This Word Means: Starbase

Starbase is the newest ‘city’ in Texas, coming up in the area where Elon Musk-owned SpaceX operates. Essentially, it is the latest company town.

AND WHAT IS A COMPANY TOWN?

A company town is a township where a single company employs most of the residents and owns the majority of the housing and stores. Jamshedpur in Jharkhand is one example.

In the US, company towns call back to a bygone era where industrialists held the kind of power to physically concentrate their workforce around their site of operations. Pullman in Illinois is one such example, named after industrialist and rail mogul, George Pullman.

WHY THIS AREA?

Located in the southern tip of Texas, the area houses the launch site for SpaceX’s Starship system. Over the past decade, SpaceX has invested in the surrounding area, building a powerful space flight system capable of taking people to Mars and conducting suborbital test flights of the Starship rocket.

Texas, as a state, is favoured for its lack of a state tax and relatively cost of living. There are no business taxes, while personal taxes are not levied here, making it an increasingly popular site of business.

WHAT WILL THE NEW CITY LOOK LIKE?

Presently, the new city covers about 3.9 sq km of land comprising primarily SpaceX facilities and company housing, as well as Elon Musk’s own Texan residence. The area also has access to the Boca Chica State Park and the Boca Chica Beach.

According to a report in The New York Times, the Starbasers live in a mix of Airstream aluminium trailers, modular homes and refurbished midcentury houses, and drive Cybertrucks.

The company city houses a road called Meme Street and a bust of Musk, which was recently vandalised.

Around 500 people are believed to live in the area. Starbase has 238 registered voters, which the NYT report identified as predominantly men with an average age of 27. Most residents have no prior voting history in Texas.

The area will house a privately-funded school, named Ad Astra in keeping with the starry nomenclature in the area, which will cost $20 million. The school will cover grades K-12.

DOES THIS PUT SPACEX IN THE GOVERNMENT?

In a way, yes. Saturday’s vote also elected the Starbase city government with a mayor and two commissioners who control planning, taxation and other administrative issues. All three are SpaceX employees.

Under Texan law, municipalities enjoy a range of powers, from creating zoning rules, hiring staff to out town functions and managing revenues. As a town

Until Starbase’s incorporation, SpaceX needed permission from Cameron County authorities to close a highway and shut down public access to the Boca Chica Beach and the Boca Chica State Park to keep people safe during rocket launches. Thus, greater municipal control of the area could likely ease the restrictions and bureaucratic approval surrounding SpaceX’s rocket launches and testing.