Company Says Boca Chica Site May Be Operational Later This Year

SpaceX could be launching spacecraft from its Boca Chica launch facility as early as this year, the company says. But those launches may be suborbital testing of rockets rather than things like commercial satellite launches, at least in the early going.

The website Teslarati reports that in January, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said that development of the SpaceX "BFS" ... for Big [Freaking] Spaceship ... is going smoothly. But even if Boca Chica becomes operational later this year, the company has no plans to move production of Big [Freaking] Rockets (BFR) in the area.

Orbital launches from Boca Chica would likely not begin until sometime in 2019 or later, according to the report. The facility could be used for testing of a planned Mars rocket.

Teslarati says that SpaceX watchers living in south Texas pay close attention to what is going on in at the Boca Chica facility, and that any significant construction activity ... or lack thereof ... will be noted an passed along by observant local folks. If SpaceX is going to meet its 2018 projections, the space media will start hearing about it as soon as such work begins.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report