'Already Well Under Way:' Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Is Building Factory As Big As 15 Football Fields At Texas Launch Site As Part Of $100M Expansion

Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX is building an industrial factory and office at its Boca Chica launch facility.

What Happened: In response to a news story shared by a Tesla influencer, Musk verified the construction of a “SpaceX Starbase Office” at Boca Chica, east of Brownsville, Texas. According to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records, the project involves a $100 million office and industrial factory spanning an area equivalent to roughly 15 football fields.

“The scope of work includes five levels of office mezzanine, as an addition to an approximately 1-million-square-foot ‘special use industrial factory,'” the report said.

Musk confirmed the report’s accuracy, stating, “It is already well underway.”

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Why It’s Important: Founded by Musk in 2002, SpaceX aims to democratize space exploration and establish a Martian colony. 

Currently, it operates reusable orbital-class rockets (Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy) and the Dragon spacecraft, capable of carrying passengers to and from the International Space Station. Notably, SpaceX holds the distinction of being the first private company to launch humans into space.

Starship Development: SpaceX is also developing Starship, a vehicle capable of transporting passengers to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. 

This spacecraft, designed for long-duration interplanetary flights, can accommodate up to 100 individuals. 

While its first test flight in April 2023 resulted in a failure, the second attempt in November achieved liftoff but also failed shortly after.

SpaceX additionally operates the Starlink satellite internet service.

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Image: Created with artificial intelligence on MidJourney and Official SpaceX Photos on Flickr