SpaceX to Invest $100 Billion in Starbase, Louisiana Spaceport
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has planned its second launch complex to support additional Starship launches.
(Starbase, Louisiana) SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) announced today (Aug. 25) planes to build a Starship rocket launch complex in southern Louisiana, committing $100 billion to transform a 125,000-acre site on Pecan Island into the new Starbase, Louisiana.
Illustration of SpaceX’s planned Starbase Louisiana site, which the company says will support thousands of Starship launches per year, courtesy of SpaceX via Space.com.
Per SpaceX, construction on the site will begin in 2027, with the first Starship launch targeted for 2029. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell that the company’s plans call for the launch of thousands of Starship flights from the site per year.
“We’re committed to investing at least $100 billion and creating more than 3,000 new jobs at Starbase, Louisana hiring heavily from nearby communities and utilizing Louisiana workers’ extensive experience of building complex infrastructure in their unique environment,” reads an explanation on SpaceX’s website.
SpaceX plans to build a "self-sustaining" spaceport with its own propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities, and probably an airport, according to Shotwell, per Reuters.
“This will be a project like no other. Another piece of science fiction transported into reality or what I call science fact,” Shotwell said.
Per The Financial Times, SpaceX’s planned site will include five launch complexes with two launch pads at each facility; the company will also build residential housing for employees and their families similar to its Starbase hub in Texas.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said: “This project means more than just steel, technology, and capital. It represents jobs for our families. It represents momentum for our communities, and it represents protection for our coast.”
Currently, SpaceX launches rockets from Cape Canaveral, Floridal Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and Starbase, the company town in South Texas where SpaceX has based its Starship development and test-launch operations.
