SpaceX, the rocket and artificial intelligence company led by Elon Musk, announced on Tuesday that it will invest $100 billion to construct a major launch facility in southern Louisiana. The project aims to support the company’s goal of launching multiple rockets into space on a daily basis.
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced at an event in Abbeville, Louisiana, that the new facility will be named Starbase Louisiana. Located on a portion of 125,000 acres of coastal marshland, the site is expected to generate 3,000 jobs for the local area.
Governor Landry, a Republican, drew a historical parallel to President Thomas Jefferson’s 1803 Louisiana Purchase, which opened the American West to the nation. He stated that the partnership with SpaceX will bring significant opportunities to his state.
“Today, Louisiana will give America the stars,” Landry declared during the announcement.
The new site will be SpaceX’s second private launch facility, following its Starbase headquarters in South Texas. This expansion is a crucial step toward SpaceX’s long-term objectives of establishing off-Earth industries and enabling humanity to become a multiplanetary species. CEO Elon Musk has previously discussed the necessity of launching thousands of rockets into orbit annually, which will require multiple launch sites globally.
“It’s no secret that we intend to launch Starship frequently, targeting thousands of flights per year,” SpaceX posted on X in May. “That launch cadence will require the ability to launch from many different locations, so we are constantly exploring viable sites to expand Starship operations in the future, both domestically and internationally.”
While Musk did not attend the event in Abbeville, he posted online that the Louisiana spaceport would be “the biggest launch site on Earth” and facilitate more than 30 rocket flights daily. In a video accompanying his message, he projected that the development would create approximately 10,000 jobs in the region.
During her speech, Shotwell offered a more conservative estimate, stating that the project is expected to create around “3,000 permanent jobs.”
Louisiana Economic Development, the state’s business development agency, announced that construction is slated to begin next year, with the first launch targeted for “as soon as 2029.”
The state offered SpaceX a competitive incentives package contingent on capital investment, job creation, and a $25 million charitable donation to a local community fund. Instead of traditional taxes, SpaceX will make installment payments of more than $25 million annually to Vermilion Parish, where the spaceport will be located. These payments are projected to total $820 million over 25 years.
A Louisiana Economic Development representative confirmed that SpaceX had previously paid the state $100 million for the land.
Spokespersons for both SpaceX and the governor’s office declined to comment on the announcement.
Aside from Starbase in Texas, where SpaceX manufactures its massive Starship rocket, the company currently launches from government-owned facilities, including Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. According to its website, SpaceX has sent more than 100 rockets into space this year, with its smaller Falcon 9 rocket powering the majority of those missions.
SpaceX recently completed its 13th test flight of Starship, which successfully carried and deployed the company’s Starlink internet satellites before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. Unlike its earlier partially reusable rockets, SpaceX is developing Starship to be fully reusable, with Musk projecting that the rocket could be launched and landed multiple times a day, akin to an airplane.
Musk, who has a history of missing self-imposed deadlines and unfulfilled public promises, has placed a massive bet on Starship, which he envisions as the vehicle for future human missions to Mars. He has also stated that Starship will carry artificial intelligence data centers into space. On Monday, Musk announced on X that the company plans to launch its first orbital data center into space by the end of next year.
This year, SpaceX also committed to assisting in the construction of Terafab, a computer chip manufacturing plant in Texas. This venture is a joint project between SpaceX and Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla. Public filings indicate that the project will cost at least $55 billion, with total spending potentially reaching $119 billion.
