Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On September 14, SpaceX is developing carrier rockets and starships in the small town of Boca Chica, Texas, prompting admirers of Elon Musk to flock to this remote place, hoping to witness SpaceX colonize space.

Starship test launch attracted die-hard fans Florida resident Anthony Gomez (Anthony Gomez) saw the starship prototype launch for the first time on a projector. At that time, he watched with envy at home as the starship reached an altitude of more than 12000 meters, all three Raptor engines were shut down, and the huge steel ship began to fall vertically back to Earth. Just before reaching the landing platform, the ship's engine restarted and quickly regained its vertical posture. However, the spaceship seemed to land so fast that it hit the ground hard and there was a huge explosion. After that, the place where the starship was once launched turned to scorched earth, which disappointed many people.

For Anthony, the explosion was not a real tragedy. The real tragedy is that he and others witnessed this historic moment on YouTube and were not there in person. However, the starship test did not land successfully, Anthony and others must still have a chance. A few weeks later, Anthony went on vacation with friends, but instead of indulging in natural beauty, he still stared at his phone and checked the road closures near the SpaceX launch site in Texas. The road closure is a clear sign that another test is coming.

The place Anthony is obsessed with is Bokacchka, the southernmost town in Texas. There, SpaceX built a complete manufacturing and launch facility, Starbase, which is the company's main location for manufacturing and testing starship prototypes. The starship is shaped like a giant silver bullet, and SpaceX hopes to use this carrier rocket to launch cargo into distant space, as well as humans in the future. Starships should be fully reusable and able to land vertically on the surfaces of other planets. The first stop is the moon, and then use it as a transit station to go to Mars.

However, there is no record of starships going into space. To prepare for its first orbital trip, SpaceX began launching the prototype into the air and then tried to land again in its entirety, somewhat mimicking the way the rocket needs to land when it reaches the outer planet.

Shortly after Anthony witnessed the first explosive test in December 2020, SpaceX tried again in February, this time Anthony arrived at the scene himself. For Anthony, the launch was spectacular, even though the starship prototype failed to land and exploded. Since then, Anthony seems to have developed an obsession. "I thought, 'well, I have to see it land successfully,'" he said.

A month later, SpaceX tried to launch the starship prototype again, and Anthony was also on the scene. Before the launch, he was invited by friends to a place called Rocket Ranch. This is an isolated piece of land near the Starbase launch site, where aerospace enthusiasts always gather to watch the SpaceX test from a distance. Anthony only wanted to stay there for a short time, but then spent the night there and stayed there for a whole week. "I fell in love with this place," he said. I just want to know if there is any way for me to stay here with all my heart. "

SpaceX Starship SN11 Launches & Suffers Inflight Explosion (Source: NetEase Science and Technology report)

Anthony then quit his job and moved to Bokaccika. In March of that year, SpaceX successfully launched another starship prototype and successfully completed its first vertical landing, although the spacecraft exploded again a few minutes later.

Fans left their homes to build a rocket ranch to elaborate on his ambition to send humans to Mars, Musk made his debut at the International Astronautical Congress in 2016. Reporter Loren Grush was there at the time, and he felt more like he was covering a rock concert than a space conference. After the speech, Musk answered the audience's questions. A man shouted: "this guy surprised us." he wanted to give Musk a comic book with his protagonist as a gift. Another woman asked if she could give him a kiss of good luck on behalf of all the ladies.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of enthusiasm around SpaceX and Musk. After tracking Musk for nearly a decade, Grush saw that fans were still passionate about Musk. Sometimes, this can be difficult to deal with. Any doubt or criticism of SpaceX or Musk will be attacked with extreme bitterness. However, fans are an important part of the company's success. Without some kind of collective enthusiasm and imagination, space flight will not become a reality.

To enter the Rocket Ranch, you first need a leap of faith. The entrance starts at an obscure gravel fork on Interstate 4, the only road connecting Starbase to the nearby Texas border town of Brownsville. The road is surrounded by flat land dotted with trees and bushes. The Rocket Ranch is not particularly ostentatious, with a dark blue single-story building, an open-air garage and wooden decks, and a staircase leading to the nearby Rio Grande Pier.

