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SpaceX's California Starship factory plans detailed ahead of permitting decision

According to documents published by SpaceX, the company could soon build a miniature version of its Boca Chica Starship factory in the Port of Los Angeles. (SPadre)

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6 years ago

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SpaceX’s California Starship factory plans have been detailed in new documents published by the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, one of the last big steps before a crucial permitting decision is made later this week.

First reported on February 1st, SpaceX has resurrected plans to build a Starship factory in Los Angeles, just 20 or so miles away from the company’s Hawthorne, California headquarters. SpaceX abandoned its lease of Port of Los Angeles Berth 240 in the spring of 2019, a decision made a handful of months after the company dramatically scrapped plans to build its next-generation rocket out of carbon-fiber composites. Now known as Starship and Super Heavy and radically redesigned to use steel for 99% of its structural elements, SpaceX has been building prototypes of the Starship upper stage for more than 14 months.

That work has been performed almost exclusively at Boca Chica, Texas facilities that have been in an almost continuous period of gradual expansion and upgrades since late-2018. Situated a few miles from the Mexican border on the southernmost tip of Texas’ Gulf Coast, Boca Chica is an exceptional location for orbital launches from the continental United States but is less than optimal when it comes to build (and more importantly) staffing a high-quality rocket factory. Since Starship prototype fabrication and integration was shifted almost entirely to Texas, SpaceX has had to send expert Hawthorne-based employees to Boca Chica for weeks at a time, often hitching a ride on CEO Elon Musk’s private jet. With a dedicated Port of LA Starship factory, life could be made much easier, cheaper, and – ultimately – better for everyone involved.

Berth 240 was previously used as fairing recovery ship Mr. Steven’s berth and briefly considered for a BFR factory. (Pauline Acalin)

While its growth has been undeniably gradual, SpaceX is in the late stages of building an impressive manufacturing base around its Boca Chica launch facilities. As of Tuesday, February 17th, company contractors have effectively completed the shells of two massive ‘sprung structures’ (tents) that are already being used to house certain Starship fabrication, assembly, and integration operations.

Both tents and the VAB are visible in these recent photos.

Nearby, a separate group is in the late stages of constructing the primary structure of a ~50m (160 ft) tall Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) with an even taller building also in the pipeline, both of which should allow Starship and Super Heavy stacking, welding, and outfitting to be done in a sheltered, partially climate-controlled environment. Additionally, SpaceX has delivered hardware needed to build a dedicated on-site waterjet shop, giving its Boca Chica outpost the ability to precisely fabricate its own metal parts.

According to SpaceX’s updated 2020 Port of Los Angeles regulatory documents, the company has major ambitions for its resurrected California Starship factory. In simple terms, it really does want to build a true Starship factory instead of something smaller or more specialized. Specifically, SpaceX wants Berth 240 to be able to independently form Starship’s steel rings, stack and weld those rings together, outfit integrated barrel sections with all necessary access ports, plumbing, and flight-related hardware, and build any number of other Starship parts (likely fins, legs, noses, etc.).

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SpaceX effectively wants to replicate its Boca Chica Starship hub in the Port of Los Angeles. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

This time around, SpaceX would refurbish and reuse five aging structures already present at Berth 240, avoiding the potential hassle, delays, and cost of building an entirely new factory (as was previously the plan). It’s likely that SpaceX would eventually erect similar sprung structures on Berth 240’s empty lot, and it looks like the modified permit applications would even allow the company to build the same factory it previously proposed in addition to the new plans to reuse existing structures.

Although reusing abandoned buildings built a century ago will almost bring its own challenges, SpaceX’s tweaked approach does make it likelier (even if still improbable) that the company will be able to realize its ambitious goal of kicking off Berth 240 Starship production just a month or two from now. While not discussed in the permit, SpaceX’s new plans would presumably also involve shipping fully-completed Starship subsections (meaning just a few stacked steel rings at a time) from California to Texas, where Boca Chica workers would ultimately integrate those segments to form finished ships and boosters that can then be acceptance-tested and launched.

For now, though, SpaceX still has to reacquire its old Berth 240 lease and environmental permits before it can begin repairing existing structures and building out its prospective Port of LA rocket factory. Up next, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission will meet on Thursday, February 20th to hear several permit appeals, SpaceX’s included.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla makes a massive change to a Service policy that owners will love

If you have a subscription to Full Self-Driving or Premium Connectivity for 30 days, the date of its expiration is 30 days after you activate the subscription, even if the vehicle was in service.

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1 hour ago

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October 26, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has decided to update its policy on Subscriptions and Service, and owners are going to love it.

If you have a subscription to Full Self-Driving or Premium Connectivity for 30 days, the date of its expiration is 30 days after you activate the subscription, even if the vehicle was in service.

So, if your car was with Tesla Service for five days, you essentially lost those five days, as your expiration date was not adjusted to reflect the time the vehicle was unusable.

Loaners that Tesla gives owners are usually equipped with perks like Full Self-Driving and Premium Connectivity, so your subscription does not roll over to another vehicle.

Tesla launches new loaner program that owners will love

However, Tesla has decided to revise that policy in an effort to give owners full access to the subscriptions they paid for. It requires Service visits to be longer than one day.

In a communication to an owner who was having their vehicle serviced, Tesla said:

“A loaner vehicle may be available during your appointment (pending availability) – please check the app closer to your appointment for the latest updates and access details. If your repair requires more than one business day, any active subscriptions or free trials will be extended accordingly.”

The move is a good one from a customer service standpoint, especially considering the loss of even a few days of a 30-day subscription to something like Full Self-Driving, which costs $99 per month, can be frustrating.

