Starbase Louisiana

Well it's official! The Louisiana Purchase has been announced as Starbase Louisiana.

SpaceX says construction will start next year and the first Starship launches should be in 2029. The plan is for it to launch more than 1000 Starships a year, which would be ~3 launches a day! They say,

Quote:This self-sustaining spaceport will have propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities, and an airport. 

SpaceX is committed to investing at least $100 billion and creating more than 3,000 new jobs at Starbase, Louisana hiring heavily from nearby communities and utilizing Louisiana workers’ extensive experience of building complex infrastructure in their unique environment.

They point out that while people typically think of spaceport jobs as aerospace engineers, in reality the great majority of the people they hire will be technicians like welders and pipe-fitters. Skills that already exist in the petrochemical industry in Louisiana which builds things like offshore oil platforms.

Cool introductory video here

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2092284173730144732

Here's Gwynne's speech at the event

https://x.com/cb_doge/status/2092298224224919949

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry's speech at the event

https://x.com/cb_doge/status/2092308448780411161

They say that this will be the largest capital investment project in Louisiana history. Gov. Landry calls it a transformational inflection point for the state.

Between Starbase Louisiana and Terafab, Elon is all-in on the future, once again placing his typical big bets and swinging for the fences with the two largest construction projects in the United States!

Elon says it himself: "SpaceX makes sci-fi real." That's the attraction, what it's all about.

I'm happy to say that I'm a SPCX shareholder along for the ride! (The G-forces are intense though...)

People on X are exclaiming about the visible security in the SpaceX video.

Multiple personal-protection agents are visible carrying what might be bulletproof briefcases or firearm cases.

The guy in the blue jeans, plaid shirt and ball cap is the Louisiana Governor. But the security detail isn't his, it's Elon's.

Given all the political hatred directed at Teslas and Tesla showrooms, and given Elon's status as the world's richest man, the days are long gone when you could see him in local cafes here in Silicon Valley. Now he's always surrounded by high-end bodyguards and his location and movements are closely guarded secrets.

Geaux SpaceX

Eric Berger is on the case!

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/08/sp...spaceport/

Starbase Louisiana will be *big*. Here's a graphic prepared by Interstellar Gateway. Check out the scale on the lower right. This row of ten Starship launch pads seems to extend for something like 10 miles. Even if it turns out to be less, the pads are in pairs and seem to be far enough apart that if one pad experiences a Blue Origin style bad day, only the paired next door pad would be taken out. Which would leave the factory and eight other operational pads while the damaged ones are being rebuilt.

This is the SpaceX video originally posted on X, reposted on Youtube

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/lNithoqyWVc

The environmental outcry already beginning is why Elon needs to worry about or prepare for the possible return of Democrats to power. And more than just tons of extra bureaucracy impeding progress, if the DSA candidates take over a good part of the party. Any Louisiana chapter of the DSA might literally return the land back to the Chitimacha tribe. As the one in Minnesota wants to do with tracts of property in the state (it's manifesto): "Sovereignty & Decolonization: Nullifying the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, dissolving Fort Snelling, and transferring large public/private land holdings back to First Nations."
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SpaceX’s plan to build the world’s biggest spaceport could be an environmental disaster
https://gizmodo.com/spacexs-plan-to-buil...2000803286

EXCERPT: Starbase, Louisiana, intended to support thousands of Starship launches per year, will be built on about 125,000 acres. On Tuesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called it “the biggest launch site on Earth.” It will dwarf Starbase, Texas, the company town that has launched Starships for the past three years.

That site has faced significant scrutiny over its environmental impact. The most noteworthy incident occurred in 2024, when regulators found that SpaceX had violated the Clean Water Act by repeatedly releasing pollutants into Texas waters via Starship’s water deluge system.

The FAA’s proposed changes to its commercial space licensing regulations are aimed at streamlining the licensing process and reducing the regulatory burdens for applicants. They would waive requirements under 13 wildlife, water, and public health laws for commercial space operations, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.

In their letter, the wildlife advocacy groups urged the FAA to withdraw or substantially revise the proposed changes. While they acknowledge the economic opportunity Starbase may bring to Louisiana, they emphasize the ecological significance of its site.

The Vermillion Parish is located in the Chenier Plain, an important wintering area for migratory wildfowl. It also sits next to the Rockafeller Wildlife Refuge and State Wildlife Refuge Complex.

“These marshes support wintering populations of ducks and geese numbering in the millions, provide essential habitat for wading birds and shorebirds, serve as nursery grounds for shrimp, crab, and pinfish that anchor Louisiana’s coastal fisheries, and shelter species of extreme conservation concern including the whooping crane,” the letter states. “These are the public wildlife lands and waters on which the region’s hunting and fishing access directly depends.”

