SpaceX unveiled plans on Tuesday to build a Starship rocket launch complex in southern Louisiana, a $100 billion effort poised to transform coastal wetlands into a critical base for the company’s AI satellite launch ambitions.
\n\nThe 125,000-acre site on Pecan Island, which SpaceX named Starbase, Louisiana, will expand the company’s Starship launch operations beyond South Texas and Florida. It will eventually launch thousands of Starship flights a year, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said.
\n\nConstruction will begin next year, with the first Starship launch in 2029, SpaceX said in a statement. Shotwell detailed the plans near the proposed site in Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish at an event with Governor Jeff Landry and other senior state officials.
\n\nSpaceX plans to build a “self-sustaining” spaceport with its own propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities, and probably an airport, Shotwell said.
\n\nThe marshland site is more than eight times the size of Manhattan. SpaceX has significantly expanded its U.S. South footprint in recent years, having built a Colossus AI data center in Tennessee and Mississippi and Starlink facilities in Austin, Texas. It is planning a chip plant in central Texas.
\n\nLandry called the deal an “inflection point” for Louisiana. “This project…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business