text: SpaceX to build test versions of Mars spaceships in Texas, not Los Angeles | Science News – India TV
  SpaceX to build test versions of Mars spaceships in Texas, not Los Angeles
  SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted that development of Starship will continue in Hawthorne, but prototypes will be built in south Texas.
  New Delhi Published on: January 17, 2019 9:32 IST
  SpaceX to build test versions of Mars spaceships in Texas
  SpaceX said Wednesday that it will build test versions of its Mars spaceship in south Texas instead of the Port of Los Angeles in another blow to the local economy that comes days after the company announced massive layoffs. The decision was made to streamline operations, the Hawthorne, California-based company said in a statement.
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  The port facility would have allowed the giant craft to be barged or shipped to launch sites.
  It could have added about 700 jobs to the area. SpaceX now won't proceed with that option.
  The company has a launch facility in Boca Chica near Brownsville, where one prototype of the spacecraft already has been assembled.
  "While we are disappointed that SpaceX will not be expanding their operations at the Port of Los Angeles, we are pleased that they will continue their recovery operations here," port spokesman Phillip Sanfield said.
  "Our ongoing work with SpaceX and other advanced technology companies is important to our efforts to advance the port through innovation and new technologies."
  Last Friday, SpaceX announced it would lay off 10 per cent of its roughly 6,000 workers, most of them at its Hawthorne headquarters.
  The company said it needs to become leaner to accomplish ambitious and costly projects such as the Starship and Starlink, which would create a constellation of satellites to provide space-based broadband internet service.