In a project overview on SpaceX’s website, the company acknowledges that Louisiana is losing its coast faster than anywhere else in the United States. Researchers expect the state’s shoreline—the most exposed in the world—to shift more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) inland of New Orleans. By 2070, 75% of its remaining wetlands will have disappeared.

SpaceX says it is “working with state and federal agencies, landowners, and conservation groups to protect shoreline, respite wetlands, and support the wildlife and recreation that depend on them.”

For example, the company claims it will restore “thousands of acres” of marsh using dredged material and offshore sediment sources. It also promises not to develop the full footprint of the land to preserve wetlands and habitat and says it will partner with state and federal agencies to expand Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan and Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act projects.

That all remains to be seen... (MORE - details)

This morning Mauricio drove up to Louisiana and flew his drone over the new Starbase Louisiana site. So far very little is happening, so this video is intended to be a 'before' in a before-and-after the spaceport is built a few years from now. Mauricio did see some workers testing the ground and taking core samples.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xV07FiwKiAw

(Aug 27, 2026 03:34 PM)C C Wrote: The environmental outcry already beginning

As we've seen in Texas, the "environmentalists" are the left's shock troops, sent out to harass perceived enemies with lawsuits in hopes of shutting down anything remotely exciting and inspiring.

Quote:is why Elon needs to worry about or prepare for the possible return of Democrats to power.

Which is one reason why he was so careful to get Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on board. Given that it means $100 billion to the state and local economies (the biggest economic development project in Louisiana state history), I'm sure that Vermillion Parish is on board too. So state and local support is reasonably assured for the foreseeable future.

On the national level, President Trump just issued his administration's national space policy calling for vastly increased launch cadence, new launch sites and new sites for spacecraft landings. The text almost seemed to have been written with SpaceX in mind (and likely was). Blue too, and Rocketlab and the others. The Trump administration wants to promote space activity, not restrict it.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-...m-nspm-17/

Gizmodo says

Quote:SpaceX’s plan to build the world’s biggest spaceport could be an environmental disaster

And the Sun could go supernova too.

Quote:EXCERPT: Starbase, Louisiana, intended to support thousands of Starship launches per year, will be built on about 125,000 acres. On Tuesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called it “the biggest launch site on Earth.” It will dwarf Starbase, Texas, the company town that has launched Starships for the past three years.

That's about 200 square miles, and the SpaceX infrastructure is unlikely to occupy even 10% of it. Leaving 90% as bird (and gator and mosquito) habitat. SpaceX promises to continue allowing access to hunters and fishermen.

Quote:[Texas Starbase] has faced significant scrutiny over its environmental impact.

Only by left-wing anti-Elon political activists. (There's a University of Texas branch in Brownsville that inevitably breeds activists.) The Texas state and local Cameron county governments have been quite cooperative. Most locals appreciate SpaceX which has pumped money into their community, cleaned up formerly trash-strewn Boca Chica beach and turned the heavily Hispanic Brownsville area from a forgotten corner of America, perhaps its poorest community (more like neighboring Mexico than the US) into a place that's... well... cool. For the first time, local people are proud to tell others where they come from.

But yeah, the SpaceX effect has driven up home prices (the median home price was about $80,000 prior to SpaceX and now is about $250,000). People complain about things having become more expensive.

Quote:The FAA’s proposed changes to its commercial space licensing regulations are aimed at streamlining the licensing process and reducing the regulatory burdens for applicants. They would waive requirements under 13 wildlife, water, and public health laws for commercial space operations, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.

Sort of. The requirements of all these acts aren't exactly waived, they are streamlined. Instead of having to write a book-length 200 page report for each of these agencies, applicants can write one report addressing each of their concerns and submit it to all of them. Thus reducing the huge regulatory compliance burden on applicants. Burdens that often prevented anything from happening or making it take years if it did happen.

Quote:In their letter, the wildlife advocacy groups urged the FAA to withdraw or substantially revise the proposed changes. While they acknowledge the economic opportunity Starbase may bring to Louisiana, they emphasize the ecological significance of its site.

90% of which will likely remain undeveloped under the SpaceX plan. What other plan can they offer that keeps 90% of the site pristine while offering $100 billion in spending? That's major federal program level numbers! Spending which will ripple through the economy in salaries and payments to contractors and suppliers. It's a transformative opportunity for what historically has been a poor state.

This was the only thing that Mauricio (of RGV Aerial Photography) saw happening at the Starbase Louisiana site when he flew his drone over it this morning. This crew appears to be taking core samples checking soil strength and consistency.

Louisiana public service announcement:

https://x.com/CatinsBurgers/status/2094578276534517776

As somebody who used to live in Louisiana, I can verify that everything he says is true!