Starbase news, kept honest

September 5, 2026

We read SpaceX's SEC filings: $100.8 billion in cash, a $25 billion bond sale — and a $60 billion software acquisition

Since the June IPO, SpaceX reports to the SEC — and every filing lists its headquarters as 1 Rocket Road, Starbase, Texas 78521. A statement a company makes in an SEC filing carries legal liability; a statement to a reporter doesn't. That makes the filings the best sourcing this beat will ever have, so we read them. Two stories sitting in there haven't been covered locally at all.

The bond sale. Two weeks after going public, SpaceX sold $25 billion of senior unsecured notes — five tranches, from $7 billion at 5.350% due 2031 out to $3.5 billion at 6.650% due 2056 — closing June 26. In the same disclosure, the company told prospective investors it held approximately $100.8 billion in cash as of June 19 (with the company's own caution that the June 30 figure may differ). Why that matters on this coast: the Valley's standing anxiety is "what happens to us if SpaceX slows down?" A company holding that much cash, which just locked in borrowing out to 2056, is telling the market in binding paperwork that money is not the constraint on the Starbase buildout.

The acquisition. On August 14, SpaceX closed its purchase of Cursor (Anysphere, Inc.), the AI coding-tools company — 389,289,254 Class A shares, an implied equity value of $60 billion. Pair that with the same quarter's 10-Q, where SpaceX says it expects to allocate a significant amount of launch capacity to its AI segment in the future, and the picture shifts for anyone moving here: on paper, Starbase is now the registered headquarters of an AI company as much as a rocket company — and the local job mix will eventually say so.

And the honest number for trip planners. That same 10-Q reports Starship flew once in the first half of 2026 (versus three times in the first half of 2025), while Falcon flew 77 times. Count the late-July flight and Starship has flown twice this year. Starship launches are still rare, deliberate events — which is exactly why SpaceX telling its investors it expects orbital payload delivery to begin this half is a big deal. Book refundable, and start with the launch guide.

Sources (SEC filings, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., CIK 0001181412): 8-K, June 22 — offering launch + $100.8B cash · 8-K, June 23 — pricing, five tranches · 8-K, June 26 — closing + indenture · 8-K, Aug. 14 — Cursor merger · Form 10-Q, Q2 2026 — launch counts, AI segment

September 5, 2026

Flight 14 targets September 30 — and it may be the one that goes orbital

Starship's fourteenth flight test is currently tracking no earlier than Wednesday, September 30, 2026, from Pad 2 at Starbase — the third flight of the V3 vehicle. Two honesty notes come with that date. First, it has already moved: an FCC filing reported on September 2 pointed at September 15 before the target slipped. Second, it can move again — Starship dates only firm up when Cameron County posts closure orders, typically two to five days out.

Why this one is worth planning a trip around: the same FCC paperwork indicates SpaceX plans to deploy its first batch of new high-capacity Starlink satellites on Flight 14 — which, as reported, would make it the first orbital Starship mission, carrying real payload rather than flying a test arc. And that framing no longer rests on paperwork alone: SpaceX's own IPO prospectus tells investors, in as many words, "We expect Starship to commence payload delivery to orbit in the second half of 2026." The previous flight in late July was judged mostly successful, so the program comes into this attempt with momentum.

Planning to watch? Start with our launch viewing guide and confirm the date against the county's closure page before you drive.

Sources: Starbase Events — Flight 14 · Tesla Oracle (FCC filing, Sept. 2) · SpaceX IPO prospectus (Form 424B4, June 12) · Spaceflight Now (July 25 flight) · Cameron County closure orders

September 4, 2026

Starbase held its tax-rate hearing — a ~46% rate increase was on the table

The City of Starbase proposed a 2026 property-tax rate of $0.803732 per $100 of taxable value — up about 46% from last year's $0.55 — and held the required public hearing September 4 at City Hall. The commission's same-night agenda carried an ordinance adopting a rate of $0.80 even; we'll link the adopted rate when the city publishes the ordinance. Context from the city's own notices: taxable value inside the new city is about $1.19 billion, and the city carries no property-tax-supported debt. One honest caveat the notices themselves make: a 46% rate increase doesn't mean every bill rises 46% — valuations and exemptions move each bill.

Why it matters here: if you're comparing addresses inside Starbase's city limits against greater Brownsville, the city tax rate just became a real line in that comparison. Our relocation guide covers the rest of the housing math.

Sources: BTX Today (Aug. 27) · City of Starbase commission agenda, Sept. 4 (PDF) · KVEO

August 25, 2026

SpaceX announces a $100 billion second Starbase — in Louisiana

SpaceX will build a second Starship spaceport on a former Exxon property in Vermilion Parish, on Louisiana's Gulf Coast — a $100 billion investment with construction starting in 2027 and a first launch targeted for 2029. (Louisiana's economic-development agency projects initial operations in 2030; we note both numbers because they don't quite agree.) Reporting puts the buildout at 10 launch pads supporting SpaceX's stated ambition of thousands of Starship flights per year, with 3,000 direct jobs at an average salary near $92,600 and more than 30,000 construction jobs at peak.

What it means for the Texas Starbase: nothing announced changes here. Starbase, Texas remains Starship's build site, headquarters, and launch site, and the announcement came with no stated reduction on this side. Elon Musk also repeated that Falcon rockets retire once Starship flies multiple times per week — the clearest signal yet that Starship is becoming the whole company.

Primary-source footnote (Sept. 5): SpaceX has not yet filed anything with the SEC describing the Louisiana site — its most recent filing of any kind is dated August 14, before this announcement. That's a filing-calendar fact, not doubt about the project; companies aren't required to file an 8-K for every announcement. We'll link the first filing that mentions it.

Sources: TechCrunch · Space.com · Axios New Orleans

June 11, 2026

SpaceX went public — and the ripple hit Brownsville first

SpaceX's IPO (ticker SPCX) was the largest in history: 555,555,555 shares at $135.00, raising $75.0 billion — Saudi Aramco's 2019 record was $29.4 billion — and valuing the company at about $1.77 trillion at the offer price. (The "$2 trillion" figures widely quoted came from post-open trading, not the offering itself.) The local numbers behind the headline: more than 4,000 people already work at Starbase — roughly 70% hired from the Valley — and the company has said it plans to roughly double that toward 8,000 during 2026. Brownsville's average home price has climbed to $196,920, up nearly 75% since 2018. CBS's on-the-ground reporting found what locals already know: real economic lift and launch-day tourism on one side, real worry about housing costs and the environment on the other. Both halves are true — that's the story of this coast right now.

If the job or the growth is pulling you here, our relocation guide starts with the honest version of the housing market.

Correction (Sept. 5): an earlier version of this item was dated June 6 and said the IPO "instantly valu[ed] the company around $2 trillion." The offering priced June 11 (the date on SpaceX's final prospectus), and the ~$2 trillion number came from post-open trading — the valuation at the offer price was about $1.77 trillion. We've replaced both with the figures from SpaceX's own prospectus, linked below.

Sources: SpaceX IPO prospectus (Form 424B4, June 12) · CBS News (June 12)