Starbase in Texas, where the world’s richest man has a rocket-launching facility, was incorporated this week. Mars obsessives are flocking there – but some long-term locals are far from happy

Along a flat coastal highway in south-east Texas, surrounded by wetlands and open plains, the artefacts of a new American oligarchy appear in quick succession. Three towering rockets stand upright on the horizon. A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks speeds by. A large mural of the Shiba Inu “doge” dog stares ahead, its arms crossed. There is a 4-metre-tall (12ft) bust of the world’s richest person, painted in bronze, facing a dusty roadside. “ELON aka MemeLord”, a plaque beneath reads. It’s not exactly romantic poetry, but the whole scene reminds me of the sonnet by Shelley: “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

While old Ozymandias may have seen his fiefdoms crumble, Elon Musk’s empire is possibly only just beginning. Here in Cameron County, on the southern tip of the Lone Star state, where Google Maps proudly displays the newly declared “Gulf of America” just offshore, Musk has situated his self-described mission to save humanity and populate Mars. Just a few miles from his painted bust is the Starbase industrial complex, a rocket-manufacturing facility and launch arena, which commands the vista for miles. It is also the site of the multibillionaire’s latest venture to acquire even more political power.

The world’s richest person has placed his mission to Mars in a low-income county near the US-Mexico border. As a small cluster of voters connected to SpaceX decide to incorporate their own ‘Starbase city', Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone meet environmental opponents, space enthusiasts and residents who decry the gentrification Musk's expansion has brought