Although the house is the main building of the Rocket Ranch, there are a large number of trailers on both sides of the river bank to provide accommodation for stray travelers. Just a few meters away, there is a stage and bar, which may be the place where the concert is held. There is a mannequin in a spacesuit in the main building and robots welded with scrap metal in the kitchen. Bright orange walls are dotted with rocket pictures of Mars and SpaceX. There are also puzzles about the Martian colonies that guests can piece together.

It's easy to like it here. Usually, when you think of Rocket Ranch, you think of antlers on the walls, lots of wood paneling and animal skin carpets. But this is a dream place for SpaceX fans, and for those who know Musk's plan, it makes people feel at home. Here, some people come to watch the starship launch, while others prepare to live in the rocket ranch. People are looking forward to the latest news from Musk, who will talk about starships for the first time in more than two years.

The presentation itself is quite insipid, and there are few actual updates. Standing in front of starship prototypes and super-heavy rocket boosters, Musk spoke specifically about the need to protect humans. For him, the earth may be destroyed in the future, leading to the demise of all human beings, and we need to be prepared for this situation. That's why we need to explore how to live on other planets. His most familiar mantra is: "the window to Mars is now open, and we have the technology and know-how to get people to settle on Mars." but this window may be very short, and we need to do our best to move on as soon as possible. "

When Grush returned to Rocket Ranch after the speech, she found Anthony and dozens of other SpaceX fans glowing, all excited to watch the speech. They had just finished a viewing party and now they were back at the ranch, drinking whiskey and beer around the campfire to celebrate. Grush spent the whole night talking to all of them and listening to their stories. Their worship of Musk left a deep impression on Grush. What they have in common is that they all love SpaceX. In order to get closer to it, they are willing to leave their homes.

As an employee of a non-profit organization, Anthony has helped disabled children and provided them with competitive employment opportunities. Since then, Anthony has worked in marketing, broadcasting and IT for many years. In the end, he accidentally entered the "Fire Day" community and became the organizer and coordinator of the event, going to various celebration sites to set up installations and stages. Now, Anthony's life looks very different. He devoted all his energy to maintaining the rocket ranch. The property, which covers an area of about 40,000 square meters, is a wildlife reserve and requires a lot of maintenance.

Nearby Starbase has a Fire Day atmosphere, but it is quieter. Part of the attraction of the SpaceX facility is that you are quite close to the actual rocket. Next to the starship prototype manufacturing site, stands the Rocket Garden, an outdoor museum showing the history of starships. The prototype starship that SpaceX successfully landed and other spacecraft that were quickly out of date when they were built are here because SpaceX iterates faster than tests.

To build a "sanctuary" for Musk fans, just three kilometers from the production facility is the launch facility, from which the rocket is launched. There, SpaceX's formidable launch pads and towers stand tall. The complex is also close to the Gulf of Mexico and nearby public beaches, but can only be reached via Interstate 4. Bokaccika is full of cracks and potholes, which are probably caused by carrying huge rocket parts. When SpaceX tests, launches or rocket recycling, roads must be closed to prevent locals from entering the beach.

In addition to the houses in the village of Bokacica, Rocket Ranch is one of the places closest to the Starbase facility. According to Anthony's vision, Rocket Ranch serves partly as an art center and partly as a refuge for SpaceX fans. "in other circles, we are like abandoned people," he said. these people are nerds and they are made fun of because they like these things. so we finally have a place to get together and share happiness.

Some people have their own jobs there, and they offer to help solve daily difficulties. Some people are there to record what SpaceX has done, while others just want to be with like-minded people. Visitors to Rocket Ranch include Nick Ansuni (Nic Ansuini), a photographer for NASASpaceflight.com. The website fully covers StarBase's information and has set up a 24-hour live broadcast platform in Bokaccika, with cameras always aimed at the launch pad and the production site.

Like Anthony, Nick was inspired by the first test launch of a Falcon heavy rocket in 2019. He wanted to be an accountant before entering Bokaccika, but gave up his career to record podcasts independently and film reviews of commercial technology products. Now, Nick stays at Starbase every day.

