SpaceX on Tuesday announced plans to build a Starship launch site in southern Louisiana that CEO Elon Musk claimed will be the “biggest launch site on Earth,” expanding the rocket maker’s operations with a $100 billion investment.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket launches from Starbase, Texas, on November 18, 2023
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
SpaceX, in an announcement with Gov. Jeff Landry and other Louisiana state officials, announced plans for a 125,000-acre facility in Vermilion Parish along the state’s gulf coast.
Construction on the site—named Starbase, Lousiana—will begin in 2027, with plans for the first Starship launch by 2029, according to SpaceX, which claimed the location will “be built to support thousands of SpaceX flights a year” and serve as the rocket’s primary launch facility.
The site will be a “self-sustaining spaceport” with propellant production, power generation, “deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities” and an airport, SpaceX said.
SpaceX said it would commit to investing at least $100 billion and create more than 3,000 new jobs at the site, noting it would be “hiring heavily” from nearby communities and “utilizing Louisiana workers’ extensive experience of building complex infrastructure in their unique environment.”
Musk, in a video accompanying SpaceX’s announcement, claimed SpaceX would bring “probably 10,000 really exciting jobs” to Louisiana with the project.
As part of the project, SpaceX said it would work to restore the Vermilion Parish shoreline, which the firm said was eroding by up to 23 feet each year, with plans to partner with state and federal agencies to do so.
Big Number
13. That’s how many times Starship has been launched, the most recent of which came in July.
Key Background
SpaceX has launched its rockets for years from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a Space Force Base In California and Starbase, Texas, which has served as the firm’s site for Starship test-launch operations. Plans to expand the rocket’s launch capabilities comes as SpaceX has come under scrutiny for some test flights. In April 2023, Starship’s first test flight caused SpaceX’s concrete launchpad and its spacecraft to explode, causing some damage to endangered species nesting sites at the Boca Chica State Park Land near the Texas launch site. The firm was found to have violated the Clean Water Act at the facility in 2024, after state officials found SpaceX to have repeatedly flushed pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas.
Forbes Valuation
Musk is the world’s richest person with a net worth estimated at $859.8 billion as of Tuesday, with a 2.4% boost to SpaceX shares adding nearly $20 billion to his fortune.
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