Starbase: The city governed by the private company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk

On a coastal strip in southern Texas, right where the desert merges with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a vision of the future begins to materialize. In that corner, in a former locality called Boca Chica, SpaceX rockets rise into the sky as a symbol of an unprecedented technological revolution.

That place, where the entrepreneur Elon Musk develops his most ambitious space initiative, has been renamed Starbase. It is no longer just an operations base, but an officially recognized city by the state of Texas that adopts the name of the spaceport from which the Starship prototypes are launched.

Starbase was born as a logical extension of SpaceX's industrial and testing complex, but recently its legal status was completely transformed. In a recent vote, a small group of local residents decided to turn the area into a city.

Among those who took part in that resolution were SpaceX employees and people directly related to the company. As expected, the result granted the company an expanded level of authority. Meanwhile, Musk acquired an unprecedented influence in the urban configuration linked to the aerospace sector.

This way, Starbase becomes a historical case of a city governed by a private company, representing a move toward a governance model with less state control and more freedom for the private sector.

The creation of Starbase goes beyond the merely symbolic. With its new recognition as a city, it can now have its own government, enact regulations and manage taxes. Additionally, according to reports, SpaceX is developing the infrastructure and services for the city, including a police force, roads, public services, and schools.

The first mayor, Bobby Peden, doesn't come from the traditional political sphere. He is the vice president of test and launch operations for SpaceX in Texas and has been part of the company since 2013. In practical terms, the leadership of this new municipality falls under the direct control of the company.

From an operational standpoint, the change represents immediate advantages. The coordination of launches, roadblocks, and logistical deployment in the area become simpler with a local administration aligned with the company's objectives.

For SpaceX, it is a natural evolution. For those observing from the outside, it is a unique case of corporate urbanism, where a private company not only builds spacecraft but also regulates the social environment in which they are produced and launched.