Salinas: GBIC is now thinking about we populate another planet

Let me take a step back. In 2011, I guess that’s what, 13, 14, years ago, we first started working this project. It was in my prior capacity, which was the Brownsville Economic Development Council.

We got a call from Governor’s Office, and they had this project. This company was looking to build rockets on the commercial side, which was unheard of, because back then, it was NASA. NASA was the only entity in the United States at launch rockets into space.

So, it was a private company, a new startup that was looking to both manufacture and launch rockets into space. And they’re looking at four states, and that was Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and Texas. And not just Texas, but the southern tip of Texas.

So, we were with the Governor’s Office. They gave us a lead. The next day, we made a phone call, and within two weeks, we’re already meeting with the company. And we’re meeting with the founder of the company, which turned out to be Space Exploration Technology and Elon Musk.

And obviously this was Elon before the Elon that we know today, right? And he painted the vision and started talking about building rockets, and why a place like Brownsville, Texas, Boca Chica beach and why – and I am going to use his term – (this area) was intriguing to him.

And at that point, for this project, everything pointed to Florida. But then we’re looking at it and we got it. He gave us almost two hours of his time and talked about the project. It was almost not like a pitch, just kind of like, here’s what we’re doing, here’s what we’re trying to do, and here’s why it makes sense. And then somewhere along the line he asked us, do you know why we’re doing this? (We said), it’s kind of like, you’re taking payloads into space, kind of like a logistics company, like a FedEx or UPS, except you taking payloads into space, right? So, there’s money to be made in that.

That’s when he paused and said, humanity can no longer sustain itself on this planet, so I’m going to colonize Mars. And the way we’re going to do that is by building rockets and launching them into space destined for Mars and Boca Chica beach could/may be the place that we do that.

This was 2011. We were still in the middle of a major economic downturn, the Space Shuttle was still flying, and when it came to cutting edge, forward thing, global ideas, everybody was on the edge of their seats waiting for Steve Jobs to tell us what that was. He was still alive.

So, we’re there, and we’re like, okay. And then we’re thinking, how are we going to make this project happen? He just told us why. Now for us, here we are, Brownsville, Texas, back then, the poorest community the United States. How are we going to be able to convince our leadership that this is a project that we should put our hard-earned tax dollars behind, to incentivize a company to come into our community and do what he just said. How are we going to convince the local population, the local people, that we’re going to do this because we’re going to colonize Mars.

That was a vision back then. But we’re living that today.

Fast forward to today. That’s exactly what they’re doing on Boca Chica beach. They’re building rockets that are destined for Mars, and that is actually happening today.

So, now the question that we’re asking ourselves in our office is not… we’re not talking about the space vehicle, the satellites, the infrastructure that’s needed to get a spaceship to Mars. That conversation was already had. Today, the conversation we’re having as far as the space industry, the commercial side space sector, thinking forward is, how is Mars going to get colonized?

Think about it. Getting there is one thing. Getting there is what’s being done today. But once you get there, what are you going to need? Well, you need tools, you need food, you need construction materials for building a city out there. Everything that we have on this planet, how are we going to get that to Mars?

So, those are the conversations that are being had today for ten years out. So, that’s forward thinking. That’s what we’re building. We already have the company, the operation, that’s building the rockets to get there. Now it is about how we populate another planet.

Editor’s Note: The above commentary was provided by Gilberto Salinas, the new CEO of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, in his opening remarks at a recent “Insights Unplugged” event co-hosted by GBIC, UT-Rio Grande Valley, and the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, and held at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization in downtown Brownsville.

The post Salinas: GBIC is now thinking about we populate another planet appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.