Elon Musk’s long-standing vision of creating a futuristic city devoted to space exploration is now an official reality. On Saturday, a landslide vote among residents of unincorporated Boca Chica Village in South Texas mostly SpaceX employees approved the incorporation of Starbase, Texas. According to Cameron County election results, the final count stood at 212 votes in favour and just six against.
Musk celebrated the outcome with a brief message on X: “Now a real city!” The move cements SpaceX’s growing presence at the southern tip of Texas, where the company has spent the last decade building rockets, testing technology, and launching prototypes of Starship, the vessel Musk hopes will one day take humans to Mars.
While the election has passed, the implications are just beginning to unfold. With Starbase’s new status as a municipality, SpaceX will now wield significant influence over local governance.
What is Starbase and what is Musk’s plan?
Starbase is the new name for what was previously Boca Chica Village, a 1.5-square-mile patch of coastal land near the US-Mexico border, crisscrossed with trailers, hangars, and high-tech equipment. It has served as SpaceX’s principal launch facility for Starship, a rocket designed for deep-space missions under contracts with NASA and the Department of Defense.
NBC News reported that the company already manages key services in the area, including roads, utilities, schooling, and medical care for its workers. In 2024, SpaceX’s general manager Kathryn Lueders wrote to local officials requesting a vote to formally establish the city, citing a need to “grow Starbase as a community.”
SpaceX’s goal is to dramatically increase its rocket launches from five to 25 per year with accompanying infrastructure upgrades. With cityhood, the company is now poised to control zoning, public access, and even emergency protocols. Critics worry that this could result in frequent beach closures, diminished public oversight, and enhanced powers for Musk and his deputies.
Driving along South Texas’ remote Highway 4, signs of Elon Musk’s expanding footprint are unmistakable. Politico reported that towering rockets and murals of Musk’s face now mark the area, once known only for its mesquite thickets and Civil War echoes. What was once unincorporated Boca Chica Village has transformed into Starbase, a fledgling company town populated almost entirely by SpaceX employees. As Politico described, Musk’s ambitions now stretch beyond space exploration with Starbase, he’s building a city from scratch, gaining near-total control over land, infrastructure, and local governance, prompting both awe and alarm from nearby Brownsville residents.
Who will run Starbase?
Robert “Bobby” Peden, a 36-year-old SpaceX veteran who serves as the company’s vice president of Texas Test and Launch, will serve as mayor. Commissioners include Jenna Petrzelka, a former operations engineering manager at Starbase and a self-described philanthropist, and Jordan Buss, the current senior director of Environmental Health and Safety at SpaceX.
The low-profile campaign saw no public events, no websites, and no yard signs. Each candidate agreed not to accept more than $1,110 in political contributions. The vote to incorporate the new city was backed by nearly 300 eligible residents, most of whom are SpaceX employees.
All three elected officials either currently live or have ties to Boca Chica Village, the area now known as Starbase. The city’s creation is seen as a major step in Elon Musk’s long-term vision for expanding SpaceX operations in South Texas.
Musk’s history with Texas
Musk’s presence in Texas has grown steadily over the past decade. In 2014, after scouting various sites, SpaceX chose Cameron County for its launchpad, partly because of its proximity to the equator, minimal population, and favourable tax deals. As Politico noted, local officials granted SpaceX a 10-year property tax break, hoping to stimulate economic growth in one of the state’s poorest regions.
Since then, the relationship has evolved. While SpaceX has brought jobs and investment, it has also sparked tension. Residents in nearby Brownsville complain of rising rents and restricted beach access during rocket tests. Activists including the South Texas Environmental Justice Network have rallied against what they see as creeping corporate overreach and environmental risks.
In South Texas, Starbase now resembles a modern-day “company town,” complete with SpaceX employees in key local government roles.