"I thought I would only stay here for a short time, but I was fascinated by everything and round-the-clock activities here," he said. "it's addictive. I can't leave." Nick finally camped on the beach directly in front of the launch site for a week. Seeing new parts passing through the area and rockets assembled in front of his eyes changed his life. During that time, SpaceX successfully stacked the starship prototype on a super heavy rocket. "I never felt like I needed to let go of what I was doing and pursue something to the maximum," he said. SpaceX did it. "

In his first few months as a resident of Texas, Nick lived in a car on the beach, where he camped when he first checked in. All he does is record the activities of Starbase. He tried to keep the number of trips to the city to a minimum. Nick didn't want to go anywhere except Starbase.

Nick claims to have lost 45 kilos because he always forgets to eat. Nick is always looking for a new perspective to take pictures. A bird may fly at a certain altitude, a unique moment he has never seen before. Or maybe it rained the night before, forming a puddle where he could photograph the reflection of the rocket. Nick is not bored. He thinks he is recording history.

Speaking of colonizing Mars, Nick said: "I think this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the window to Mars is so short that people don't even realize how short it is." He repeated Musk's view: if we don't try now, if we don't do our best now, we may never get to Mars.

Rely on SpaceX for a living, but not everyone here is a big fan of SpaceX. For people like Louis Valderas, this has helped to change his future financial position. Valderas is better known for his YouTube account LabPadre. Unlike Anthony and Nick, Valderas has been in the area for the past 20 years. During that time, he saw two very different kinds of Bokacchika. "if I'm not asleep, I'm working," he said. "SpaceX has occupied every corner of my life."

Valderas, who has long been obsessed with camera and consumer technology, owns his own IT company, which is responsible for most of the work in South Padre and nearby Port Isabel. When SpaceX's website activity increased dramatically in 2019, it changed his life. He has some experience with live broadcasting and has installed cameras to film concerts and crowds in the area during spring break. His YouTube channel had little appeal before. Then he decided to move the camera near Bokaccika. "I didn't do any advertising," he said. "I just pointed the camera in this direction. The next day, thousands of people followed me."

Since then, Valderas's subscribers have grown to more than 200,000, and his experiment at Starbase has become his full-time job. Valderas now has six different cameras, some of which are installed on nearby properties he bought, others on cars to provide better mobility. Everything depends on solar energy, but Valderas often drives around the area to clean cameras, check batteries and fix breakdowns. He is committed to keeping his streaming media running all the time. If SpaceX leaves, it will upend the new life that Valderas has created for himself.

From December 2020 to May 2021, a lot happened to Starbase. SpaceX conducted five high-altitude test launches of its starship prototype, attracting travelers and large crowds to the area. Almost all of the tests ended in some form of explosion, one of which even scattered debris in a nearby wildlife reserve. In the end, it all turned out to be worth it. SpaceX launched its upgraded starship prototype to an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, then brought it back to Earth, flipped it vertically, and finally gently lowered it to the landing platform. Although there were worrying signs during this period, the starship prototype remained standing and intact.

This is a perfect way to put an end to specific testing activities. But since then, the area has become much quieter. Now, SpaceX is focused on proving that it can put starships into orbit. Many obstacles hinder this process. First of all, SpaceX is not really ready. Although Musk continues to give an optimistic launch date, months later, the company has not yet completed the tests needed before the launch attempt.

This calm is not good for Anthony's business, and fewer test launches mean fewer people come to the Rocket Ranch to stay. To help make ends meet, he organized a Starbase trip, taking guests through the area on an old school bus with an external view of Mars.

Another big obstacle is FAA. Since 2020, the agency has been conducting lengthy environmental assessments of StarBase to determine the potential impact of the facility on the community and the surrounding environment. The results of the assessment will have a significant impact on the future of Starbase and could delay the company's ability to put starships into orbit. Therefore, for some time, everyone has been on standby, waiting for some definite result.

Environmental concerns have angered fans at Stephanie Bilodeau, a coastal conservation biologist who has been in the area for years to study the nesting habits of plow birds. They are a special kind of shorebird that likes to nest on the ground and often nests on the mudflats near the beach. This is a very special habitat, and there is not much. The number of plow birds has been declining in recent years. This is due to a number of reasons, she says, but mainly due to habitat loss caused by development, with facilities like SpaceX occupying areas where they usually nest in winter or stay during migration.

