Sunday, May 4

Elon Musk has finally managed to incorporate the town of Starbase, just next to SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site, after a local vote.

SpaceX, Musk's space technology company, has been the primary option for NASA when launching rockets, satellites, or other missions, with the company receiving billions in government contracts to execute their plans. SpaceX primarily operates out of Boca Chica, a town on the southern tip of Texas near their border with Mexico.

In 2021, Musk has expressed his desire to create a town near Boca Chica for SpaceX employees to live in, but he had not gone through with the plan-- until now. The government required at least a two-thirds majority for the city to be incorporated, and as expected, they received 212 out of the 218 total votes from the area. This is because almost the entire population of the proposed Starbase area, which is around 283 people, is home to employees of SpaceX, who would not show any opposition to the creation of the town.

Musk plans to improve the community of Starbase into a thriving atmosphere that will draw SpaceX employees to the area, and the town's incorporation is also expected to assist with some of their launches.

Currently, SpaceX needs to get specific approval from the county government to close the Boca Chica Highway, shut down local beaches, and close Boca Chica State Park before a rocket launch, which is a huge hassle for both the company and the people living nearby. However, the incorporation of the town could make those steps slightly easier.

Nevertheless, there has been serious pushback to the idea. Many people balked at the fact that Starbase, as a company town, could give Musk greater power over local restrictions, and others are worried that increased beach and highway closures could affect the population of the region around Starbase as well.

Fact of the Day (BBC): Earth’s rotation is changing speed. It's actually slowing. This means that, on average, the length of a day increases by around 1.8 seconds per century. 600 million years ago a day lasted just 21 hours.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): It isn’t about ‘being strong’ and pretending everything’s okay; it’s about finding joy where you can. (Rashida Jones)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Sleuth (verb, SLOOTH) - To sleuth is to carefully or methodically search for information, or to act as a detective.

In a Sentence: We spent hours at the flea market sleuthing for 19th century paintings.