SpaceX is asking a Texas judge to incorporate its Starbase in Texas as an official town. Starbase, on the southern tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach, is where SpaceX builds and launches its Starship rockets. The company made the request in a December 12, 2024, letter.
“We are investing billions in infrastructure and generating hundreds of millions in income and taxes for local businesses and government, all with the goal of making South Texas the gateway to Mars,” reads the letter signed by Kathryn Lueders, the general manager of Starbase.
“To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world class place to live.”
More than 3,400 full-time SpaceX employees and contractors work at the Starbase site.
The letter was addressed to Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., Cameron County’s top elected official. He said despite earlier talk of incorporation Starbase as a city, this was the first time the company had formally requested incorporation.
“Our legal and elections administration will review the petition, see whether or not it complied with all of the statutory requirements and then we’ll go from there,” he told US outlets.
