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 flights 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.
26 comments:
Rusty Nuts: In March 2006, four years after Musk founded SpaceX, company techs prepared a 70-foot-tall Falcon 1 for launch. he countdown proceeds; no warnings sound. As the countdown ticks down to T-minus 2 seconds, the rocket’s valves open to let propellant flow. At that moment, an aluminum nut gives way, spewing fuel. That fuel ignites during the launch. Analysis will show that air and salt rusted the aluminum, weakening the nut to the point that it failed under the stress of launch. The rocket was left exposed to the salty air.
Lets all go to boca chica and watch a rocket launch but before stop at Pronto Insurance and buy some insurance "Hijo de Sue!".
belive it when i see it
( y para que quemas al vato en la moto con la sancha?)
Today, the United States once more confronts a president who seems to care for only some of the people he represents, who promises his supporters that he can roll back the tide of diversity, who challenges the rule of law, and who regards constitutional rights and liberties as disposable. Congress must again decide whether the greater risk lies in executing the Constitution as it was written, or in deferring to voters to do what it cannot muster the courage to do itself. The gravest danger facing the country is not a Congress that seeks to measure the president against his oath—it is a president who fails to measure up to that solemn promise.
Finally, someone asks the right question. I would sure like to know how many local rocket scientist were involved in the construction of that rocket. We were told the minimum wage out there for SpaceX employees was going to be, what, $50,000.00? Of course, they did not say how many of the workers out there were going to be contract employees, working for a contractor and not SpaceX at whatever the contractor pays. I am willing to bet that the work done on that rocket was mostly done by out of state trades people with experience and certifications in specialized areas, such as welding and fabrication. I'm not saying there are not people in Texas or even the Valley who can do it, I'm saying is that if I were Musk I wouldn't want my first rocket out there to be a training opportunity. I would bring in my experienced guys I knew could do the job.
Space X is just a modern version of Titan Tire, and people still cling to the idea that someday they're going to drive down to Boca Chica beach, park their car in a long term garage, get on one of these rockets, and blast off towards Mars.
Musk has played us all. I'm certain none of these top paying jobs at Space X went to any locals. It's been half a decade and we still haven't seen anything launched into space, yet everybody sings their praises. Just another company that has taken advantage of all the goodies Brownsville promised. And just like a virgin on prom night, we gave it all up for a company that isn't going to give us a whole lot in return.
Expect a "BIG BOOM" but in the sky not in the banks
That's not a real rocket tontos. It's a mock-up for scale. That thing is not much more than aluminum foil wrapped around a stick skeleton, like a pinata.
Reynolds Wrap 5000.
It has been rumored that the scumbag Rene Oliveria is joining the Spacex board as a consultant in logistics. Know one knows more about bullshit than this scumbag. Oliveria said that this is his ticket back to the big time.
Uuujale nos hisieron tontos otra vez
SpaceX, the next big joke of Brownsville? It's not in Brownsville but SPI. That phony rocket is just that PHONY!
Trojan horse rocket....has Chinese gangsters waiting to climb out after dark and invade the island with prostitutes, gambling rings and drugs. all half brothers of elton
Yup! Puro pedo! Bunch of hot air! Nothing, but a toy rocket sitting there so people can say... oh there's movement, they're doing something. Ppppfffff!!! Fart!Fart!
Fakey McFakeFace. That is a shell, just to keep the natives at bay.
Looks like a barn silo!
Its a cuete for the fourth of July...
Here comes the shit-for-brains Captain Bob supporter @ January 17, 2019 at 2:53 PM with his Rene Oliveira conspiracy theories. Must have just recently let him out of the boob hatch where there's a room with internet access.
And @ January 17, 2019 at 5:32 PM, what's a bigger joke, Space X, or you thinking South Padre Island and Boca Chica Beach/Brazos Island State Park are the same thing?
The only post I like here is the one at January 17, 2019 at 6:31 PM.
I bet that thing blows over tomorrow.
To relax some commenters about the risk of using local, inexperienced labor for big time rocket development and construction in tamale-port, my sources told me (before the Mars development announcement) that out of the 115 engineers needed, 109 would be brought in and the remaining 6 would be the only locals of that group due to the lack of talent available in the area. I also heard SpaceX hired the local Utrgv Dean of Engineering (Indian guy) as one of those 6 people.
Tamale Port? What do you call the Harlingen Port Begal Port, how about Houston Fried Chicken Port? Stupid mcallen doesn't have a port but it has a (so call) river. Coco River Port?
6 is a lot for this region. Maybe they were thinking about matamoros.
They are going to fly it to the close by city dump.
I heard they are filling it with pinto beans so gassy (new name) here can take off to Mars.
Name the rocket new contest
1. Gassy
Humty Dumty
Rosey's Baby
Poster at January 18, 2019 at 1:36 PM hit it right on the "point" it blew but down not up...
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