BOCA CHICA, Texas — SpaceX has discussed buying 1,200 acres of Texas parkland near its launch facility, raising a question of etiquette familiar to anyone who has taken a Scout troop camping. Does “leave no trace” apply when the trace is visible from orbit?
The Texas Tribune reported on the SpaceX Boca Chica parkland discussions. The company said it intends to preserve about half the property as coastal habitat and has no plans to buy Boca Chica Beach. It also cited safety concerns about people entering land immediately adjacent to an active launch facility. There is a fair argument for keeping hikers away from operating rockets. Most hikers would like the rockets to return the courtesy.
SpaceX Boca Chica Parkland Plan Raises Trail Etiquette Questions
At a demonstration for visitors, a park naturalist named Marla Dune showed investors a coffee cup someone had left in the sand. A spokesman for the aerospace industry said it would have been picked up sooner if the cup had possessed sufficient thrust to reach the disposal area on its own.
“Pack it in, pack it out,” Dune explained. “Bringing it back through the atmosphere counts as packing it out if you can tell me where it landed.”
An engineer offered two schedules for the same trail. One listed low tide, sunset and migration season. The other had a ten-second countdown. Hikers were encouraged to use the first schedule until the second began.
A Picnic Site With a Launch Window
The campground brochure encountered difficulties when its designer attempted to price a barbecue permit. Under the current language, families may use one grill per picnic site. The aerospace team asked if the limit was per grill or per flame. The park service told them to describe the flame in one sentence using a number with fewer than seven digits.
Coastal Habitat Receives a Project Manager
A real estate economist said public access and land preservation were separate questions. A visitor would ordinarily discuss this distinction while walking. Under the proposed arrangement, he observed, the visitor might be encouraged to discuss it from a parking area a safe distance away.
The shoreline’s resident birds were available for a listening session, but the session was moved indoors after seven of them appeared simultaneously and began speaking. Dune said the birds had first asked for three minutes of the presentation. When told the clock was running, they left in formation, an impressive accomplishment for an organization without a chief executive.
Bohiney has followed another Texas dispute over industrial development, including who pays the costs around a large project. Here, SpaceX and state officials still have a land deal to discuss. Dune said she had one simple request for the next meeting. “I’d like everyone to meet here at sunrise,” she told the company. “Bring walking shoes. If you can bring the meeting in vertically, you can bring it in from the parking lot.”
Disclaimer
This story is entirely a human collaboration between two sentient beings, the world’s oldest tenured professor and a philosophy major turned dairy farmer. The authors brought their trash home under its own power.