SouthWind Inn, Port Isabel, TX

Update September 25, 2025: https://x.com/i/status/1971370350094197216

Boca Chica Beach is eroding at 5-20 feet per year.

Starbase City Commissioners met tonight to formalize an agreement with Cameron County and make plans to stop the erosion and rebuild the dunes.

The collaboration will leverage state, federal, and private partnerships from @SpaceX

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On December 12, 2024, SpaceX filed an official request to Cameron County authorities to have the site incorporated as a new city, named Starbase.

Starbase, Texas, is a newly incorporated city in Cameron County, located near Boca Chica on the Gulf Coast, about 20 miles east of Brownsville. It spans roughly 1.5 square miles and serves as the primary hub for SpaceX’s Starship program.

The area, previously known as Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, has transformed significantly since SpaceX began acquiring land in 2012. It now includes a spaceport, rocket production facilities, and launch pads along Texas State Highway 4, close to Boca Chica Beach and the Rio Grande.

The city was officially incorporated on May 20, 2025, following a vote on May 3, 2025, where 212 residents—mostly SpaceX employees—voted in favor, with only 6 against. The population is around 500, largely consisting of SpaceX workers and their families.

The landscape features industrial infrastructure like the 480-foot rocket launch and catch tower, propellant tanks, and testing facilities, alongside residential areas with Airstream trailers, modular homes, and some larger houses. A mural depicting a Mars colony adorns one building, reflecting SpaceX’s goal of making humanity multiplanetary.

The area is accessible via Highway 4, with the launch site and facilities visible from the road, though security restricts closer access. Nearby, Boca Chica Beach remains a point of contention due to closures during launches, which are currently managed by Cameron County, not Starbase.

SPACEX: Starbase City Commission meeting, approval was made at SpaceX’s request to install gates at four intersections; St. Jude Street, Memes Street, Esperson Street, and LBJ Boulevard.

The goal is to restrict public access to most of the city due to safety concerns, with exceptions for residents, employees, approved personnel, first respondents, and law enforcement.

Per City Manager Kent Myers, “It’s basically to regulate the constant flow of visitors that are just coming through here, wanting to look at the community.” Per City Commissioner Jordan Buss, “Those of us that live in the city have experienced more than our fair share of events with folks who aren’t necessarily here for the right reasons. Aren’t necessarily here to provide any good reason to be in the city. This has a lot to do with the public safety and security of the people that live there. And, again, with proper need to be in the area, we’ll work out that access. Absolutely.” SpaceX already has the gates built and codes distributed.

https://www.starbase.texas.gov/commission-updates

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WATCH TODAY: STARSHIP’S ELEVENTH FLIGHT TEST

WHAT: The eleventh flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as today,

WHEN: Monday, October 13. The launch window will open at 6:15 p.m. CT.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch on spacex.com and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the X TV app. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for updates.

Get Live Updates X @SpaceX https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship

The upcoming flight will build on the successful demonstrations from Starship’s tenth flight test with flight experiments gathering data for the next generation Super Heavy booster, stress-testing Starship’s heatshield, and demonstrating maneuvers that will mimic the upper stage’s final approach for a future return to launch site.

The booster on this flight test previously flew on Flight 8 and will launch with 24 flight-proven Raptor engines. Its primary test objective will be demonstrating a unique landing burn engine configuration planned to be used on the next generation Super Heavy. It will attempt this while on a trajectory to an offshore landing point in the Gulf and will not return to the launch site for catch.

Super Heavy will ignite 13 engines at the start of the landing burn and then transition to a new configuration with five engines running for the divert phase. Previously done with three engines, the planned baseline for V3 Super Heavy will use five engines during the section of the burn responsible for fine-tuning the booster’s path, adding additional redundancy for spontaneous engine shutdowns. The booster will then transition to its three center engines for the end of the landing burn, entering a full hover while still above the ocean surface, followed by shutdown and dropping into the Gulf. The primary goal on the flight test is to measure the real-world vehicle dynamics as engines shut down while transitioning between the different phases.

The Starship upper stage will target multiple in-space objectives, including the deployment of eight Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink satellites. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon entry. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.

The flight test includes several experiments and operational changes focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site on future flights. For reentry, tiles have been removed from Starship to intentionally stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle. Several of the missing tiles are in areas where tiles are bonded to the vehicle and do not have a backup ablative layer. To mimic the path a ship will take on future flights returning to Starbase, the final phase of Starship’s trajectory on Flight 11 includes a dynamic banking maneuver and will test subsonic guidance algorithms prior to a landing burn and splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Go Starship! Go SpaceX!

X @SpaceX
SpaceX.com

Space Exploration Technologies

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