ELON Musk says he will build a new "city" in Texas centred around SpaceX's gargantuan rocket-building facility in the state.
In a series of Twitter posts about his plans, the billionaire tech tycoon said "Starbase" would encompass an “area much larger than Boca Chica", where SpaceX built its huge, existing facility in 2014.
Musk tweeted: "Creating the city of Starbase, Texas," without elaborating further.
"From thence to Mars, and hence the Stars," he added in a follow up Tweet.
Musk, who leads several futuristic companies, including Tesla Inc, Neuralink and Boring Co, moved to the Lone Star State from California in December.
He made the move to focus on the electric-car maker's new plant in the state and his SpaceX venture.
But according to the NY Post, Musk's company will have to follow a strict series of bureaucratic steps to bring the plans to fruition, officials said.
“If SpaceX and Elon Musk would like to pursue down this path, they must abide by all state incorporation statutes,” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, the county’s top official, said in a statement onTuesday.
He added: “Cameron County will process any appropriate petitions in conformity with applicable law.”
To create a new city, SpaceX would have to get local residents to sign a petition that it would submit to the county judge, who would then order an election on whether the municipality should be incorporated.
According to the Texas Municipal League, if the election is successful, the city would have the power to create its own laws and other ordinances.
Musk is also planning to break ground on a new facility in Austin to support his satellite-based broadband service Starlink, according to a job posting from the company.
The "new, state-of-the-art" manufacturing facility is being created to keep up with global demand.
The Starlink venture, a planned network of tens of thousands of satellites in low-earth orbit, aims to offer fast internet speeds globally.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is closing in on the latest launch of its Starship rocket, which the firm hopes to use to carry astronauts to Mars in 2024.
The Starship prototype SN10 could fire high into the sky from a launchpad in Texas as early as today.
In a recent tweet, Musk said the ship's launch window would open at 9am ET on March 3.
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