Comments on: SpaceX continues to acquire land in Texas for its planned spaceport in Brownsville.

By: Pzatchok

Pzatchok — Thu, 08 May 2014 12:56:25 +0000

I should have kept that land in Texas. Dang.

By: Competential

Competential — Thu, 08 May 2014 11:19:45 +0000

In reply to Steve C. Just loke the cows on the videos of SpaceX's reusability demonstration videos, those who destroy wild life by over fishing it, and those who sail by out of personal pleasure, have to adapt to the conditions of modern infrastructure without which they could not survive. Neither fisher nor yacht would have a clue as to where they are without navigation satellites and many of them would die every day. If they choose to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, then they simply made a bad call. That's not a headache for SpaceX.

By: Steve C

Steve C — Wed, 07 May 2014 02:59:02 +0000

At the Cape, the closest you can get to an Atlas 5 launch is just under 5 miles. This cannot be talking about a launch facility. It has to be just administration and flight control.

By: Steve C

Steve C — Tue, 06 May 2014 21:16:16 +0000

In reply to Matt in AZ. That brings up another question. How does a private company clear the boats out of downrange? There's a lot of pleasure and shrimp boats at Padre Island.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 06 May 2014 21:04:01 +0000

In reply to Matt in AZ.

An explosion on or just above the pad would create quite a mess and hazard for any people or structures nearby. 1100 feet seems like much too little safety distance.

Boca Chica Beach, where they seem to be buying and leasing land, is in a fairly watery area with lakes, a bay, and the Rio Grande river. Depending upon the locations and geography of the lots that they have bought and leased, they may have quite a bit more than a mere 1100 feet for safety. If they put the pad next to or into the water or on one of the islands in the bay, that would add extra safety distance.

It would be nice to see a map of what they have planned.

I found an article that says that part of Joanna Street will be closed for SpaceX.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/valley/article_6f177afc-07b1-11e3-a736-0019bb30f31a.html
“Seven of the 12 lots, where the control center area site would be located, are between a portion of Remedios Avenue and Joanna Street, as shown in public records and a survey provided to Commissioners’ Court that the engineering firm of Mejia & Rose Inc., conducted on Dogleg Park LLC’s behalf. The survey is dated July 3.”

I hope this link directs you to a map of the region:
https://maps.yahoo.com/place/?lat=25.987269802616886&lon=-97.18653917312622&q=Joanna%20Street%2C%20Brownsville%2C%20Texas&bb=25.99587198816584%2C-97.20290064811707%2C25.97868627699692%2C-97.17017769813538&addr=Joanna%20St%2C%20Brownsville%2C%20TX%2078521

By: Matt in AZ

Matt in AZ — Tue, 06 May 2014 18:31:42 +0000

In reply to Steve C. The Gulf of Mexico itself will be a huge part of that safety range. We have yet to hear how that will be implemented, however.

By: Steve C

Steve C — Tue, 06 May 2014 17:06:15 +0000

94 acres, assuming it is in a circle with the rocket at the center, gives a safety range of around 1100 feet. Pretty close to the neighbors if something goes boom. I think they need to add a few orders of magnitude to their land acquisition.