Science
Elon Musk is working on something out-of-this-world in Los Angeles.
The founder of SpaceX has spoken for years about building the Big Falcon Rocket: a giant reusable launch system designed to get people to and from Mars (and perhaps around the red planet).
Most recently, Musk said SpaceX hopes to begin short up-and-down launches of the BFR system's 157-foot-tall spaceship in early 2019.
Until now, however, SpaceX has been mum about where, exactly, it plans to build such enormous rockets.
On Monday, a member of the r/SpaceX community on Reddit noticed a curious move by the Board of Harbor Commissioners in Los Angeles. The organization recently and quietly approved a 788-page plan by SpaceX to lease an 18-acre site in the Port of Los Angeles, including a 200,000-square-foot facility to "to manufacture large commercial
Eric Berger at Ars Technica has since anonymously confirmed that the facility "is, indeed, intended for the manufacture of the BFR."
A source close to the matter told Business Insider that SpaceX is likely just weeks away from being officially offered a lease to the site.
Here's what we know about the proposed plan, and what SpaceX's "state-of-the-art" Mars rocket factory may look like when finished.