Californians are on the move. And many are coming to Texas, including this high profile outfit. In blow to Los Angeles, SpaceX is moving some Mars spaceship and booster work to Texas:
In a reversal of a deal local officials had touted as a win for Los Angeles tech, SpaceX will no longer build its Mars spaceship and rocket booster system at the Port of Los Angeles. Instead, work to build and test the prototype will be done in south Texas.
SpaceX said in a statement Wednesday that the decision was made to “streamline operations.”
In a tweet, Chief Executive Elon Musk said: “Starship & Raptor [engine] development is being done out of our HQ in Hawthorne, CA. We are building the Starship prototypes locally at our launch site in Texas, as their size makes them very difficult to transport.”
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.
Elon Musk's car company has had its problems, and it's anyone's guess whether SpaceX will turn out to be a good investment. But the Midland Development Board members who committed taxpayer money to the ultimately bankrupt maker of Xcor and the conversion of the local airport to an air and space port must be crying in their cervesa.
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2:57 PM 1/21/2019
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