SpaceX continues to buy property in Cameron County, the Valley Morning Star has found.

Recent land purchases come on the heels of a favorable opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the California-based space exploration firm’s proposal to settle at Boca Chica.

Elon Musk’s Dogleg Park LLC picked up an additional five lots in late April, bringing the total number of lots it has acquired in Cameron County to 95.

The total land area that SpaceX now owns is roughly 38 acres of land, public records show. This is in addition to 56.5 acres that SpaceX has under lease at the site of what would be the world’s first private and commercial vertical launch site.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment about its expanding land holdings in Cameron County.

As previously reported by the Star, the firm also has developed a subdivision called “Mars Crossing.”

SpaceX began buying property in Cameron County in 2012.

The Federal Aviation Administration in early April released a critical opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the proposed SpaceX project off Highway 4, “is not likely to jeopardize” or “adversely modify” wildlife there, nor the local habitat.

Those close to the project said that this opinion substantially advanced the $74 million project, preceding completion of the FAA’s final environmental impact statement on the project.

And in the wake of the opinion, and also following the recording of the purchases on April 23, Musk reaffirmed his intent two days later on April 25 to settle in Cameron County during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

In providing a rundown of the launch pads from which SpaceX now operates, Musk said, “We’re also developing a launch pad on the south coast of Texas near Brownsville.

“We’re waiting on the final environmental approvals for that. We expect to get those soon,” Musk said. “We’ll probably have that site active in a couple of years.” He also said commercial flights would be launched from the Boca Chica site.

Eperez-trevino@valleystar.com