Starbase, Texas

Starbase, formerly Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, is a city in Cameron County, Texas, United States, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. It was formed in the late 1960s, and is still extant as of 2025, although the village proper has changed greatly since 2018 as SpaceX came to purchase much of the land of the village. It lies 20 miles (32 km) east of the City of Brownsville on the Boca Chica peninsula, and forms part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas. It is situated on Texas State Highway 4, immediately south of the South Bay lagoon, and is located about 2 mi (3.2 km) north of the mouth of the Rio Grande. Although the name Kopernik Shores is no longer in popular use, it’s still used occasionally in official contexts per the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The population was 500 as of 2025. Numerous construction projects are underway including a community center, school, clinic, and additional housing.

In 2014, the village was chosen as the location for the construction of a control facility for the SpaceX South Texas launch site, while the launch site itself was slated to be built just 2 miles (3.2 km) farther east, adjacent to Boca Chica State Park on the Texas Gulf Coast. Flight testing—and even more frequent ground testing—of prototype rocket vehicles and rocket engines began in 2019.

In March 2021, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced plans to incorporate a new city to be called Starbase, Texas in the area. Starbase is planned to include the existing Boca Chica Village, the SpaceX test site and launch site, and more of the surrounding Boca Chica area. SpaceX submitted a petition to Cameron County to formally incorporate the city of Starbase, which voters approved on May 3, 2025, through a municipal ballot measure. Formal incorporation occurred on May 20, 2025, with Bobby Peden, a SpaceX vice-president, serving as mayor. Peden ran unopposed, as did two other residents with SpaceX ties who fill the two commissioner seats.