By ARABELLA SERRATA
Staff Writer
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, announced his plans to move SpaceX headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Boca Chica, Texas. Currently, Boca Chica already houses Starbase, an industrial complex for Starship rockets. He also announced that he will move the social media website, X from San Francisco to Austin.
Musk stated that the recent California act, Assembly Bill 1955, was the “final straw” in his decision. The bill in question was recently signed by Governor of California Galvin Newsom. It forbids school administrators of notifying parents if their child’s orientation or identity was recognized as something other than what they went into school with. Those who support the act say they wish to prevent a “forced outing” to potentially unsafe households.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk claims he told Newsom that he did “make it clear” to Governor Newsom that “laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.” In 2014, Musk stated that he is “somewhere in the middle” regarding political parties, and that he is registered under the independent party.
The announcement comes just days after a proposal for more launches and landing cadences. The proposal is as follows: up to 25 annual Starship/Super Heavy orbital launches, up to 25 annual landings of Starship and up to 25 annual landings of Super Heavy. The proposals will be reviewed in August.
In retaliation to the recent announcements, SAVE RVG alongside several other conservation groups call for a cessation of all SpaceX launches at Boca Chica due to “Unlawful Violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, according to a press release. The full list of involved parties include Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, the Surfrider Foundation, SAVE RGV and the Carrizo Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc.
They state that the recent June 6 launch of the Starship rocket led to the unlawful destruction of migratory bird nests that are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and call for the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to ensure that there is no further damage done.
Recently, on July 15, SpaceX test fired their Super Heavy Starship booster prior to the launch of their fifth flight. According to Space.com, a site dedicated to announcing and celebrating space events for their readers, states that a static test fire in this context is when “engines are briefly lit while a vehicle remains anchored to the pad.” It is reportedly a common test to run prior to a launch.
During a 2021 tour of Starbase with the YouTube channel Everyday Astronaut, Musk showed the location and the many different features within it, including but not limited to: High Bay, this is what Starbase uses to stack ships. Grid fins, which are used for accuracy and control when landing, the Raptor V2, the reusable rocket engine for their Super Heavy boosters and their Human Landing System (HLS), the spacecraft that will be used to transport astronauts to and from the moon’s surface.
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