism, Musk, 50, has his sights set on sending humans to the moon and enabling the colonization of Mars through his companys Starship spacecraft and newly-developed Super Heavy booster both still in the testing phase at the companys Boca Chica, Texas, launch site.

But colonizing the solar system doesnt come without a cost. While SpaceX and Musk press ahead with construction of two 480-foot Starship launch towers, the company and its billionaire founder are facing a renewed round of criticism from environmental advocates in South Texas who worry that the areas delicate wetlands and diverse wildlife habitats are paying the price.

Awaiting Federal Approval

SpaceXs plans to expand rocket launches to include the Starship and Super Heavy, the worlds most powerful launch vehicle ever built, hinge on whether the Federal Aviation Administration awards the company an environmental permit. The original 2014 environmental study of the Boca Chica operations site known as Starbase only included launches for the much smaller Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which SpaceX no longer plans to launch from the site.

The Starbase sign is seen in front of SpaceXs launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, on July 19, 2021. The letters were installed within the last few months as SpaceX expands the South Texas launch site. (Courthouse News photo/Erik De La Garza)

The federal agency whose jurisdiction includes commercial space transportation has already warned the company in a letter in May that construction of the Super Heavy launch tower may complicate the ongoing environmental review process.

The FAA has a new environmental review underway of SpaceXs proposed Super Heavy rocket and tower, the agency said in a statement to Courthouse News. The company is building the tower at its own risk.

But SpaceX does hold a license to conduct short test flights of Starship prototypes, and at 7:05 p.m. on July 19, three engines attached to the companys Super Heavy booster briefly roared to life for what is known as a static fire test.

The test, where the rocket booster fires up its engines at full throttle but remains stationary on the space pad, engulfed the site in flames and rocket smoke that filled the nearby beach and lingered in the coastal air of the remote South Texas beach town for over an hour as onlookers sat in their vehicles staring at the stainless steel behemoth.

The Super Heavy booster engines referred to as raptors ignited for just six seconds, but marked the first time that SpaceX lit up the massive first-of-its-kind rocket booster that the company is planning to attach under its Starship rocket and launch into orbit sometime this year, pending federal approval.

Construction of a Starship integration tower is seen looming over the wetlands of Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. SpaceX has transformed the once-sleepy retirement community into an active space pad and mecca for space enthusiasts. (Courthouse News photo/Erik De La Garza)

While space enthusiasts, and Musk himself, cheered the successful static fire test as a sign that the Starship launch vehicle is nearing completion First test duration firing of 3 Raptors on Super Heavy Booster! Musk tweeted minutes after the test others werent so enthusiastic.

Part of the problem is the area doesnt grow, said David Newstead, director of the coastal bird program for the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program. The area that they have expanded and covered over with their development is what has grown and the area, arguably, cant support that.

Newstead who, with his team of conservation biologists, has been monitoring the nesting activities of coastal birds including the Wilsons Plover, Snowy Plover and Least Tern since 2017 said SpaceXs activities extend far beyond their property. Not only are frequent road closures while SpaceX conducts rocket testing activities complicating their biological monitoring, but Newstead says his team over the last two years has also seen decreased nesting of the shorebird species they follow.

And that pattern of decreased nesting is especially pronounced in the vicinity of the launch site and control center around SpaceXs facility, so in the refuge and state park land, he said.

The closure of Highway 4, the only road leading in and out of the launch site that remains the only way to access the public Boca Chica beach, is the subject of headaches for some locals, whose plans rest on whether SpaceX will close the highway and for how long.

On the Monday of the static fire test, Cameron County officials advised residents that the highway could be closed sometime between noon and 10 p.m. By 4:30 that afternoon, subscribers to the countys notification system received a text message alerting them that Highway 4 had been closed for the engine test. It didnt reopen until just before 9 p.m.

Two Starship prototypes loom in the background as a man waters the lawn of a home in Boca Chica, Texas. (Courthouse News photo/Erik De La Garza)

Inside the nearby Boca Chica Village neighborhood, residents who have remained in the community despite the towering rockets in their backyard and the buzzing of SpaceX employees, were advised by the company in a letter posted to their doors to consider temporarily vacating yourself, other occupants, and pets, from the area during space flight activities.

