normaleagle05 said:

---

I'd have to go hunt down references but my understanding is that both booster (Gulf) and ship (Indian Ocean) are headed for water landings.

---

Yeah that would make way more sense.

I don't know that I've seen anything approaching official on when the next booster catch might be attempted. I'd assume after at least one well executed water landing simulating a tower catch. If they want to catch a V3 booster before they try to catch both they may have to do it on flight 13.

Re: ship catch at the tower

Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean.

The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2026

I've read they won't even attempt a booster catch on 13 either, and then possibly (optimistic scenario) booster on 14, then both on 15 if everything goes well.

For the upper stage, the issue is also the populated areas of Mexico it flies over. The airspace closures themselves are a pretty big deal.

They aren't putting anywhere near the 'test tiles' or empty spots on the upper stage this time.

STARSHIP FLIGHT 12 NEW DATE! 🚨
The previous Local Notice to Mariners has just been updated from May 12 to May 15! With SpaceX getting ready to roll out Booster 19, they might need a few more days of testing before launch. Let’s wait for official word as always! pic.twitter.com/zOQgZSrKSv

— TankWatchers (@WatchersTank) May 5, 2026

STARSHIP FLIGHT 12: NET May 15, 22:30 UTC / 17:30 CDT

Unsurprisingly, the Local Notices to Mariners (NOTMARs) have been updated with a 3-day delay. Expect other notices to follow shortly.

We are still expecting a full stack Wet Dress Rehearsal as a minimum - and probably… https://t.co/fr5qpgMtAa pic.twitter.com/p4twEwdEni

— Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro) May 5, 2026

Here's our 3 booster do-over static fire/testing date/s. Tomorrow, 6th May and/or Thursday 7th May and/or Friday 8th May. 6hrs 59m tomorrow, 14hrs on Thursday and 12 hours on Friday... 🤔 pic.twitter.com/rsJKG6pZ4n

— VixXi (@VickiCocks15) May 5, 2026

So next Friday is the new launch date?

fullback44 said:

---

So next Friday is the new launch date?

---

It will be tough to get all of the testing done before then - will know much more after this static fire of the booster.

The window(s) run thru the 18th I think.

nortex97 said:

---

The window(s) run thru the 18th I think.

---

Looks like 21st now

Tailgate88 said:

---

Quote:

---

New SpaceX facility could be coming to an area 20 miles away from Aggieland

Commissioners Court will take public comment on June 3 on an incentive agreement for a proposed project at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir

ANDERSON, Texas (KBTX) - Grimes County leaders are set to weigh a major economic development proposal involving Space Exploration Technologies Corp, known as SpaceX.

The Grimes County Commissioners Court is scheduled to hold a public hearing at 9 a.m. June 3, 2026, at the Grimes County Justice & Business Center, 270 FM 149 W. in Anderson, to consider approval of a property tax abatement agreement.

According to the county's public notice, the proposed agreement involves SpaceX and a designated reinvestment zone known as "SpaceX Reinvestment Zone No. 1 - 2026-001," described as being located at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir and surrounding areas.

The reservoir is located off Highway 30 in a rural area of Grimes County, approximately 20 miles east of Bryan-College Station.

The notice states SpaceX is proposing construction of a multi-phase, next-generation, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing and advanced computing fabrication facility a project the notice calls a "transformative investment" aimed at expanding domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.

The county's notice estimates $55 billion in capital investment for initial phases, and up to $119 billion total if additional phases are built.

---

---

Terafab?

this should be good...

How I feel right now...https://t.co/0EsGgMVPvp

— WaffleHouseAG (@JimboFeacher) May 5, 2026

That might be the biggest economic news ever delivered in the Brazos Valley. Certainly up there with Harvey Mitchell's win on the site for A&M.

Being that it's a KBTX article I wondered how they would loop in irrelevant information mean to smear Elon Musk/SpaceX. Rusty Surette never disappoints.

Quote:

---

Meanwhile, in Central Texas, almost 80 Central Texas residents who allege their homes have been damaged by SpaceX's "daily barrage of terrestrial bombardment" are suing Elon Musk's aerospace company in McGregor.

---

normaleagle05 said:

---

That might be the biggest economic news ever delivered in the Brazos Valley. Certainly up there with Harvey Mitchell's win on the site for A&M.

Being that it's a KBTX article I wondered how they would loop in irrelevant information mean to smear Elon Musk/SpaceX. Rusty Surette never disappoints.

Quote:

---

Meanwhile, in Central Texas, almost 80 Central Texas residents who allege their homes have been damaged by SpaceX's "daily barrage of terrestrial bombardment" are suing Elon Musk's aerospace company in McGregor.

---

---

yeah it's a rag...

WTH is a "daily barrage of terrestrial bombardment?"

A fancy phrase for noise complaints?

