SpaceX has announced it will build a second spaceport for future launches of its Starship mega-rocket at a former Exxon property in Louisiana, ending what the company says was a seven-year search for a suitable location.
The new launch site will sit along the Gulf Coast in Vermilion Parish, west of New Orleans and roughly 10 hours from the company’s existing Starbase complex in South Texas. SpaceX says it is investing $100 billion, with construction starting in 2027. SpaceX claims the first Starship launch will take place in 2029.
Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the state agency that oversees business development, offers a slightly more conservative timeline. It says construction will start by the end of 2027 with “initial operations expected to come online in 2030.”
Before any of that happens, SpaceX is still trying to prove that it can fly Starship into low-Earth orbit and make the rocket reusable, like its existing Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. SpaceX has performed 13 test flights of Starship since 2023, and while the company has ticked off a lot of development boxes, it still has a lot of work to do.
An upcoming 14th test flight could see SpaceX send Starship’s upper stage to orbit for the first time. But the company has yet to return both the booster and the upper stage to the launch pad on a single flight, a basic necessity if Starship is to become truly reusable. Even then, SpaceX must show that it can bring the vehicle back and refurbish it quickly enough to reach its own aggressive goal of sending up multiple Starships per week.
That isn’t stopping SpaceX from betting almost everything on Starship. This past week, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said he will retire the Falcon rockets once Starship is flying multiple times per week. His comments confirmed earlier reporting from Bloomberg News that the company was already telling prospective customers about the impending end of the Falcon program.
SpaceX has spent more than $8 billion developing Starship, according to filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The rocket — which is the largest and most powerful ever built — is crucial to maintaining and growing the only profitable part of SpaceX’s business, its Starlink satellite internet service. SpaceX is also planning to build an entire network of satellites dedicated to AI processing, which it needs Starship to launch.
The new Starbase site will create 3,000 direct new jobs over 10 years, with an average annual salary of $92,600, according to LED. More than 30,000 construction jobs are expected at the peak of the buildout.
It’s not immediately clear if SpaceX intends to create a company town around the new Starbase site, like the one it has architected in Texas. The Texas municipality, once called Boca Chica and renamed Starbase, has its own ZIP code and volunteer fire station, and is building its own police force and community library. It is run by a local government filled with SpaceX employees (or family members of SpaceX employees).
SpaceX did say in its announcement that it wants to make the new site a “self-sustaining spaceport” with “propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities, and an airport.”
As a mix of a launch complex and active construction zone, the Starbase site in Texas has also seen extremely high injury rates over the last decade. It’s the most dangerous site SpaceX operates and the company has reported hundreds of injuries to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. In May, a construction worker employed by a third-party contractor fell to his death at Starbase.
“We are very excited to be in this position to receive one of the best opportunities of a lifetime which will bring not only a variety of jobs to our Parish but will offer opportunities to our grandchildren allowing them to stay home for employment,” Vermilion Parish Police Jury President Chad Vallo said in a statement.
SpaceX, which has for years faced criticism for — and fought legal battles over — how it treats the local ecosystem around its Texas site, has “already engaged the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and other appropriate state agencies to proactively address potential impacts to wildlife, fisheries and their supporting habitats,” according to LED.
The company also says it is “partnering with state and federal agencies to expand Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects, including Gulf shoreline protection breakwaters designed to reduce wave energy” and reduce shoreline erosion in the area.
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