For quite some time, we have been unsure how much of the nearly $10 billion that SpaceX has raised for Starship and for Starlink has gone into each of these projects. We now have a good idea.

From the document filed for SpaceX’s motion to intervene:

Since the FAA issued the ROD approving development of the site, SpaceX has invested more than $3 billion into developing the Boca Chica launch facility and Starship/Super Heavy launch system. [Emphasis mine]

Elsewhere, the filing tells us the beginning date for this amount of expenditure:

On July 9, 2014, the FAA issued a Record of Decision (“ROD”) to approve SpaceX’s construction and operation of the Boca Chica launch site.

This does not give us a definitive number, but we now have a lower limit on how much SpaceX has invested in Starship. Since it is in the company’s best interest to give as large a number as possible, we can be fairly sure that SpaceX has not yet invested $4 billion in this project.

Although this amount also includes the development of infrastructure and ground support, it gives us a better number for comparing the Starship/Super Heavy development with other rocket development projects.

As did I at first. I was happy to see the way Florida was pushing back. Then a few months ago I read this:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/08/19/for-those-with-eyes-to-see/

Almost everything predicted months ago has come true.

Jester Naybor: We are in agreement on all points.

My preference? That Trump gets back in the White House, DeSantis stays as governor, and they – along with Kristi Noem, Greg Abbott and others – work together to leverage federalism to move as much power as they can out of occupied DC.

My fear is that the GOP campaign consultants will pressure DeSantis and/or Trump to stop “saying the quiet parts out loud” and either/both end up up like Scott Walker in 2016. That could result from enough people throwing Trump under the bus because they prefer a fire-and-forget hero to defending the need for his disruptive approach and STQPOL.

“Although no debris was documented on refuge fee-owned lands, staff documented approximately 385 acres of debris on SpaceX’s facility and at Boca Chica State Park, which is leased by the Service and managed as a component of the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge,” reads a US Fish and Wildlife Service statement from shortly after the launch. “Additionally, a 3.5-acre fire started south of the pad site on Boca Chica State Park land. At this time, no dead birds or wildlife have been found on refuge-owned or managed lands.”

Essentially, these groups are complaining about a non-problem, a problem that did not happen, despite an unforeseen worst-case scenario (or even a worse-than-anticipated-worst-case scenario). The fire isn’t the first, yet launches were approved despite the occasional brush fire. Heck, even nature causes its own brush fires. Should we revoke nature’s license to operate in the area? Outlaw lightening strikes? Hmm.

James Street: Based on what DeSantis has done, I see no evidence that he is a creature controlled by the swamp. Instead, he appears to be a hard-nosed man of principles unafraid of anyone in his effort to do the right thing, for freedom and law and morality.

That’s too bad. DeSantis is swamp. He has the full backing of the swamp: the Bush family, RINO bloggers, Fox news….