Tesla’s choice to extend the subscription duration for the length of the service visit is a good-faith move that customers will appreciate.

While this adjustment is not directly related to Service, many customers will relate it to that. It’s yet another move Tesla has made in 2025 to make its Service experience better for customers.

It is also offering more options to communicate with Service advisors during and after cars are repaired, which can help streamline the entire visit from start to finish.

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SpaceX reaches incredible Starlink milestone

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3 hours ago

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October 26, 2025

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has reached an incredible milestone with its Starlink program, officially surpassing 10,000 satellites launched into low Earth orbit since starting the program back in 2019.

Last Sunday, October 19, SpaceX launched its 131st and 132nd Falcon 9 missions of 2025, one from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the other from Vandenberg, California.

The 10,000th Starlink satellite was aboard the launch from California, which was Starlink 11-19, and held 28 v2 mini optimized satellites.

The achievement was marked by a satellite tracker developed by Jonathan McDowell.

The first Starlink launch was all the way back on May 23, 2019, as SpaceX launched its first 60 satellites from Cape Canaveral using a Falcon 9 rocket.

Of the over 10,000 satellites in orbit, the tracker says 8,608 are operational, as some are intentionally de-orbited after becoming faulty and destroyed in the atmosphere.

SpaceX has truly done some really incredible things during its development of the Starlink program, including launch coverage in a global setting, bringing along millions of active subscribers that use the service for personal and business use, locking up commercial partnerships, and more.

Starlink currently operates in around 150 countries, territories, and markets and is available at least somewhere on all seven continents.

Additionally, Starlink has over 5 million subscribers worldwide, and 2.7 million have joined the program over the past year. It has revolutionized internet access on commercial aircraft as well, as several high-profile airlines like Qatar and United, among many others, have already installed Starlink on some of their planes to deliver more stable connectivity for passengers and crew.

SpaceX has the approval to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites from the FAA, but it plans to bring over 30,000 to its constellation, giving anyone the ability to have access to high-speed internet.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving’s biggest improvements from v13 to v14

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4 hours ago

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October 26, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 has been out for several weeks now, and there are a tremendous number of improvements, as we have now reached the fourth iteration of the semi-autonomous software.

Tesla began the v14.1.4 launch last night, which included minor improvements and addressed brake-stabbing issues many owners have reported. In my personal experience, the stabbing has been awful on v14.1.3, and is a major concern.

However, many things have improved, and only a couple of minor issues have been recurring. Many of the issues v13 addressed are no longer an issue, so Tesla has made significant progress.

Here are some of the most notable improvements Tesla made with v14 from v13:

Better Lane Switching on Highways

One of my biggest complaints with v13 was that the “Hurry” Speed Profile would often stay in the left lane, even when there were no passing cars. The legality of cruising in the left lane fluctuates by jurisdiction, but my personal preference is to drive in the right lane and pass on the left.

That said, Tesla has improved FSD’s performance with more courteous lane behavior. It no longer camps in the left lane and routinely gets back in the right lane after passing slower cars.

More Awareness for Merging Traffic and Makes Courteous Moves

There have been times when FSD has been more aware of merging traffic, and even cross traffic, than most human beings.

Here are a few examples –

  • Full Self-Driving lets a car out of cross traffic during a busy time of day. This road tends to get very congested, especially during rush hour, so the car that was let in by FSD would have been sitting there for likely a minute longer if my Tesla had not let him in:

  • A busy, four-lane expressway with a quick exit on the far side of the highway for this merging vehicle. I’ve seen some drivers be extremely inattentive and travel at the same speed as merging cars, making their entry onto the expressway less seamless. FSD doesn’t do that; it makes way for merging cars:

More Confident Driving Around Mail Trucks…and Amish

I encounter a lot of Amish in my area of Pennsylvania, and they commonly use both shoulders and the road, so traffic can get congested at times.

In the past, I’ve taken over when encountering Amish buggies, mail trucks, or other vehicles that are moving slowly or making frequent stops. I have felt it is more logical to just take over in these situations.

I decided not to yesterday on a long drive through Lancaster, PA, and the FSD did a wonderful job of confidently overtaking these vehicles:

This was really impressive and fun to see. There was a slight stutter during one of the three instances, but overall, I didn’t have any concerns.

Object Avoidance

On v13, I almost let the car drive into a fallen branch in the middle of the road. A mile later, the car swerved out of the way for horse droppings. It was a beautiful, clear morning, and the fact that the car did not try to avoid the branch, but did steer away from poop, was concerning.

Tesla has obviously done a great job at refining FSD’s ability to navigate around these road hazards. Last night, it swerved around a dead animal carcass in the middle of the highway. I didn’t see it until we were already going around it:

It was awesome to see this and never feel alarmed by the sharp movement. The maneuver was smooth and really well done.

Better Speed Consistency

With v13, I felt I had to constantly adjust the Speed Profile, as well as the Max Speed setting, when using FSD. With V14, I don’t feel like I am making as many adjustments.

Tesla axed the Max Speed setting altogether with v14, which was a good move, in my opinion. Choosing the Speed Profile is now more intuitive by using the right scroll wheel. If the car is traveling too fast or too slow, just change the profile.

Three things Tesla needs to improve with Full Self-Driving v14 release

V13 had some issues with local roads, and I felt it would travel at strange speeds. In a 45 MPH zone, it would sometimes take a long time to reach 40 MPH, then hover between 43 MPH and 47 MPH. It would then fluctuate between those two speeds, frustrating drivers behind me, understandably.

V14 gets up to speed much better and travels at speeds I’m much more comfortable with on both local roads and highways.

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