Launch Site Politics: Terrestrial Geographies of Outer Space in South Texas
Open Access DepositedIn 2014, SpaceX broke ground on its first commercial launch site for experimental rocket development in an unincorporated area of Cameron County, Texas, near the sprawling trans-border metropolitan area of Brownsville and Matamoros. To secure coastal land surrounded by protected areas, the company utilized political connections, gifted funds through subsidiaries and foundations, and promised economic benefits for Texas's Rio Grande Valley at large. Through this emerged Starbase, a launch facility used to experimentally develop the world’s largest rockets with the heaviest payloads. Starbase is built within overlapping domains of protected lands and essential habitats for endangered species, managed by the federal and Texas state governments, and sits less than three miles from the US-Mexico border. Built with rushed approval on land sacred to the Carrizo / Comecrudo Tribe of Texas without their consent and without a complete environmental impact assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration, now Starbase is functioning, and rockets are exploding. As SpaceX plans to expand the site, even more questions emerge about the environmental impact amidst enduring local resistance against the launch site's development. Based on qualitative research in Cameron County, this paper sheds light on the question: How is the outer space industry changing geographies and impacting people on Earth?
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Raulston_gwu_0075M_16862.pdf | 2024-10-02 | Open Access |
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