Starship Assembly Building in Boca Chica — Live Webcam Online
Starbase: A City of the Future on the Gulf of Mexico
At the southern tip of Texas, where the Rio Grande flows into the Gulf of Mexico, an industrial complex has grown that has no parallel in the history of space exploration. Starbase is located in the Boca Chica area of South Texas and was originally selected in 2014 for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, but over time it has evolved into the primary testing ground for building the largest rocket in history — Starship. Today it is not just a launch pad, but a full-fledged production cluster where reusable spacecraft are designed, assembled, and launched.
In 2025, an event took place that cemented the status of this place: residents voted to create a new municipality — the city of Starbase, covering an area of 3.75 km². The first mayor was Bobby Peden, Vice President of SpaceX, who ran unopposed. This is an unprecedented case — an entire city built around a rocket factory.
Why SpaceX Chose Boca Chica
The choice of South Texas for building a private spaceport was driven by several key factors. Proximity to the equator provides an advantage for reaching orbit — at low latitudes, the Earth's rotation gives the rocket additional acceleration. This allows more payload to be placed into orbit with the same amount of fuel.
The second critical factor is ocean access. Flight trajectories pass over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, ensuring safety in emergency situations. The third advantage is the ability to create a fully private spaceport dedicated to a single spacecraft — Starship — without the need to coordinate schedules with other operators.
SpaceX announced the construction of the launch complex in 2014 after an extensive environmental review by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Since then, the area has undergone radical changes — from an abandoned beach settlement to a high-tech production complex.
Gigabay: The Largest Assembly Building in Rocket History
The central facility that falls within the webcam's field of view is Gigabay, the super-building for Starship assembly. The building's height reaches 116 meters (380 feet), with an area of approximately 65,000 m². For comparison — that's roughly nine football fields under one roof. The construction cost is estimated at $250 million.
Construction of Gigabay began on the site where the High Bay and the STARGATE building previously stood. The new facility replaced the temporary shelters and tents where the first Starship prototypes were assembled. Now the assembly process takes place in a controlled environment, protected from the salty breezes of the Gulf of Mexico and tropical storms.
Inside Gigabay, large sections of the launch vehicle are stacked vertically in a specific order and welded together. The company actively uses robots for Starship production — automated welding and positioning systems ensure precision in joining sections made of stainless steel just a few millimeters thick.
Starfactory: The Factory of the Future
Gigabay is only part of the larger Starfactory production complex. The building has three levels of varying heights, clad in white panels with black accents. This is not just a hangar for final assembly, but a full-fledged factory floor where the entire cycle of rocket section preparation takes place.
SpaceX's ambitions for production capacity are staggering. The factory's goal is to produce one Starship rocket per day, totaling up to 1,000 rockets per year. Such output is unattainable for traditional rocketry, where producing a single unit takes months. Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that Starship must become something like a commercial airliner — mass-produced, reliable, and rapidly reusable.
To achieve this goal, production is highly automated. Robots perform hull welding, computer vision systems monitor weld quality, and conveyor logistics ensure a continuous flow of components between stations.
How Starship Assembly Works
Starship is a two-stage system consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft. Both stages are assembled in Starbase hangars from sections made of 304L stainless steel. This material was chosen for a reason — it maintains strength at extreme temperatures, both during cryogenic fuel cooling and during atmospheric reentry.
The sections are cylindrical shells with a diameter of 9 meters, which are welded into unified compartments for fuel, the tail section with engines, and the nose fairing. In the hangars, large sections are stacked vertically in a specific order and welded together. After assembly, the stages are transported to the launch pad on special carts.
The assembly process has not been without incidents. On one occasion, a stand holding a prototype broke, causing the prototype to fall and lean against the hangar wall. Surprisingly, all that was needed for recovery was a replacement fin — such was the strength of the stainless steel.
Raptor Engines: The Heart of Starship
Each Starship stage is powered by Raptor engines, which run on methane and liquid oxygen. The Super Heavy booster carries 33 of these engines, while the upper-stage spacecraft carries 6 (three vacuum and three sea-level). Raptor is the first full-flow methane-fueled engine in history designed for spaceflight.
Using methane instead of kerosene or hydrogen offers several advantages: it is cheaper, produces less combustion chamber contamination (critical for reusability), and can potentially be synthesized on Mars from local resources via the Sabatier reaction. This is a key element of SpaceX's Mars ambitions — the spacecraft will be able to refuel for the return journey.
Raptor production is also established at Starbase. The engines undergo fire testing on special stands located near the assembly buildings. Each unit is individually tested before installation on the rocket.
Launch Complex and Service Tower
The assembly building is only part of the infrastructure. Nearby rises a launch tower approximately 145 meters tall, equipped with a "chopstick arms" system. This system allows stages to be lifted onto the launch mount and, more importantly, catches the returning Super Heavy booster during its vertical landing. This approach eliminates the need for landing legs on the booster itself, reducing structural weight.
The launch mount is equipped with a flame deflection system and water deluge to dampen acoustic loads during launch. The 33 Raptor engines of Super Heavy generate approximately 7,590 tons of thrust — twice that of the Saturn V, which carried astronauts to the Moon. Without the water deluge, the acoustic wave would destroy both the mount and the rocket.
Starbase and the Environment
The construction of the spaceport has not been without conflicts with the local community. SpaceX bought up virtually the entire village of Boca Chica, purchasing homes from residents. Those who refused to sell their property found themselves surrounded by an industrial zone with noisy engine tests and regular road closures.
The area around Starbase is also a nature preserve with mangrove thickets and nesting sites for rare birds. SpaceX was required to conduct an environmental review and take measures to compensate for ecosystem damage. The company allocated land for a buffer zone and funded wildlife monitoring programs.
What the Camera Shows
The live webcam broadcasts a view of the SpaceX assembly building in Boca Chica. In the field of view is an industrial facility with large production and assembly buildings. Massive metal structures with open bays and external frameworks are visible, housing large cylindrical objects resembling launch vehicles. On the right are two pointed objects resembling upper stages or rocket fairings. In the foreground are low hangar structures with corrugated roofs. In the background is open space with the cloudy sky of South Texas.
The facility is a rocket complex with infrastructure for assembling, storing, and preparing launch vehicles. Elements of construction and assembly infrastructure are visible: walkways, suspension structures, and open bays in the buildings. Observing this facility in real time allows you to track the progress of new Starship builds and the scale of production activity at Starbase.
