A SpaceX logo is displayed on a building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May 2020. [AP]
A SpaceX logo is displayed on a building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May 2020. [AP]

Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to build a next-generation spacecraft launch facility in Louisiana.

The company announced Tuesday (local time) that it will invest $100 billion to develop roughly 125,000 acres (about 506 square kilometers) of wetlands near Pecan Island in southern Louisiana into a high-frequency launch complex called Starbase Louisiana.

SpaceX said the facility will include 10 Starship launch mounts, deep-sea cargo handling infrastructure, and spacecraft processing facilities. A dedicated airport and residential complex will also be built on-site to support logistics and personnel transport.

SpaceX chose Louisiana for the project to take advantage of the state's natural gas resources. The company plans to power an on-site generating station with natural gas and to liquefy the gas on-site to produce liquid methane, the primary fuel for Starship.

SpaceX described the complex as a self-sufficient space base capable of handling every stage of operations — from spacecraft production, assembly and maintenance to launch, staffing, energy supply and logistics. Musk thanked Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on X and said the facility would become "the largest launch site on Earth, capable of more than 30 Starship flights per day."

The ambitious launch cadence appears aimed primarily at supporting SpaceX's plans to build space-based data centers. The company has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to launch about 1 million satellites for that purpose.

The project also appears to advance Musk's long-stated ambition of establishing a Mars colony. In a promotional video for the development, Musk said, "To extend humanity's presence to multiple planets — not just send a few people as tourists and come back — we need an enormous amount of transport capacity."

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks at an event in Abbeville, Louisiana, on Tuesday (local time), announcing a deal with SpaceX to build a new spaceport in the state. [AP]
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks at an event in Abbeville, Louisiana, on Tuesday (local time), announcing a deal with SpaceX to build a new spaceport in the state. [AP]

Louisiana welcomed the announcement with enthusiasm. Gov. Landry said other large corporations had "only extracted resources from Louisiana and left wounds behind," adding that "what Elon Musk and his team are offering Louisiana is a permanent future and sustainable prosperity."

Landry's pointed remarks about large corporations appeared to reference the history of the Pecan Island site, which ExxonMobil owned for decades before returning it to the state following legal disputes over coastal land loss and environmental damage.

Landry also compared SpaceX's project to President Thomas Jefferson's decision to purchase Louisiana from France in 1803.

SpaceX plans to break ground as early as next year and conduct its first launch from the new facility in 2029.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com