Buildings
General
- The Boca Chica site is rapidly evolving and so many of the buildings are temporary, there lifetime being determined by the changing needs of the site. Many are structured tents with flexible fabric supported by steel trusses. These are all products from the company Sprung whose reputation for durable modular structures was established in aerospace when they built the housing for the Space Shuttle housing facility in the early 1980's.
List of Buildings
Below is a list of buildings which currently exist. Some are still under construction.
Orbital Launch Integration Tower
Orbital Launch Table
Ironhenge
A very tall triangular building. It has a large opening on 1 side from top to bottom. It is used as a wind break against heavy storms for Starships being built.
Mid Bay or VAB formerly known as Ironhenge II and Higbay 1
The very large square structure located between Onion Castle and the Stargate buildings. Having outside wings attached to help prevent twisting in strong winds. Currently being Constructed and will be higher then Iron Henge. And may have a crane installed into it for building the Stack Also known as VAB ~ Vertical Assembly Building
Onion + Garlic + Mushroom Tents
These large tents are being built behind Nosey. They are named for the characteristic onion shape at the top in homage of the former Onion tent (see below). The tents struts are fastened to the tops of shipping containers for added height. It covers approximately 150' x 255' area and has an estimated height of 65' with a 40' high door opening (via pixel counting by @funrun73). Insulated along the tarp areas (could also be sound absorbing partly)
These tents are used for "clean room" where they weld the rings together that needs shelter from the wind. They also build the Bulkheads and Nosecones + Sections in these tents. Garlic has 2 gutter style trenches in its floor for either running water in case of heavy rain and/or electrical cords through. Not known if Onion has these features also. Electrical power and other such equipment for ventilation has been installed into the shipping containers used as the supports for the frame work of the tent to sit on. They were expanded by another 3 ribs later for more space.
(Mouser: Adding this here to format later when I'm home https://imgur.com/ueMTTZh Credit goes to funrun73)
High Bay
The tallest structure on the shipyard site, built to stack Starship/Super Heavy sections. It consists of 32 prefabricated sections, forming a building 8 sections high. It is approximately 80m/260ft tall, and will eventually have a bar at the very top with 360° windows and a glass floor.[1]
Stargate
This is the blue roofed building located behind the Onion Castle officially owned by SpaceX. It is now the center of operations. It was formerly shared for a collaboration with the University Of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.
Value Village
Considered the name for the arrangement of containers out behind the long white building and right of Ironhenge. It recently had a round iron stands placed in the middle of it.
Toolshed
A low flat building to the right of Halfway house.
Press Room
Formerly "GateHouse A1" This tent houses a Press Brake and Waterjet Laser equipment.
Large Hoop tent
The 4th building next to mushroom tent. Unknown what will go on in this structure.
Metal building
This is the closest structure to the Lab padre cams. and now has a side wing lean to attached to it.
Former Buildings
'Small hoop tent
Located between the onion tent and the new metal building. It seems to house tools for infrastructure on site. and was removed after the new metal building was finished.
Ring tent (also referred to as the Halfway House)
This tent is where the Rings of the SN1 are manufactured. It houses two important pieces of equipment: (1) The IMCAR Vertical Steel Rolling Machine which can bend steel sheets into rings and plasma-welds the seam together to complete a ring with a single vertical weld joining the two ends, and (2) A manually moveable gantry crane nicknamed Spaarky used for moving the rings and other items.
"Onion" tent
Used to hold parts for the Mk1 and was used for the presentation given on Sept 28th 2019 for the Starship by Elon Musk as they moved forward into production. Nicknamed "onion" for the color of the tents roof cover, it has been disassembled and is either still on site or has been hauled away.