SpaceX breaks ground for Texas spaceport

BROWNSVILLE - Over the next decade SpaceX will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into its commercial spaceport on the Texas Gulf Coast, transforming the region into a hub of the space industry, the founder of the aerospace company said Monday.

The company's future commercial orbital spaceport at Boca Chica Beach, near Brownsville, could also be a key player in the race to one day colonize Mars, said CEO Elon Musk during a groundbreaking event.

"The thing that's going to fundamentally affect humanity's future is are we multi-planet species or are we a single planet species?" Musk said about the future of mankind. "A single planet species is much more vulnerable."

But to establish a self-sustaining viable base on Mars will require the development of advanced technology, and thousands of orbital rocket launches every year to supply the outpost, Musk said.

"It could very well be that the first person that departs for another planet will depart from this location," Musk said. "I'm an optimist, I wouldn't have gotten into the rocket business otherwise."

SpaceX is one of a number of cutting-edge enterprises, many based in or moving to Texas, known as "new space," and which are helping to establish a new generation of space exploration.

Construction on the Boca Chica location is expected to begin around mid-2015, with at least one commercial orbital flight per month to begin by late 2016, Musk said.

The company will spend around $100 million in capital investment over the next three to four years to develop the site, he said.

Sites in Florida, California

SpaceX will continue to launch its spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., mainly for its government contracts to supply the International Space Station. The frequency of commercial launches of satellites from South Texas will gradually increase over time to meet demand from the company's growing manifest, Musk said.

The California-based SpaceX, which has a rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas, selected the Brownsville area over other prospective sites in Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico for its spaceport largely because of the willingness of state and local governments to support the endeavor, according to Musk.

"We want to be in a place where we're truly wanted," Musk said. "The fundamental point that swayed SpaceX for Boca Chica was the tremendous outpouring of support from local residents."

The company will receive a combined $20 million in state and local incentives, including $2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, $13 million from the state's Spaceport Trust Fund, and an additional $5 million from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corp.

Musk was joined by Gov. Rick Perry who announced an investment of $4.4 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund toward the creation of a research and technology commercialization partnership called STARGATE.

The STARGATE facility will be a radio frequency technology park, next to the SpaceX launch site command center, used by University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley students and faculty researchers for training, scientific research and technology development.

UT System pitching in

The University of Texas System will invest $4.6 million in the project, and $500,000 will come from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corp.

"The pavement ends in a 1,000," said Perry, referring to a road sign near the future launch site. "But the future of South Texas takes off right behind me."

Initially, UT-Brownsville's Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy will partner with SpaceX to create STARGATE, with future participants to include the Texas Advanced Computing Center in Austin, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Cornell University's Department of Astronomy and the Arecibo Radio Observatory.

"This is more than a once-in-a-generation or once-in-a-lifetime moment; this is history in the making," said UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa. "The research partnerships we are establishing hold the promise to catapult the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley to the leading edge in the study of astrophysics - that is a matchless experience that offers incredible possibilities for research."

The company is expected to create 300 jobs in the Rio Grande Valley, some will be generated by efforts to reuse previously launched spacecraft, such as its Dragon capsule.

"Because we're aiming for reusability … when the rockets come back to the launch site we would expect to refurbish and upgrade the rocket technology for future flights," Musk said. "So we expect to have a fairly significant engineering, R&D presence at the site."

One early concern with the proposed launch site was the potential impact to sensitive natural areas that surround the future spaceport.

Musk pledged to address environmental concerns should any arise, noting that other launch sites near refuge land had successfully mitigated impacts to wildlife.

"This feels good," Musk said, the dunes of Boca Chica Beach in the distance. "It feels like the future."