While many people in the region are pleased with SpaceX's opening of an office in Bokaccika, others see the company's existence as an invasion. When SpaceX first broke ground here in 2014, its vision for the region was far less ambitious. The company plans to create a private spaceport to launch Falcon 9 rockets and Falcon heavy rockets, and plans to launch about 12 times a year in the area. The company even told nearby residents that they did not need special hearing protection.

In 2019, however, things changed. That year, SpaceX began building the first prototype vehicle for the starship program. The bizarre experiment, eventually called the StarHopper, was used to test SpaceX's new Raptor engine. SpaceX repeatedly launched the spacecraft hundreds of meters into the air and then pulled it back to the ground again to show that they could make a controlled launch and landing. This is just the beginning. Since then, SpaceX has gone all out in Bokaccika to expand the company's facilities, build tents and construction facilities, employ thousands of people, and mass produce starship prototypes.

Since 2016, Stephanie has traveled to Bokachica many times to study plow birds. The area around Starbase is a wildlife reserve full of sparkling wetlands, home to at least 520 different types of birds. In fact, Stephanie says, Bocaccika is a particularly good area for plowbirds because the mudflats where the nests are located stay dry long enough for them to lay eggs and raise young birds.

But due to SpaceX tests, Interstate 4 was often closed, which prevented Stephanie from entering the beach and the surrounding mudflats. Once, she began to track the frequency of road closures and record them on her calendar. Until May, red or yellow squares appear almost every day. Yellow represents a "temporary or intermittent" shutdown, while red is used to test a shutdown. Most of the calendar is red.

This not only made Stephanie's life more difficult, but she also noticed a decrease in the number of plow birds nearby. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which works with Stephanie's nonprofit, supports her claim. In a letter to FAA, FWS argued that the decline in a shorebird-like species was also related to the increase in SpaceX's activity in the Bokacica area. Stephanie said it was probably the loud noise made by Starbase that disturbed the birds and caused them to leave. Moreover, when the test launch caused an explosion and sprayed debris over the shelter, it also had a huge impact.

Stephanie's nonprofit submitted its concerns about SpaceX to FAA during the public comment period from September to early November, a topic that quickly became controversial. Fervent critics and fans of SpaceX have come forward, some warning FAA that it is not doing enough to stop the growth of SpaceX, while others accuse FAA of not issuing launch licenses to SpaceX fast enough.

It is not only the surrounding wildlife populations that may be driven away, but also many locals who choose to leave. Before the arrival of SpaceX, the Bokachica community of about 40 families was a bit of a remote paradise for retirees. But as SpaceX moved next door to expand, their lives began to be dominated by seemingly constant construction noise, bright lights in the dead of night, and tests that sometimes ended in violent explosions a few kilometers from home.

Eventually, SpaceX realized that locating the neighborhood next door was not entirely feasible for its grand operation, so the company offered to buy out the property of the locals. At first, many residents insisted they would not leave, but in the end most gave in. Although there are still some stubborn people, the village of Bokachica now looks very different from what it used to be. These brick houses, mostly brown and beige, have been renovated and painted in SpaceX's iconic white and black style. Employees and executives have moved in. When Musk visits here, he will also live nearby.

Today, almost all the people who live here are enthusiastic fans of Musk and his SpaceX. These people's desire to protect Musk is expressed in various ways, sometimes even a little frightening. Anthony revealed: "I believe that everyone interviewed is a keen admirer of Musk, they believe that'he represents the future'."

There is no denying that SpaceX has accomplished many amazing feats. Landing after a rocket launch, once considered a novelty, is now commonplace; SpaceX became the first private company to put astronauts into orbit, beating the traditional aerospace giant Boeing; and SpaceX is now making manned space missions routine, making it a key partner of NASA.

However, any great success will be accompanied by adverse side effects. In addition to the questions about Starbase, there are also allegations of SpaceX's job burnout culture and sexual harassment, which the company's human resources department has not handled perfectly. But for Musk's fans, these questions interfere with the larger mission of sending humans to Mars.

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