Elon Musk owned private space agency SpaceX has got unanimous approval from the Los Angeles City Council to build rockets for interplanetary travel at the port of Los Angeles.
As per the reports, Elon Musk wanted to expand its Los Angeles-area operations to Terminal Island in order to set up a manufacturing plant for the development of Big Falcon Rocket that will be sent to Mars by 2022.
“This is game-changing for our city,” said Councilmember Joe Buscaino, who represents the harbor area. He suggested that the facility would be a “landing ground for innovation” at the city’s port. “My uncle Joe once built ships at the port, and now with [City Council] support we will build spaceships there,” Buscaino said.
The city council has signed a 30-year lease agreement with SpaceX for taking over the dormant complex at the port to develop the construction facility. What’s striking is that the SpaceX won’t pay rent for the facility for the first two decades, but it will receive $40 million dollars as a credit to renovate and build the rocket building facility at the port. However, from the third decade, the company will be charged $3 million dollars per year to use the facility.
It is to be noticed that the port has been dormant since 2005 so the deal is good for the parties and will benefit all. As per the deal, SpaceX will get 19 acres of land at the port which was once the part of Southwest Marine Shipyard. The company aims to build an 80,000-square-foot facility which can eventually be expanded up to 200,000 feet later on.
The location of the port is a blessing in disguise for Elon Musk as he wishes to develop interplanetary rockets that will be sent to Mars to set up human colony starting from 2022. Since the size of the rockets will be too large to transport by road, the port of Los Angeles facility will enable SpaceX to transport the rockets with ease.