the Guardian by Tom Dart 1/28/2018
Elon Musk is eyeing land near Brownsville for a Mars launch site but locals fear Trump’s plans for a barrier will ruin the area forever
It is the place where Elon Musk might one day launch rockets on missions to colonise Mars, though it did not look like much on a drizzly and cold January afternoon.
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Two construction sites with a pair of antennae, a few rows of solar panels and a fenced-off hillock. No astronauts, just a handful of workmen, a couple of RVs parked at the beach and birds scavenging through washed-up litter.
Boca Chica was not pulsing with activity and adventure. It was, however, freighted with irony as, 1,800 miles to the north-east, politicians duelled over funding for border security – specifically Donald Trump’s cherished wall, some of the first segments of which are likely to rise here in the Rio Grande Valley.
After some delays, preliminary operations reportedly could start late this year or in early 2019 and ultimately lead to as many as 12 launches annually, likely of satellites at first. The company did not respond to questions about the site.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/28/spacex-texas-boca-chica-brownsville-border-wall
