SpaceX in Bastrop, Texas (Starlink terminal factory)

[RedLineTrain]

Early this month, SpaceX submitted paperwork for a warehouse at 816 FM 1209 in Bastrop.  According to the Austin Business Journal, that piece of Boring Company property was transferred to SpaceX on June 6.

Referred to as Project Echo.  Here is the TCEQ record.

https://www15.tceq.texas.gov/crpub/index.cfm?fuseaction=regent.showSingleRN&re_id=881333772022157

The Austin Business Journal article also points out that SpaceX advertised a few jobs in Austin.

https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6156419002?gh_jid=6156419002
https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/6046752002?gh_jid=6046752002

This may be related to Starlink, but it is not the same parcel that is next to Giga Texas (discussed here).

Attached is a map of the area.  The Boring Company parcels in green.  SpaceX parcel in red.

[RedLineTrain]

Early this month, The Boring Company picked up a few more parcels at the Bastrop location.  Unknown what ultimately will be the split in ownership of these parcels totaling about 270 acres (109 hectares).  Here is an updated map.

[MGoDuPage]

Perhaps you all knew this already, but as a non engineer & relatively new fan of space flight generally I did some Google-Fu of my own & came up with two hits that might potentially shed more light on things:


1).   “Project Echo” is a telehealth initiative out of the University of New Mexico that connects medical specialists with rural general practitioners. “Moving Knowledge, Not People”.

https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/what-we-do/


2).  Probably more relevant & likely some of you already knew as a matter of course (but was new to me):

“Project Echo” was a NASA proof of concept experiment in the early 1960s on using satellites as passive communication relays. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Echo


I assume the name for #1 is an homage to #2. What’s unclear to me is, is the SpaceX “Project Echo” a nod to the NASA experiments generally & has always been a nickname for Starlink projects generally? Or is it some sub project within StarLink that will be adding some new capability/applications either on the technical side and/or some proprietary in house initiative to build out a robust capability for videoconferencing, more advanced telematic robotics/equipment controls, etc.

[su27k]

SpaceX files to build 520K-square-foot facility in Bastrop County

The company wants to construct a 521,521-square-foot "shell building," according to an Aug. 31 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. An estimated project cost of $43 million was given, along with an expected completion date of July 2023.

[Zed_Noir]

SpaceX files to build 520K-square-foot facility in Bastrop County

The company wants to construct a 521,521-square-foot "shell building," according to an Aug. 31 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. An estimated project cost of $43 million was given, along with an expected completion date of July 2023.

Maybe a climate control warehouse for storing Raptors with a refurbishment & repairs facility.

[vaporcobra]

520,000 square feet is pretty close to like 50% larger than Starbase's entire new Starfactory, and there is already an unused Raptor 2 factory at McGregor. The scale reads more like a massive Starlink dish/satellite factory. The only plausible alternative I can think of is a new HQ, but 520k sq ft is nowhere close to the total footprint of SpaceX's Hawthorne HQ.

But then again, SpaceX was supposed to build a Starlink factory beside Giga Texas, so who knows. That site is currently a storage yard, so it's possible SpaceX has simply decided to move that project or colocate it with something else.

[sdsds]

Maybe it will include an ISO 8 class cleanroom for Mars-bound payloads.

[DistantTemple]

Since it is co-located with TBC..... I'll just propose the wild idea that it is for machinery for the moon and Mars.... especially or leading up to a boring machine for Mars!!!!!

Space versions of site equipment, from telehandlers, scrapers.... etc crushers.... for handling regolith, ice, building lifting stacking, digging, levelling.... etc etc etc

And therefore it may also include rovers, HABs etc

Some of this may be desirable for Mars in FOUR years, and a test or two in TWO. And of course some items for the moon too. On that scale they should have started this a few years in the past, however SX has not tackled time travel yet!

If you want to build a city of a million souls then vast streams of equipment could be needed as early as 6 or 8 years from now, with a fast ramp from then on. 
Edit spelling

[pyromatter]

A picture of Project Echo: Shell Building at Bastrop (September 6, 2022)

Source https://eu.statesman.com/story/business/technology/2022/09/06/elon-musks-spacex-building-43-million-facility-in-austin-area/65470736007/

[EL_DIABLO]

But then again, SpaceX was supposed to build a Starlink factory beside Giga Texas, so who knows. That site is currently a storage yard, so it's possible SpaceX has simply decided to move that project or colocate it with something else.

This, quite likely it will be a Starlink manufacturing facility.

[NotOnImpact]

A picture of Project Echo: Shell Building at Bastrop (September 6, 2022)

Source https://eu.statesman.com/story/business/technology/2022/09/06/elon-musks-spacex-building-43-million-facility-in-austin-area/65470736007/

Do you mind if I share this picture on the Boring Company forum?

