Elon Musk Strikes Again

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

Mars is the Roman god of war. All the planets in our solar system, with the exception of Earth, are named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.

Phobos and Deimos are the two horses that pulled Mars' chariot into battle. Phobos and Deimos are also the names of the two irregularly shaped Martian moons.

Elon Musk, the quasi-messiah that has ensorcelled Brownsville with his enchanting pie-in-the-sky visions of living on the red planet someday has promised Brownsville and Boca Chica Beach will be the gateway to the cosmos. His privately owned NASA is currently building and testing 1950's-style silver rockets designed to carry colonists to explore and live on Mars someday.

Someday.

His launchpad and accompanying facilities were supposed to stimulate the local economy by attracting space enthusiasts, and their money, to Brownsville and the surrounding communities as he launched commercial satellites into space via his Falcon 9 launch vehicles.

That never happened. He kept his Falcon 9 rockets at Cape Canaveral in Florida and shifted his focus on his Mars dream. 

This isn't the first time Musk had changed his tune. He entered into an agreement to close the only paved road to Boca Chica Beach a certain number of hours a year. He has exceeded that number and Cameron County leaders continue to allow him to close State Highway 4 beyond his alloted closure allowance, denying locals access to one of the last undisturbed beaches of South Texas.

Musk said the residents of Boca Chica Village, a sleepy community that has existed along the precious Boca Chica wetlands since the late 1960's, would continue to be allowed to live in their homes in relative peace. Musk changed his mind about that, too. If the residents didn't move away because the rocket blasts would end up blowing out their windows, Musk offered to buy the homes to create his own little company town. Those who haven't wanted to move have been threatened with eminent domain, since Musk has cozies up to Brownsville and Cameron County leaders. Most recently, Musk has decided to slither his way into the city commission's good graces by donating 10 million dollars to Brownsville for downtown revitalization. He slithered his way into Cameron County residents' good graces by donating 20 million dollars to local school districts.

The High Priest has paid Judas Iscariot his 30 pieces of silver, however, it appears those 30 pieces of silver aren't meant for the whole community. 

Brownsville has a thriving deep water port. An economic impact study by Martin Associates states the port indirectly impacts 51,000 jobs and directly employs approximately 8,500 people. Among one of the biggest industries at the Port of Brownsville is Keppel AmFELS. I'll quote their website so you can know what they do.

"Since our establishment in 1990, Keppel AmFELS has built up a solid track record and capabilities in the construction, refurbishment, conversion, life extension and repair of a complete range of mobile drilling rigs and platforms."

CliffsNotes version: They work on offshore oil rigs.

If you've made it this far, you're probably asking yourself, "What does any of this have to do with the Roman god of war and his two horses?"

Phobos and Deimos are the names Elon Musk has cleverly christened the two offshore oil rigs he recently purchased from Valaris, a Houston based company that owns the largest fleet of deep water offshore oil rigs. Lone Star Mineral Development, LLC., a corporation registered to SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen, paid 7 million dollars for rigs 8500 and 8501.

Musk's plans are to convert these semi-submersible oil rigs into off-shore launch platforms for his Starship SNx series of what I've lovingly dubbed the "flying grain silos." The rigs need to be serviced and stripped of all their oil drilling machinery in order to be repurposed as launchpads.

ClifsNotes version: Musk needs his oil rigs fixed before he can use them.

Now, it stands to reason the two rigs would be towed from the Houston/Galveston area to the Port of Brownsville. It makes sense, right? Offshore oil rigs — send them to the place in Brownsville where they can be fixed.

Yeah, no.

Phobos was towed from the Texas Gulf Coast to Pascagoula, Mississippi and ST Engineering. They are undertaking the six month job to refit and prepare Phobos for its role as an offshore launchpad. 

So, instead of trying to make a legitimate effort to grow Brownsville's economy by helping boost business at the port, and instead of giving Keppel AmFELS an opportunity to match, or beat ST Engineering's offer, they decided to tow one of their rigs to a port farther away and deny locals much needed jobs.

I guess this isn't the first time Musk has kept food off Brownsvillians' tables. Talk about one step back, and two more steps back.

Musk could have bought himself some goodwill by bringing Phobos here. SpaceX hasn't yet said where Deimos will be sent for retrofitting.

When SpaceX first announced they were coming to town, I was hopeful Musk would bring a new age of joy that would fill Brownsvillians with pride and confidence.

Phobos and Deimos are also a part of Greek mythology. Phobos and Deimos are the son's of the Greek god of war, Ares. They also accompanied their father into battle.

Phobos and Deimos are twin brothers and Greek gods of fear, terror, and despair.