DALLAS — On Tuesday, the richest man in the world Elon Musk announced he would be moving the headquarters of two of his multi-billion dollar companies--SpaceX and X-- from California to Texas.
In a post on X, Musk said he'd be moving the social media platform's HQ to Austin, Texas, where his other multi-billion dollar venue Tesla Motors is based.
When it came to SpaceX, however, Musk said the company would be moving to Starbase, Texas.
This announcement left many Texans scratching their heads. Most haven't even heard of a town called Starbase, and you'd be hard-pressed to find it on any map.
Where is Starbase, Texas?
Starbase is a rocket facility outside of Brownsville, Texas, owned by SpaceX that has been in construction since 2014.
In reality, Starbase, Texas, was called Boca Chica, Texas. It's an area of land bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Rio Grande and Mexico.
In 2012, SpaceX picked out a plot of land in the area to construct a launch site. By 2019, the company started flight tests on the site. By 2021, construction was well underway, and SpaceX adopted the name "Starbase" to refer to the facility.
On April 20, 2023, SpaceX officially launched a rocket from the site, though it exploded four minutes after launch.
In January 2024, Cameron County and Brownsville officials voted to officially rename the area to Starbase, Texas.
Now, it looks like the $210 billion space company could be moving its headquarters to the once scarcely-populated area. That means residential development is likely set to ramp. SpaceX has been bullish with their land acquisition in the area in recent years, though, offering homeowners triple the value of their land in 2019.
The company also acquired 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park in January 2024 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In return, SpaceX added 477 new acres to the nearby Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.