STARBASE, Texas — SpaceX plans to develop a $100 billion commercial spaceflight campus in coastal Louisiana, adding another major operating site to a network anchored by Starbase in South Texas and launch facilities in Florida.
The company and Louisiana officials said the project would cover about 125,000 acres in Vermilion Parish near Pecan Island. Plans call for 10 launch pads organized into five complexes, with two launch towers at each complex, and the capacity to support thousands of launches annually if fully built.
Louisiana Economic Development said the project is expected to create 3,000 direct jobs over 10 years with an average salary of $92,600. The state agency estimated another 8,100 indirect jobs could be supported. Those projections depend on the project reaching its planned scale.
Construction is expected to begin in 2027. SpaceX has indicated an initial launch could occur in 2029, while state materials point to initial operations around 2030.
The Louisiana announcement did not include a reduction in operations at Starbase. Instead, the new campus is being presented as an additional site intended to support a much higher launch cadence for Starship and other commercial missions.
For the Brownsville area, the expansion could broaden SpaceX’s national supply chain and workforce needs while also creating competition among states for aerospace investment. Starbase remains the company’s primary Starship development and flight-test center.
The project will require regulatory reviews, infrastructure development and environmental approvals before the full buildout can proceed.
