This video is supported by Private Internet
Access. At the end of 2018, a local resident of Boca
Chica shared an image of a new structure at the SpaceX site. Most people assumed that this was nothing
more than a new water tower. But after rounds of speculation, SpaceX revealed
that this structure was actually the beginnings of Starship. At the time, SpaceX’s activity down in Boca
Chica was extremely quiet. Their entire facility consisted of a small
tent at the build site and a pile of dirt at the launch site. There were only a handful of workers and no
one really knew how important Boca Chica would be for Starship’s development. After all, most people were expecting Starship
to be manufactured in California, where most of the SpaceX engineers lived and worked. So why did SpaceX choose Boca Chica as the
base for their Starship project? Despite the lack of basic infrastructure or
a skilled workforce, Boca Chica offered an abundance of cheap land in an area that was
mostly uninhabited. This was extremely important for SpaceX since
testing rockets on this scale would pose quite a risk to any nearby residents. But Boca Chica wasn’t completely uninhabited. Right next to the build site was the main
village, which consisted of 35 houses. This spot was a dream location for retirees
and vacationers, but SpaceX was about to change that. In order to make the area completely uninhabited,
SpaceX began the process of buying ou the entire town. And sent letters to residents, offering to
buy their homes at three times the makret value. Over the next couple of years, SpaceX purchased
more and more land and hired hundreds of workers to begin a 24/7 work cycle. To this day, the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica
continues to grow, with new plans to expand the launch site and add on additional launch
mounts and landing pads. But the goal here isn’t just to create an
enormous Starship factory. SpaceX wants to build an entire city, and
call it ‘Starbase’. Although Boca Chica is a great place for launching
and landing rockets, it isn’t exactly well known for its skilled aerospace engineers. Right now, the Boca Chica site consists of
some local workers and SpaceX employees that fly in from California. Many of these workers are on 6 month contracts
and shift in and out from SpaceX’s main facilities in Hawthorne and McGregor, Texas. For all of these employees, SpaceX has to
spend an enormous amount of money on travel and accommodation costs. For their headquarters in California, they
have the world’s brightest minds at their doorstep. Over the last two decades, this has allowed
SpaceX to build the most incredible team of engineers and technicians. For many young engineers, working at SpaceX
is the dream job. But in order to attract the brightest minds
to Boca Chica, SpaceX needs to make the area much more appealing. But before we look into how Starbase will
attract more workers, I want to thank Private Internet Access for supporting this video. We all consume a lot of media nowadays, whether
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Private Internet Access. In order for Starbase to be a nice place to
live, the city needs to have all of the amenities you would typically find in a city. It needs to be a warm and homely place so
that the families of the workers will also be happy to move there. Last year, SpaceX started building a restaurant
and a tiki bar right next to the build site where employees can relax after a long day
of work. This restaurant features an outdoor seating
area with a large roof made from old Starship flaps, a constant reminder of what they are
working on. Many of these projects fall under the guidance
of a new job which opened up last year, a Resort Development Manager. This job will likely involve designing and
planning facilities for their future spaceport. This will be a glamorous resort for the high
paying customers that they expect to have for their first flights into space. But realistically, space tourism is only a
small part of what Starbase is about. Unless they can attract the workers, none
of this will happen. One of the more unique features of Starbase
will be the futuristic bar placed at the top of the high bay. This 80 meter tall building has a large gantry
crane which is used to stack large sections of Starship. The bar will be placed right above this area,
with glass windows and a 360 degree view looking out over Starbase. Parts of the floor will also be made of glass,
so employees and visitors can look down into the high bay and observe the work being done
on Starships. In the future, SpaceX plans to open this bar
up to the public. But for now, these areas are only open to
SpaceX employees. But where do most of these employees actually
live? Just 200 meters away from the high bay is
a small campsite, home to over 30 Airstream trailers. These retro styled trailers have onboard kitchens
and sleeping spaces for up to 8 people. Although it seems like an efficient use of
space, each trailer can cost between 50 and $100,000. For that amount of money, you could get an
entire property in the Boca Chica village. But that’s exactly what SpaceX have done. After buying out most of the remaining villagers,
SpaceX employees moved into these homes and started renovating them until they felt more
like home. It’s expected that the population of Starbase
will grow by several thousand in just the next two years, so many more homes will need
to be built in the area. So it’s clear that Starbase will be more
than just a rocket factory or a resort for space tourists. But how big will Starbase actually be and
what do SpaceX need to do in order to start a city? According to Elon Musk, Starbase will cover
a much wider area than Boca Chica. It’s likely that the unused land between
Boca Chica and the nearest city of Brownsville will become part of Stabase. Right now, Boca Chica is known as an unincorporated
village. This basically means that no corporation is
there to provide services like law enforcement, fire departments and building maintenance. In order for an area to become incorporated,
a petition has to be started with the local county and the details need to be approved
by the local residents. In this instance, the majority of the residents
are now SpaceX employees, which might make this process a little bit easier. But seeking incorporation is a complex process
and one that is especially rare for this county, But SpaceX’s grand plans for Starbase have
affected areas outside of the Boca Chica village. The nearby city of Brownsville - where many
employees come from - has seen a drastic change in just the last couple of years. As soon as SpaceX rolled into town, the state
of Texas gave Brownsville millions of dollars in public relief, with the aim to improve
the appearance of the city. Elon Musk himself has donated over $30 million
to the Brownsville area. Now that the plans for Starbase are out in
the open, many residents of Brownsville are sensing the opportunities and investing in
new businesses. But for many of the locals, they don’t see
it that way. Brownsville is one of the poorest cities in
the country, with many residents living in poverty. Although many locals with businesses such
as restaurants, shops and hotels stand to benefit from SpaceX’s arrival, those without
businesses will suffer as the economy grows and taxes start to increase. For this reason, many of the locals are completely
against the idea of Starbase. But either way, the incredible developments
down in Boca Chica are mesmerizing to watch. It’s no doubt that SpaceX has extremely
grand plans for Starbase and the surrounding areas. Over the next decade, we should see one of
the poorest parts of the country turn into a thriving industrial city with the hopes
of becoming the gateway to Mars. It will be a long and hard journey for everyone
involved. But if the history of spaceflight is anything
to go by, humanity will flourish with the untold advancements that Starbase will bring. If you’d like to support Primal Space even
more, consider becoming a Patron, where you can give your input on each video and join
our exclusive Discord server. Thank you very much for watching and I’ll
see you in the next video.
Having been to Brownsville, this is huge for them. Its an incredibly poor city with little economic prospects and its great to see that changing.
This is fascinating. You know there will be plenty of folks up in arms about a poor town becoming an economic powerhouse
I want in. I'll do the electrical
I want in as well!
I want to move there to work.