SpaceX is moving to reshape America’s launch landscape, unveiling a sweeping proposal for what it calls its largest rocket complex yet—this time in the wetlands of southern Louisiana.
The company said the $100 billion (€85.68bn) development is designed to turn coastal marshland into a major hub for Starship missions and launches tied to its AI satellite ambitions.
Planned for a 50,585-hectare tract on Pecan Island, the project has been named Starbase Louisiana and would become SpaceX’s fourth launch site in the US.
From that campus, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company ultimately aims to conduct thousands of Starship flights each year.
Work on the marshland—spanning more than eight times the size of Manhattan—is set to begin next year, with SpaceX targeting the first Starship launch from the new site in 2029.
Ms Shotwell described a “self-sustaining” spaceport that would include on-site methane production for propellant, power generation, deep-water shipping access, and vehicle processing facilities, with the possibility of an airport as well.
SpaceX said that ‘large portions’ of the land will remain natural wetlands with no infrastructure.
An animated SpaceX video shows the area dotted with several launchpads surrounded by greenery.
SpaceX said the site will add more than 3,000 jobs to the region
The proposed location has a long legal history: it was the focus of a decade-long battle involving Exxon Mobil after local parishes alleged the company’s coastal drilling and canal dredging helped drive Louisiana’s wetland loss.
Court documents show the state reached an agreement with Exxon to settle the lawsuit in June, leading to the case being dismissed the following month.
That dismissal cleared the path for SpaceX to pursue a launch site along the 29-km coastal strip, an idea the company had been discussing with state officials since February, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois said.
In recent years, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has broadened its presence across the southern US, building Colossus AI data centres in Tennessee and Mississippi and Starlink facilities in Austin, Texas.
“This project means more than just steel, technology and capital,” Mr Landry said.
“It represents jobs for our families. It represents momentum for our communities and it represents protection for our coast.”
SpaceX said the Louisiana site will add more than 3,000 jobs to the region.
The governor’s office said those jobs are expected to pay an average salary of $92,600, which is 192% higher than the average local wage.
