SpaceX expansion November 8, 2026 · Cameron County · Permits

A SpaceX permit is on Cameron County's dune committee agenda Monday, Nov. 16, 2026

Cameron County's Dune Protection Committee has called a special meeting for 3 p.m. CT Monday, Nov. 16, 2026. One item is an "Update on permit issued to SpaceX (Roundabout, Launch pad fence, ASU)."

• What's listed: an update on the SpaceX permit. The notice doesn't say whether the committee will vote on it, and it doesn't spell out "ASU."
• Also on the agenda: "discussion and possible action" on an application from AEP Texas, through the Texas Department of Transportation, for a beachfront construction certificate and dune protection permit to put up new power poles along the landward side of Park Road 100.
• Where: the Commissioners Court Room in the Dancy Building, 1100 E. Monroe St., Brownsville, and by Zoom.
• To speak: email a request by noon on Nov. 16, 2026, saying whether you'll comment in person or by video. The address is in the notice.

In July 2025, county commissioners voted 3-1 to give SpaceX a beachfront construction certificate and dune protection permit for an air separator facility, a plant that makes liquid oxygen, the Texas Tribune reported. The notice doesn't say whether that is the permit in this update.

Why it matters: the committee works under the county's dune protection rules for the beach and dunes. This is a public update on what SpaceX was permitted to build.

Around the world

NASA selected eight companies Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, to compete for future Moon deliveries under CLPS 2, a 10-year contract with a combined maximum value of $10 billion: Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, ispace-U.S., Lockheed Martin Space, Northrop Grumman Space Systems, SpaceX and Voyager Technologies. Firefly, a Texas company, confirmed its spot.

In the same announcement, NASA said SpaceX will launch communications satellites aboard a Starship to cislunar space, between Earth and the Moon, in 2028, and that Blue Origin won a $94 million base contract to deliver PROMISE, a nuclear-powered rover, to the Moon's South Pole.

NASA opened applications Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, for its next astronaut class. U.S. citizens can apply until 11:59 p.m. EST (10:59 p.m. CT) Thursday, Dec. 3, 2026, on USAJOBS, and NASA expects its final selection in late 2027.

Russia's Space Forces launched a Soyuz-2.1b from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, carrying a spacecraft for the Defense Ministry, which called the launch successful and did not name the spacecraft.

Sources: Cameron County, Notice of Special Meeting of the Dune Protection Committee, signed Nov. 6, 2026 · Texas Tribune, Berenice Garcia, July 9, 2025 · NASA, Nov. 7, 2026 · NASA, Nov. 7, 2026 · Russian Defense Ministry, Nov. 7, 2026

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