SpaceX plans to turn a 125,000-acre coastal site into its largest launch complex, with construction starting in 2027 and the first Starship launch targeted for 2029.
SpaceX is planning a massive $100 billion Starship launch complex in southern Louisiana, marking a major expansion of the company’s US launch infrastructure as it prepares for a future of high-frequency rocket and satellite launches.
The company on Tuesday unveiled plans for Starbase Louisiana, a 125,000-acre (50,585-hectare) site on Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with the first Starship launch targeted for 2029.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the site could eventually support thousands of Starship launches a year, although that ambition depends on overcoming significant engineering and regulatory challenges.
The planned spaceport will be designed as a largely self-sufficient facility, with its own methane production, power generation, deep-water shipping infrastructure, vehicle processing facilities and potentially an airport. Starships could be transported to Louisiana from Texas by sea.
SpaceX expands Starship footprint
The Louisiana facility would become SpaceX’s fourth US launch site and its second Starship-focused launch complex after Starbase Texas. The company is also building two Starship launch pads in Florida.
Unlike Starbase Texas, however, the Louisiana site will not include rocket manufacturing facilities.
The location is strategically important for SpaceX’s satellite ambitions. Pecan Island offers a southern launch path over the Gulf of Mexico and access to sun-synchronous orbits, which are suited to satellites requiring consistent exposure to sunlight.
More from BusinessStarship is central to Elon Musk’s plans to expand the Starlink satellite network and eventually deploy as many as 1 million AI data-processing satellites in orbit. The rocket is also expected to play a key role in NASA’s Artemis programme.
Jobs and environmental concerns
The project is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs in the region, with an average salary of about $92,600, according to Louisiana officials.
But the project is also likely to face environmental scrutiny. The proposed site is a protected wildlife habitat and an important stop for migratory birds.
Shotwell said large portions of the property would remain natural wetlands and that SpaceX would support environmental protection and restoration efforts, including work to restore the area’s shrinking marshlands and coastline.
The site had previously been tied up in a decade-long legal dispute involving ExxonMobil over coastal drilling and canal dredging. A settlement reached in June cleared the way for SpaceX’s plans.
The Louisiana project reflects SpaceX’s broader expansion across the southern United States, where the company is also developing AI data centres, Starlink facilities and a semiconductor manufacturing operation.
The scale of Starbase Louisiana underscores SpaceX’s ambition to transform Starship from an experimental rocket into a high-volume launch system capable of supporting the company’s increasingly ambitious space and satellite plans.