Agreed... Any opportunity to paint Elon, Trump, it the Right in general in a bad light makes their No-No parts tingle

Basically.

https://www.kwtx.com/2026/05/04/dozens-central-texas-residents-file-suit-against-spacex-alleging-terrestrial-bombardment-resulting-property-damage/?outputType=amp

$119 BILLION? That's a TSMC-sized operation.

torrid said:

---

$119 BILLION? That's a TSMC-sized operation.

---

Terafab is the only thing that makes sense. Elon said the facility they are planning to build next to the Giga factory was just a small prototype plant for research and that the Terafab would be much larger and built somewhere else. With A&M setting up the Semiconductor Institute out at Rellis for chip research and high tech manufacturing training, putting the Terafab down the road will give them a ready supply of trained personnel.

ETA: Elon has said he expects to need 10 GW of power, so being right near the old Gibbons Creek Power Plant gives them a ready high capacity connection to the grid for the short term until they build their own (probably MSR nuke plant) in the future.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

WTH is a "daily barrage of terrestrial bombardment?"

A fancy phrase for noise complaints?

Agreed... Any opportunity to paint Elon, Trump, it the Right in general in a bad light makes their No-No parts tingle

---

It's a LOT of noise and vibrations that can be felt as far away as Waco.

normaleagle05 said:

---

That might be the biggest economic news ever delivered in the Brazos Valley. Certainly up there with Harvey Mitchell's win on the site for A&M.

Being that it's a KBTX article I wondered how they would loop in irrelevant information mean to smear Elon Musk/SpaceX. Rusty Surette never disappoints.

---

And half the story was KBTX interviewing people in Grimes County who simply wanted to gripe about it.

The smart people that I know in Grimes County long ago realized that it isn't what it used to be. You can't buy land for agriculture there anymore at the current pricing. This is a testament to that. If this goes through Grimes County and the greater Brazos Valley will be on the road to being the world's semiconductor leader by far. Literal silicon valley.

Of course, KBTX and Rusty are all over the negative side of this. They led with it. Lots bungs hurting tonight.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2026/05/05/elon-musk-terafab-semiconductor-chips-texas.html

txags92 said:

---

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2026/05/05/elon-musk-terafab-semiconductor-chips-texas.html

---

The initial 55 million is already larger than the Samsung investment in Texas (mainly in Taylor, Texas)...doubling that is insane to think about.
Samsung literally takes up all of Taylor and Huto area.
YUGE for Texas A&M and College Station.

Booster 19 is on the way to the pad live on NSF stream.

B. Billion, but yes, would be a massive fab. Maybe my retirement job in God's country instead of the dung heap that is now Austin.

It just baffles my mind that they would build such a massive facility on a fishing hole outside of College Station. When I hear about projects of this scope, the term "vaporware" immediately comes to mind.

However, though I'm not a Musk fanboi, you can't deny what he had managed to deliver with both Tesla and SpaceX.

I wonder if firing up the power plant to generate electricity for their own use is part of the plan?

Absolutely I think it's part of the plan, as well as a water source for cooling.

The power plant has been disassembled and most of the infrastructure is now gone. If they are going to generate power at the facility, which would make sense, they will more than likely build small modular reactors. AI data centers are a national security priority and from what I understand, the red tape surrounding their construction and power needs has been tweaked to expedite their completion.

OnlyForNow said:

---

Absolutely I think it's part of the plan, as well as a water source for cooling.

---

The power plant structures are gone. The last one was imploded in 2023 by the company that bought the property and cleaned up the coal ash piles/ponds. But the high capacity connections to the grid are still there and the lake is privately owned along with the property, so it smooths out the water rights issues they might have otherwise had.

Ag97 said:

---

The power plant has been disassembled and most of the infrastructure is now gone. If they are going to generate power at the facility, which would make sense, they will more than likely build small modular reactors. AI data centers are a national security priority and from what I understand, the red tape surrounding their construction and power needs has been tweaked to expedite their completion.

---

Where is Tesla/SpaceX going to build the plant to mfg the small modular reactors?

plain_o_llama said:

---

Ag97 said:

---

The power plant has been disassembled and most of the infrastructure is now gone. If they are going to generate power at the facility, which would make sense, they will more than likely build small modular reactors. AI data centers are a national security priority and from what I understand, the red tape surrounding their construction and power needs has been tweaked to expedite their completion.

---

Where is Tesla/SpaceX going to build the plant to mfg the small modular reactors?

---

On site. Using robots. Part of the whole, vertically integrated thing.

torrid said:

---

It just baffles my mind that they would build such a massive facility on a fishing hole outside of College Station. When I hear about projects of this scope, the term "vaporware" immediately comes to mind.

However, though I'm not a Musk fanboi, you can't deny what he had managed to deliver with both Tesla and SpaceX.

---

Austin was about the same size as BCS when Dell went up...

Where can you build a 100 million sq ft facility near a city? That's 10x the size of the Giga factory.