[pyromatter]

A picture of Project Echo: Shell Building at Bastrop (September 6, 2022)

Source https://eu.statesman.com/story/business/technology/2022/09/06/elon-musks-spacex-building-43-million-facility-in-austin-area/65470736007/

Do you mind if I share this picture on the Boring Company forum?

It's not my picture.
Credit goes to the original article I sourced from.

[RedLineTrain]

But then again, SpaceX was supposed to build a Starlink factory beside Giga Texas, so who knows. That site is currently a storage yard, so it's possible SpaceX has simply decided to move that project or colocate it with something else.

This, quite likely it will be a Starlink manufacturing facility.

Agreed.  As a comparison of size, I am guessing that Starlink terminals are currently manufactured at the old Triumph 747 plant in Hawthorne.  The size of that plant is something on the order of one million square feet.  Of course, not all of that square footage may be allocated to Starlink terminal manufacturing.

[RedLineTrain]

A picture of Project Echo: Shell Building at Bastrop (September 6, 2022)

Source https://eu.statesman.com/story/business/technology/2022/09/06/elon-musks-spacex-building-43-million-facility-in-austin-area/65470736007/

Great photo in that it shows both the under-construction SpaceX facility of about 500,000 square feet and the TBC facility of maybe ~100,000 square feet.

The construction staging area is on a plot that, according to the most recent public records, is still owned by TBC.  Seems likely that this plot will be transferred to SpaceX for parking or similar.

These facilities are rather large for such a rural county.

[scr00chy]

But then again, SpaceX was supposed to build a Starlink factory beside Giga Texas, so who knows. That site is currently a storage yard, so it's possible SpaceX has simply decided to move that project or colocate it with something else.

This, quite likely it will be a Starlink manufacturing facility.

Agreed.  As a comparison of size, I am guessing that Starlink terminals are currently manufactured at the old Triumph 747 plant in Hawthorne.  The size of that plant is something on the order of one million square feet.  Of course, not all of that square footage may be allocated to Starlink terminal manufacturing.

I thought they built/are building a facility for terminal facturing at Giga Texas? Although I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed, maybe it was just speculation. But if it was true, then maybe the Bastrop building is for satellite manufacturing?

[RedLineTrain]

But then again, SpaceX was supposed to build a Starlink factory beside Giga Texas, so who knows. That site is currently a storage yard, so it's possible SpaceX has simply decided to move that project or colocate it with something else.

This, quite likely it will be a Starlink manufacturing facility.

Agreed.  As a comparison of size, I am guessing that Starlink terminals are currently manufactured at the old Triumph 747 plant in Hawthorne.  The size of that plant is something on the order of one million square feet.  Of course, not all of that square footage may be allocated to Starlink terminal manufacturing.

I thought they built/are building a facility for terminal facturing at Giga Texas? Although I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed, maybe it was just speculation. But if it was true, then maybe the Bastrop building is for satellite manufacturing?

Yes, it was the expectation/solid rumor a couple of years ago that the ~750,000 square foot prepared area on the other side of the freeway from Giga Texas (see map) was for a terminal manufacturing facility.  But construction never started, so plans seem to have changed.

They must have developed some manufacturing efficiencies to bring it from a ~750,000 square foot facility to a ~500,000 square foot facility (assuming both were/are contemplated for terminal manufacturing).

[EL_DIABLO]

These facilities are rather large for such a rural county.

Only a ~30min drive from Austin.

[Space-Freak]

Early this month, The Boring Company picked up a few more parcels at the Bastrop location.  Unknown what ultimately will be the split in ownership of these parcels totaling about 270 acres (109 hectares).  Here is an updated map.

where are seeing which are spacex and which are boring company? The gis map show " GAPPED BASS LLC" (clearly a shell company) as the owner of all them.

[RedLineTrain]

Early this month, The Boring Company picked up a few more parcels at the Bastrop location.  Unknown what ultimately will be the split in ownership of these parcels totaling about 270 acres (109 hectares).  Here is an updated map.

where are seeing which are spacex and which are boring company? The gis map show " GAPPED BASS LLC" (clearly a shell company) as the owner of all them.

I’m looking at the real estate transactions for Bastrop County.  The GIS map is good, but not perfect.

[Nomadd]

Early this month, The Boring Company picked up a few more parcels at the Bastrop location.  Unknown what ultimately will be the split in ownership of these parcels totaling about 270 acres (109 hectares).  Here is an updated map.

where are seeing which are spacex and which are boring company? The gis map show " GAPPED BASS LLC" (clearly a shell company) as the owner of all them.

Boring is SpaceX.