Could Be Potential Manufacturing Facility For The 'Big Falcon Rocket'

SpaceX has started the process of expanding their manufacturing operation in Los Angeles into a "state of the art" facility at the Port of Los Angeles. There is some speculation that the purpose of the new facility would be to build the company's "Big Falcon Rocket" ... also known as the "BFR".

Ars Technica reports that paperwork has been filed with the Port of Los Angeles for such a facility near Long Beach. The proposed tenant is WW Marine Composites, LLC, which appears to be a SpaceX subsidiary.

In the port document, an 18-acre site at Berth 240 and the port would be used for "construction and operation of a facility to manufacture large commercial transportation vessels," including "research and development of transportation vessels and would likely include general manufacturing procedures such as welding, composite curing, cleaning, painting, and assembly operations."

The vehicles produced would be large enough to require transportation by ship, which is the reason for the site adjacent to the water.

The initial lease would be for 10 years, with two 10-year renewals available. The facility would be designed to "accommodate recovery operations undertaken by Space Exploration Technologies to bring to shore vehicles returning from space that are retrieved by an autonomous drone ship offshore."

SpaceX would only confirm that the talks with the port are underway, but would not discuss specifics. Ars says it has confirmed through an independent source that the facility would be used for the manufacture of the BFR.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report, Port document