Quote from: symbios on 08/22/2014 10:03 amSpaceX expected to break ground soonCameron County approves agreementshttp://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_14122bbc-29ab-11e4-bfbf-001a4bcf6878.htmlA word of caution, a ground breaking ceremony is not the same as the start of work. I've seen ceremonies happen 6 months before work really started. Even seen them indoors with a box of dirt because it was raining.It doesn't mean much, the most meaningful information available in the public domain is when permits are issued by the city or county.
SpaceX expected to break ground soonCameron County approves agreementshttp://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_14122bbc-29ab-11e4-bfbf-001a4bcf6878.html
Paragon hopes to be a “co-traveler” with SpaceX as it evolves in Brownsville, and aims to expand its relationship with the Hawthorne, Calif.-based aerospace company via the Brownsville facility
An interesting article:http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/spacex-supplier-based-in-michigan-acquires-brownsville-firm/article_1d64cbca-2a73-11e4-a096-0017a43b2370.htmlQuoteParagon hopes to be a “co-traveler” with SpaceX as it evolves in Brownsville, and aims to expand its relationship with the Hawthorne, Calif.-based aerospace company via the Brownsville facility
Don't think so. This is Paragon Die and Engineering, a Grand Rapids MI company with an Aerospace division. AFAICT it's separate from the Paragon Space Development Corporation of Houston.
I remember interviews with Elon back in the day talking about their philosophy with parts suppliers. He was pretty dismissive of the existing aerospace sub-contractors and what he considered abusive pricing.He referenced looking at other industries where similar parts were made but maybe weren't space-qualified and then helping those firms qualify their products which ended up being much cheaper.
There's a YouTube video of Elon speaking somewhere in 2003 saying ... "we're really just a systems integrator, we're buying things from other people", but by the time I showed up in 2005 that had completely turned around and pretty much everything was getting done in-house. And you can see why when you see the interactions with these suppliers, particularly the ones in the space industry. They think they're the only ones who can make this widget or who have the secret sauce, and when you say "no, you're too expensive", they say "well, that's what it is". And they're used to customers who, if they slip the schedule and double the price, the customer shrugs and goes back to headquarters and says, "well, it's gonna take twice as long and it's gonna cost twice as much", and that's how things go in a traditional government run program.But SpaceX would say "no, that's not acceptable", and they'd cancel the contract. And sometimes these suppliers were literally scoffing on the phone as you hung up, and call you back a couple of months later saying "so, have you changed your mind yet?" And being able to say to them that "no, if you can do it, then maybe somebody else can do it too", like either SpaceX figured out how to do it themselves, because they hired some smart people and gave them the resources and tools, or you find another supplier with maybe a non-space version and you upgrade and qualify it for space.And now what you've done, this backward supplier has bred a competitor for themselves, where they're not used to competition. I mean, many of the suppliers in this industry would just go out of business in a heartbeat if competition were actually introduced.So really that's the game changing stuff that SpaceX has been doing: bringing stuff in-house, not just because it gives them control of cost and schedule, but because the space suppliers, traditional suppliers just don't get it. They're not used to being held to schedules and budgets.And that's not true of everybody, but there is list of anecdotes I could tell you about suppliers with this attitude. And in each case either SpaceX brings in in-house and makes it successfully, or they find another supplier and upgrade it, and that supplier is usually thrilled to have a whole new market opened up for them.
The New Residents: Renovation planned for house linked to SpaceXhttp://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_1a1b2c44-2fef-11e4-aa5d-0017a43b2370.htmlStart of SpaceX employee housing?
Maybe housing for visiting staff instead of putting them up in fleabag hotels.
Quote from: Scylla on 08/30/2014 06:55 pmThe New Residents: Renovation planned for house linked to SpaceXhttp://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_1a1b2c44-2fef-11e4-aa5d-0017a43b2370.htmlStart of SpaceX employee housing?Here is that place from the photo...https://www.google.com/maps/@25.992313,-97.182783,3a,75y,88.89h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sus-PJ_5ttHN5ITte7UEYOw!2e0
Found this image in Thread 2. Looks like the house being renovated on Weems Rd. is walking distance from Launch Control and Processing.
Quote from: Scylla on 08/30/2014 10:15 pmFound this image in Thread 2. Looks like the house being renovated on Weems Rd. is walking distance from Launch Control and Processing.This is from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), page 2-22, available hereThe EIS actually shows multiple locations for control centers, payload processing, etc. But SpaceX submitted these plans a few years ago, and since then they've been able to acquire significantly more land adjacent to Parcel 1 in the EIS, and Cameron County allowed SpaceX to close and essentially annex portions of Remedios Avenue and Joanna Street (see pictures below). SpaceX has not purchased the land for Parcels 2 and 3 in the EIS.So its possible that they will build all of the payload processing, launch vehicle processing, and control center in one location. The EIS seems to be worded flexibly to allow these types of changes.
The Final EIS (same link), describes it as: ..."The 4.0-acre Parcel 1 is located the furthest from the proposed vertical launch area and is bounded on the southeastern side by Boca Chica Boulevard and the southwestern side by Remedios Avenue. The 4.4-acre Parcel 2 is bounded on the southeastern side by Boca Chica Boulevard, the southern end is bounded by San Martin Boulevard, and the northwestern side is bounded by Esperson Street. The 4.0-acre Parcel 3, which is the closest to the proposed vertical launch area, is located northeast of Eichorn Boulevard. Proposed facility and infrastructure construction at the control center area would include the following: ..."