Texas Primed for Increased Space Industry Investment

KEY POINTS  

• SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Firefly Aerospace are driving significant economic growth in Texas, with billions in investments and thousands of jobs created or planned.

• Spaceport development corporations, like the one in Cedar Park, are fostering space industry expansion, attracting companies like Firefly Aerospace to grow their operations.

• SpaceX’s expansion in Cameron County and Bastrop has sparked both economic optimism and environmental concerns, highlighting the balance between development and conservation.
   

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, two of the wealthiest men on the planet, each control space exploration companies poised to launch further expansions in Texas.

Musk’s SpaceX has already invested an estimated $3 billion at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica. The company has generated economic output in South Texas that reportedly exceeds $13 billion and has created more than 24,000 direct and indirect jobs over the past two years.

Recent announcements suggest several hundred million dollars of additional investments are in the works.

Blue Origin’s Ambitious Plans for Austin Area

Now, Bezos’ private space company, Blue Origin Enterprises, is reportedly looking to establish a new manufacturing and logistics center that could involve another $1 billion of investment and the possibility of 2,000 additional jobs.

Firefly Aerospace, one of the fastest-growing space launch and in-space transportation companies in the nation, has announced plans to expand its operations in Texas. Image: Firefly Aerospace

Several cities in the Austin area are jumping at the opportunity to land the Blue Origin project, using a request filed by the State of Texas’s economic development wing and Opportunity Austin as a springboard.

The request for information reportedly calls on cities to offer suggestions for a 20-acre site for a Blue Origin manufacturing facility and an 80-acre site for a company logistics center, on the condition that these sites are within 15 miles of I-35.

Firefly Aerospace and the Rise of Central Texas Spaceport

Williamson County, north of Austin, is already home to a major space industry player, Firefly Aerospace, one of the fastest-growing space launch and in-space transportation companies in the nation. The county and the city of Cedar Park partnered to form the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corp. in 2025, in a joint effort to attract further investment in the space industry to the region.

Firefly Aerospace, one of the fastest-growing space launch and in-space transportation companies in the nation, has announced plans to expand its operations in Texas.

SpaceX has generated economic output in South Texas exceeding $13 billion in the past two years, along with more than 24,000 direct and indirect jobs. Image: SpaceX

Spaceport development corporations are described as non-profit entities that include public and private elements that help provide funding for spacecraft-related infrastructure and development, including satellites and rockets. Five other similar corporations are in place in other parts of Texas.

The creation of the development corporation is one reason why Firefly Aerospace announced its decision in October to expand its headquarters in Cedar Park. The company already employs several hundred at its mission control, manufacturing, and testing operations in Cedar Park, and at a ranch in Burnet County.

“We couldn’t be more excited. As hard as our team works to attract new business to our city, we work even harder to make sure they feel valued and are taken care of long after they move here,” Arthur Jackson, Chief Economic Development Officer for Cedar Park, said in a media release.

“Firefly’s continued expansion here demonstrates the strength of our regional collaboration with Williamson County in creating the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation and positions Cedar Park at the forefront of Texas’s next generation of space technology.”

Meanwhile, Musk’s SpaceX is finding favour from both state and federal officials.

Balancing Growth and Conservation in SpaceX’s Expansion

In May 2025, SpaceX was awarded a grant of $17.3 million to assist the expansion of the company’s semiconductor R&D and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop, east of Austin. This expansion is expected to create more than 400 jobs and more than $280 million in capital investment.

SpaceX is also said to be gaining some additional land in Cameron County, the result of a land swap deal reportedly approved by the Trump administration.

According to the New York Times, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would give SpaceX 775 acres of land currently part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. This would allow SpaceX to expand its rocket launch and production at its Starbase facility in Cameron County, at the southern coastal tip of Texas near the Mexican border.

In exchange, SpaceX would give the government about 700 acres of its own property near the refuge, some of which would be added to the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, about 20 miles up the coast.

The potential deal has upset both conservationists and archeologists, who fear a SpaceX expansion could harm endangered species in the area and possibly degrade artifacts from a Civil War battlefield site.

The growth of SpaceX in Cameron County has been surrounded by both positive development news as well as concerns from local residents.

In early 2025, employees living in the immediate area and renting their homes successfully petitioned to formally establish a city, appropriately called Starbase. This has been described as a community of about 500 inhabitants. However, local environmental advocates worry about the future growth of the Starbase city and the associated risks to the area’s natural habitat.

Texas has enjoyed significant economic benefit from the space industry over the years, most notably through its long-standing relationship with NASA, which operates three facilities in Texas covering nearly 1,700 acres.

“NASA makes a $4.7 billion annual impact on the Texas economy and directly and indirectly supports more than 52,000 public and private jobs,” says the Texas Comptroller’s Office. “It plays a critical role in education, research, tourism, and business activities in Texas’ Gulf Coast Region and the state as a whole.”

Further investments by both public and private space organizations will therefore continue to be regarded as a key economic strategy for the state.

Stay Connected 

Stay connected with ConstructConnect News, your source for construction economy insights, market trends, and project news.

About ConstructConnect

At ConstructConnect, our software solutions provide the information that construction professionals need to start every project on a solid foundation. For more than 100 years, our keen insights and market intelligence have empowered commercial firms, building product manufacturers, trade contractors, and architects to make data-driven decisions, streamline preconstruction workflows, and maximize their productivity. Our newest offerings—including our comprehensive, AI-assisted software—help our clients find, bid on, and win more projects.

ConstructConnect operates as a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000.  

For more information, visit constructconnect.com