Comments on: A SpaceX expansion at Boca Chica spaceport?

By: wodun

wodun — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 10:19:43 +0000

Thanks!

By: Tom Billings

Tom Billings — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 01:08:14 +0000

Wodun asked:

“Is there a local port or are they going to build their own facilities for the drone barges?”

There is Port Isabel, about 9 kilometers away from the launch pad. Since it will be supporting the LNG export plant now building nearby, it should have plenty of room for the drone barges and offloading for the Falcon boosters. The BFR/BFS should not need anything from there except the Methane refined from the Natural Gas brought in by pipeline.

By: wodun

wodun — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 23:08:35 +0000

Dick Eagleson has it nailed down as usual. So, could we look at how long it should take to make these improvements as a signal for how long it will take SpaceX to get BFR/BFS up and going? Can their other pads currently support BFR/BFS launches?

Is there a local port or are they going to build their own facilities for the drone barges?

Regardless of whether or not things happen as quickly as Musk claims, SpaceX is always diligently planning for future operations. It will be a big deal when Boca Chica comes online.

By: Dick Eagleson

Dick Eagleson — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 21:35:42 +0000

It makes sense that SpaceX might be doing the preliminaries needed to support future BFR/BFS operations at Boca Chica. The existing plan includes a Horizontal Integration Facility (hangar), launch pad, landing pads and LOX and RP-1 tank farms sized to support F9 and FH operations. BFR/BFS would require a second, larger pad, natural gas liquifaction/refining facilities and methane storage tank farm, more LOX capacity and, most likely, an assembly plant for BFR/BFS stages. The improvements to government-provided road and water supply infrastructure already needed for F9/FH operations would certainly need a sizable additional bump upward to handle BFR/BFS ops as well.