Ten-pad Gulf Coast complex would require onsite propellant production, new power infrastructure and major transportation upgrades
SpaceX unveiled plans Aug. 25 for a $100-billion spaceport across 125,000 acres of Louisiana’s Gulf Coast—with 10 launch pads, propellant production, power generation and transportation infrastructure it says are designed to support thousands of Starship launches annually.
Construction of Starbase Louisiana in Vermilion Parish is expected to begin by the end of 2027, according to Louisiana Economic Development. At full buildout, five launch complexes would each contain two launch pads and a propellant farm, joined by a propellant production facility, vehicle-processing facilities and housing for employees and their families.
«We’re preparing to build a spaceport that, until now, has only existed in science fiction,» SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a statement. Making trips to space as routine as airline flights, he added, would require operating Starship—SpaceX’s two-stage launch vehicle—at much greater scale.
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SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell put engineering scope behind that ambition, describing plans for a «self-sustaining» complex with fueling capacity, power generation, deepwater shipping, vehicle processing and an airport.
Fueling capacity would support Starship, which is comprised of its Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. Super Heavy uses 33 Raptor engines burning subcooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen and carries about 8 million lb of propellant.
The volume creates a substantial ground-transportation burden when those commodities are produced offsite. In its review of proposed Starship operations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Federal Aviation Administration estimates a single launch could require 270 liquid-oxygen trucks, 80 liquid-nitrogen trucks and 90 liquid-methane trucks before onsite production facilities are operating.
Louisiana’s abundant natural gas supply was among advantages SpaceX cited in selecting the site. The FAA Kennedy Space Center review illustrates other systems that can accompany Starship operations, including air separation, methane liquefaction and a deluge pond and power hub.
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SpaceX has not disclosed whether Louisiana’s launch complexes would use the same configuration as its existing site, how the 10 pads would be phased or when design and construction packages will reach the market.
$100B Plan Still Taking Shape
Louisiana officials describe the SpaceX proposal as the largest capital investment in state history. Neither SpaceX nor the state has publicly disclosed how the $100-billion figure is divided into construction, infrastructure, equipment and other capital spending or how expenditures would be phased.
No engineering, design, construction management or major construction contractors have been announced.
SpaceX conducted a full-pressure test on July 28, 2023, of a newly installed water-cooled steel flame deflector beneath the orbital launch mount at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The launch tower, propellant tanks and other ground infrastructure illustrate some of the systems associated with Starship operations.
Photo courtesy SpaceX/NASA
Louisiana Economic Development forecasts 34,516 construction jobs «at peak construction,» more than 11 times the 3,000 permanent direct jobs the agency projects SpaceX will create over 10 years.
SpaceX COO Shotwell said building and operating the campus would require «all sorts of skills,» including technicians, welders and builders in addition to engineers.
The announced construction scope spans launch and structural work, cryogenic processing, power generation and transmission, roads and bridges, marine infrastructure, buildings and coastal restoration.
The state’s estimated 34,516 figure for onstruction jobs remains unclear since the economic development agency has not explained publicly whether it represents simultaneous onsite employment, employment supported by construction spending or another measure. It has also not released a craft-by-craft workforce forecast or the estimate’s underlying analysis.
New electric generation and transmission infrastructure also will be required. The state economic development agency says SpaceX, utilities and regulators are developing plans to serve the campus, with the developer expected to fund generation and project-specific upgrades so costs are not shifted to existing ratepayers. No anticipated electrical load, generation capacity or generation technology has been publicly disclosed.
Additionally, Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development is evaluating Highway 82 and other routes, including road and bridge conditions and traffic expected during construction and operations. Scope and cost of improvements have not been determined, although the state says some cost sharing between Louisiana and SpaceX is expected.
Spaceport Meets the Gulf Coast
Much of the 125,000-acre site near Pecan Island consists of coastal marshland, making restoration as important an issue as launch infrastructure, to some.
A NASA/USGS Landsat image shows Pecan Island in southern Vermilion Parish, La., in 2011. The low-lying area has lost substantial coastal marsh as open water has expanded over decades.
Photo courtesy NASA/USGS
«This is the first time we can marry an economic development project that creates thousands of jobs with coastal restoration and hurricane protection,» Gov. Jeff Landry, (R), said at a news conference following the announcement.
Shotwell said the work would include «thousands of acres of marsh creation» intended to reconnect fragmented wetlands and help restore the coast’s natural storm buffer. CPRA Communications Director Ryan Shaw told ENR that shoreline protection is likely to produce some of the first on-the-ground work as the SpaceX development advances.
CPRA has not designed any projects specifically for SpaceX, Shaw said. But the agency has completed preliminary design of the East Rainey Marsh Creation–Pecan Island Component, which would create and nourish more than 2,000 acres of marsh on part of the property SpaceX purchased. The project predates the SpaceX development and will proceed as previously planned.
«A launch facility of the scale contemplated would involve extensive marsh filling, dredging, road and pad construction, water withdrawals and discharges, high-intensity noise and light,» the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federation and Pontchartrain Conservancy said in joint comments filed Aug. 24 with FAA.
The groups oppose proposed federal regulatory changes that they say could remove environmental-review requirements from commercial space licensing. Their filing cites potential effects on wetlands and protected species.
«Pecan Island is a celebrated piece of Louisiana’s ‘Sportsman’s Paradise,’ one of the most productive wildlife habitats in the U.S. and incredibly susceptible to coastal erosion and hurricanes,» Louisiana Wildlife Federation Executive Director Rebecca Triche said. «The environmental reviews outlined in those 13 statutes matter even more in a place like this.»
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Louisiana Economic Development says SpaceX is working with CPRA and the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries to address potential effects on wildlife and habitat. State officials say the proposed development footprint does not conflict with an active CPRA restoration project, while the separately planned East Rainey work would proceed elsewhere on the SpaceX property.
SpaceX is targeting its first Louisiana Starship launch as soon as 2029, leaving roughly three years to advance the launch, propellant, power, transportation and coastal systems through design, permitting and construction.