There is a risk that a malfunction of the SpaceX vehicle during these activities will create an overpressure event that can break windows. At a minimum, you must exit your home or structure and be outside of any building on your property when you hear the police sirens, which will be activated at the time of the space flight activity, to avoid or minimize the risk of injury, the letter stated.

'Nothing Quite Like Boca Chica'

Designed as a reusable transportation system to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars and other cosmic destinations, SpaceX has billed the Starship spacecraft as a game-changer for space transportation with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tons into space. When stacked together for launch, the Starship and Super Heavy will stand at nearly 400 feet tall.

But out of the five Starship prototypes that have already launched from the Boca Chica launch site, only one in May has proved successful.

The first two prototype rockets crashed into the landing pad, a third burst apart minutes after takeoff, and a fourth test launch on March 30 resulted in a midair explosion that sent large pieces of debris into the nearby beach and protected grounds for shorebirds and other wildlife species.

All of that debris went for a mile or so, some small pieces went further than that, Newstead said, adding that noise and vibrations associated with rocket launches could also have harmful effects on birds with notoriously strong, but very porous bones.

Launches are not only loud but theres a pressure associated with it, he said. People can feel it when theyre doing a single-engine rocket test, you can feel the ground rumble, but you can imagine how loud these things are for birds.

South Texas Boca Chica Beach is seen on July 20, 2021. The beach is a nesting ground for multiple species of turtles, including the critically endangered Kemps ridley sea turtle. (Courthouse News photo/Erik De La Garza)

There are over 20,000 acres of federally protected land surrounding SpaceXs Boca Chica site that serve as a national wildlife refuge for at least 18 threatened and endangered species, including birds, wild cats and sea turtles such as the Kemps ridley sea turtle. The region also draws historical value as the scene of the battle of Palmito Ranch in 1865, the last land battle of the Civil War.

These flats are apparently regarded by some and apparently in the eyes of some, appear to be some sort of a wasteland but its a tremendously productive ecosystem and extraordinarily sensitive as well, Newstead said. Its a really important area, theres nothing quite like Boca Chica and the South Bay area.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, along with local environmental groups like Save RGV and the Lower Rio Grande Valley chapter of the Sierra Club, have each expressed concern with SpaceXs plans to expand its activities at Boca Chica.

But the idea of interplanetary travel via the largest rocket known to mankind is too thrilling for some to resist.

That thing is going to fucking Mars, said Anthony Gomez, 38, a managing partner at the RV and camping spot Rocket Ranch, located along the Rio Grande River about 8 miles from SpaceXs launch site.

Open to the public since January 2020, Rocket Ranch sits along the Rio Grande River with views into Mexico and is one of the only spots in Boca Chica where visitors can stay overnight. The unique location, appropriate rocket-themed decor and affordable rentals has given the ranch the ability to host space tourists from as far away as Australia and, like SpaceX, has plans to grow.

Gomez said they already offer pontoon rides along the river that straddles the Texas/Mexico border for guests anxious to see a rocket launch from a different perspective, and are just about done with construction of a new observation deck that offers an elevated view of launches.

Nobody else is going to have a nicer launch site than us, this is the place, Gomez said, adding that the ranch would plan some type of orbital party or festival to coincide with Starship launches.

Construction crews work on SpaceXs Starship Super Heavy Orbital Launch Pad in Boca Chica, Texas, on July 20, 2021. (Courthouse News photo/Erik De La Garza)

Musk and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell had expressed hope to conduct the first orbital flight of the Starship system in July, but that now appears unlikely to occur for at least the next few months.

Its a huge engineering challenge to do that with such a large payload, but if anybody is going to do it its going to be SpaceX, Im sorry to say, Seedhouse, the professor, said. Its beat, so far, so many things that people said were impossible.

But Musks real-life sci-fi plan for Martian inhabitation could be delayed, or scuttled all together, without FAA approval and a permit to launch.

And, Seedhouse warned, when Starships start being launched on a regular basis, because that is the plan, then those Boca Chica residents are going to have to be a bit further back and Im not sure how theyre going to deal with that.

Follow Erik De La Garza on Twitter

See original here:

As SpaceX races to expand launch site, concern grows for wildlife habitats in South Texas - Courthouse News Service